DA: Suffolk County Cocaine Ring Dismantled, 19 Arrested

Photo (from SCDA): Juan Funes, of Amityville, is among those accused of being part of a cocaine ring in Suffolk County.

Authorities are set to announce Wednesday morning the indictments of 19 people who are accused of being part of a cocaine distribution ring in Suffolk County.

Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota will be joined by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations team in announcing the indictments, which include six men on charges of operating as a major drug trafficker, a class A felony.

The people arrested are residents of Amityville, Copiague, West Babylon, Babylon, Lindenhurst, Bayport, Bay Shore, Huntington and Bellrose, Queens.

“Many of those arrested in this sweep, like Juan Funes of Amityville who ran a house cleaning business, hid behind legitimate employment,” Spota said in a news release Tuesday night.

Also among those charged: business owners who ran a delicatessen, a gutter business, and a construction business, Juan Funes’ insurance agent, a taxi driver, a house painter, a landscaper, a day trader and an optical lens maker, Spota said.

An investigation in southern California last year culminated in the discovery and seizure by Los Angeles law enforcement and Homeland Security Investigation agents of 20 kilograms of cocaine prepared for delivery to a house in Suffolk County – at 40 Bennett Place in Amityville, the home of Juan Funes, Spota said.

During a press conference Wednesday morning, officials said cash, 19 handguns, an assault rifle, 14 other rifles and five shotguns, cocaine packaging materials, as well as kilograms of cocaine and marijuana seized during the execution of search warrants will be on display.

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