8 Westchester Law Enforcement Agencies In 1-Ton Coke Bust

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — A cocaine trafficking interdiction that would tax filmmaker Michael Mann's imagination drew on the collective efforts of the DEA and Hudson Valley police departments in Yonkers, New Rochelle, White Plains, Port Chester and Mount Vernon.

"A multi-million dollar storm of cocaine was seized before it could wreak havoc in the Northeast,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan said in a statement announcing the results of the operation. “Over one ton of cocaine was seized, making it the largest cocaine seizure destined for the streets of New York in over a decade. This seizure signifies a shift in the illegal drug landscape in New York with cocaine seizures rising more than 150 percent in the last year."

Jorge Aponte-Guzman, Nelson Agramonte-Minaya, and Carlos Maisonet-Lopez were indicted on Monday for their participation in the massive drug trafficking conspiracy, Donavan said. The three defendants were arrested on September 29.

"A seizure of this magnitude underscores the critical importance of working together with our federal and local law enforcement partners in the DEA Westchester Task Force," said Commissioner Gleason. "The tremendous work and dedication of the DEA and Task Force Investigators has interrupted a major drug distribution operation and prevented approximately one ton of dangerous, illegal narcotics from being distributed on the streets of our area."

On September 29, Aponte-Guzman traveled in a rental van from a loading dock in New Jersey to a New Jersey home, where he was met by Maisonet-Lopez and Agramonte-Minaya, according to officials. Inside the rental van driven by Aponte-Guzman, law enforcement seized roughly 460 kilograms of cocaine packaged inside 10 large metal lawn rollers. Records relating to the shipment of the lawn rollers revealed that the lawn rollers were shipped from Puerto Rico to New Jersey, with a consignee in the Bronx, the DEA reported.

The next day, DEA agents seized a similar shipment of 10 large metal lawn rollers from the loading dock that Aponte-Guzman had visited the day before. In that second shipment, agents found an additional approximately 460 kilograms of cocaine.

Aponte-Guzman, 33, Agramonte-Minaya, 37 and Maisonet-Lopez, 32 are now charged with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, singled out the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, Mount Vernon Police Department, New Rochelle Police Department, Port Chester Police Department, White Plains Police Department and the Yonkers Police Department for praise. The Port Authority Police also participated in the operation.