Drug King Turned Mom's NYC Home Into Cocaine Hub, Officials Say

NEW YORK, NY — An Upper West Side man turned his dead mother's apartment into the epicenter of a massive interstate drug ring, New York City authorities alleged Thursday. Gerardo Gonzalez, 43, sold dozens of kilograms of cocaine worth hundreds of thousands of dollars out of his Columbus Avenue home with help from others, the city's Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor said.

Gonzalez is set to be arraigned alongside five co-conspirators Thursday on charges including conspiracy, money laundering and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Their arrests over the past month were the result of an eight-month probe that rounded up kilograms of cocaine, marijuana and more than $270,000 in cash, authorities said.

"As this case demonstrates, no neighborhood is too sedate for drug traffickers," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said in a statement.

Gonzalez allegedly sold up to 10 kilograms of cocaine a week for about $30,000 apiece to customers from places including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., making transactions on the street and in vehicles near his apartment, the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor said.

When they searched Gonzalez's apartment March 6, investigators found $60,000 in cash, two kilograms of cocaine marked with a crown, extra bags of cocaine and more than 30 grams of heroin mixed with methamphetamine, an animal tranquilizer and other substances, officials said.

Four drug dealers — Eric Espinal of the Bronx, Socrates Santana of the Upper West Side, Vance Hall of Pittsburgh and Jose Martinez of Jersey City, New Jersey — were also involved in Gonzalez's operation, authorities said.

Espinal had a pound of cocaine, four pounds of marijuana and $30,000 in cash in his Bronx apartment on March 6, officials said.

Xiongbin Zhao of Brooklyn allegedly helped Gonzalez try to hide his drug money, authorities said. Gonzalez brought Zhao more than $350,000 in cash over the course of two meetings in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, in December and January, the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office said. After one Jan. 3 meeting, investigators stopped Zhao's car and found a duffle bag holding more than $180,000 in cash, officials said.

Gonzalez seemed to become aware of the city's investigation, which had help from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Postal Service, officials said. He told Espinal in a Jan. 31 phone call that he thought he was the subject of surveillance by the "FBI or DEA," authorities said.

Gonzalez and Espinal each face five criminal charges in Manhattan Supreme Court, the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office said. Santana is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy. Martinez and Hall each face one conspiracy charge, and Zhao faces one money laundering charge.

(Lead image: Photos courtesy of the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor)