Three people were accused of running a drug ring out of a Bronx pizzeria after investigators reportedly confiscated more than 100 pounds of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and other illicit narcotics worth an estimated $4 million from the eatery.
Authorities said in a statement on Monday that the accused drug traffickers Gaudencio Rosendo Perez, Zulema Cardenas Espinoza, and Alexander Samboy were using the ‘Mexzzarella Pizzeria’—which is located in front of a public elementary school—as a cover for their business.
Authorities from the local, state, and federal levels allegedly discovered 42 kilograms of suspected cocaine, a kilogram of heroin and fentanyl, 1,000 glassine envelopes containing Oxycodone and fentanyl, big rocks of cocaine, and about 100 vials of crack cocaine when they searched the pizzeria on October 19.
Officials calculated that the whole amount of narcotics confiscated had a street worth of more than $4 million.
“This drug trafficking organization was cooking up more than pizza in the Bronx,” Frank Tarentino, the special agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York division, stated in a release.
“The large stash of cocaine found in the basement of Mexzzarella Pizza is very significant because it had the potential to supply drug networks throughout the Northeast,” he said. “Cocaine is being laced with fentanyl, which is contributing to poisonings and unnecessary deaths in New York and across the country.”
According to the statement, Perez, Espinoza, and Samboy are accused of functioning as significant traffickers and having illegal possession of a prohibited narcotic. They appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdoses involving drugs claimed the lives of over 111,000 Americans in 2022. According to the city Department of Health, more over 3,000 persons in New York City have overdosed and passed away since 2022.
