Hull police arrest three men on heroin trafficking charges

Chief John Dunn reports that the Hull Police Department arrested and charged three men with trafficking heroin following a traffic stop on Sunday, April 21.

Giovanni Cruz, 19, of Belmont, Tomas Martinez, 24, of Dorchester, and Raphy Veras, 19, of Quincy, were each charged with:

• Trafficking in heroin over 36 grams

• Possession to distribute a Class A drug (heroin)

• Possession of a Class A drug (heroin)

• Possession with intent to distribute a Class D drug (marijuana)

• Possession of a Class D drug (marijuana)

• Possession of a burglarious instrument

In addition, Cruz was charged with operation of a motor vehicle with a suspended license, marked lanes violation, and malicious destruction of property under $1,200.

At approximately 10:45 p.m. Sunday, Hull police received a report of an erratic driver in the area of 50 George Washington Blvd.

Hull Police Officer Stephen Glavin located and allegedly observed the driver drift between lanes and almost cross into the opposite lane of traffic twice.

Glavin pulled over the driver near 45 Hull Shore Dr., the Nantasket Beach Resort. As Glavin approached the vehicle and spoke to the driver, later identified as Cruz, the officer noticed a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle.

During the course of the traffic stop, Glavin determined that Cruz was driving with a suspended license. The two passengers, Martinez and Veras, did not have valid driver's licenses and, as a result, the vehicle needed to be towed because it was blocking the driveway of a business.

While performing a routine inventory of the vehicle prior to the tow, officers located and seized approximately 41.8 grams of heroin mixed with fentanyl, 224 grams of marijuana, a digital scale, and an item used to open locked car doors known as a "slim jim."

Cruz was also found to have 47.8 grams of marijuana in his pockets, police said in a statement. 

The three men were placed under arrest and taken to the Hull Police Department to be booked.

While inside of his holding cell, Cruz allegedly purposefully clogged the toilet with a roll of toilet paper, causing the cell to flood with water, resulting in the malicious destruction of property charge.

The three men were expected to be arraigned Monday in Hingham District Court.

Feds bust major fentanyl trafficking network

By Katie Lannan, State House News Service

Thirty people were arrested Tuesday on gun, drug, and immigration charges in a sweep that brought down a Lawrence-based network that acting U.S Attorney William Weinreb described as “one of the largest fentanyl trafficking organizations ever seen in Massachusetts.”

Approximately 250 law enforcement officers were involved in the sweep, seizing several guns and two kilograms of suspected fentanyl in the culmination of year-long trafficking investigation dubbed “Operation Bad Company,” Weinreb said in a press conference at his office at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston.

“Those arrested this morning need to be held accountable for their actions because they have chosen to distribute this poison and profit from the misery that they spread,” Michael Ferguson, special agent in charge of the New England division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said.

He cited state Department of Public Health statistics showing 2,069 opioid-related deaths in 2016, 69 percent of which had a positive toxicology result for fentanyl.

Wiretaps captured defendants discussing the drug operations, in some cases “chuckling about the overdose deaths as they continued to distribute the deadly drug,” Weinreb said.

“One defendant even bragged about having been deported several times and discussed the wealth he amassed in the Dominican Republic, including businesses and homes,” he said. “While these defendants found their conduct amusing, federal authorities did not.”

A total of 34 arrests were made, including four people arrested administratively by Immigrations and Customs enforcement, authorities said.

The arrests included five people unlawfully present in the country and another five who had illegally reentered after deportation, said Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge Matthew Etre. Authorities said they are in the process of confirming the identities and immigration status of other defendants who used false identities.

The indictment lists two people as charged with “being an alien unlawfully present in the United States in possession of a firearm and ammunition.”

At least 16 of the defendants were Lawrence residents, including the alleged leader of the operation, Juan Anibal Patrone, a 26-year-old dual citizen of the Dominican Republic and Italy. Four people from New Hampshire were arrested, along with two from Lowell, two from Methuen, and one from Burlington. Three people charged were already in custody in county jails.

Weinreb said Patrone was in charge of a “sophisticated and lucrative drug trafficking operation that he ran like a business,” with workers assigned to different shifts and couriers delivering drugs on specific walking routes or in cars equipped with hidden compartments.

The defendants sold drugs to hundreds of customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Ferguson said 10 grams of fentanyl would have a street value of $200 to $400 in the Lawrence area, while the same amount would go for $600 to $800 in southern New Hampshire and upwards of $1,000 in Maine.

Weinreb and others who spoke at Tuesday's press conference said overdose deaths and addiction are a national problem that extends beyond the Merrimack Valley.

“Unless we do something about cutting off the supply, we're never going to be able to make a dent in this problem,” Weinreb said.

The investigation was conducted jointly by the DEA Cross Border Initiative, comprised by the DEA and the Andover, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, and Wilmington police departments, with the Massachusetts State Police.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Winkler of Weinreb's Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.