Leader Of Route 110 Heroin Ring Sentenced To 9 Years In Jail: DA

LONG ISLAND, NY - An Amityville man was sentenced on Tuesday to nine years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision for his role in one of the largest narcotics takedowns in Long Island history that operated along Route 110 in Nassau and Suffolk counties, according to Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.

Branden Harris, a.k.a “Doughboy,” 28, pleaded guilty on July 3 before Supervising Judge Teresa Corrigan to operating as a major trafficker and third degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, the DA said.

The NCDA recommended a sentence of 15 years to life imprisonment.

Harris’ sentence stems from a nine-month long investigation that led to the indictment of 36 people in April 2017, the DA said.

The investigation, “Operation Bundle Up,” was one of the largest narcotics takedowns in Long Island history.

In addition 10 other people were arrested as part of the investigation. To date, 45 of the 46 people arrested as part of the investigation have pleaded guilty to various drug offenses.

According to Singas, Harris was the leader of a narcotics distribution ring that operated along Route 110 in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

"Harris and his co-defendants turned a commercial corridor on Long Island into a heroin highway, where they sold thousands of doses of deadly narcotics every week," Singas said. "This brazen group raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars, but their shockingly overt nature and hubris ultimately led to their downfall."

The group ran an elaborate operation, selling heroin in bundles – or 10 glassines – to hundreds of customers a day outside of hotels, restaurants, gas stations, strip malls, name-brand retailers, coffee shops and other locations at all hours of the day, according to the DA.

It is estimated that Harris and his associates made a weekly profit of $40,000 to $50,000 from their illegal activities, the DA said.

Harris’ home in Amityville was the epicenter of the narcotics activity and the place where Harris and the others stored and packaged their narcotics for distribution, according to the DA.

Harris directed his associates to make drug sales, divided up the narcotics for resale, and diffused territorial conflicts among his associates, the DA said.

He also sold heroin that was laced with the lethal substance, fentanyl, according to the DA.

Investigators learned that Harris received 400 phone calls a day from customers seeking to purchase heroin. the DA said.

The arrests were the result of a nine-month-long investigation into local heroin distributors by the NCDA, the Nassau County Police Department, Suffolk County Police Department, New York State Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office.

Photos courtesy of Nassau County DA