PROVIDENCE — Three Dominican brothers with a long history of drug dealing and deportations were arrested Tuesday on charges of running an extensive criminal ring that allegedly brought heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl from Mexico into New England, according to federal officials.
Claudio, Hector, and Juan Valdez are sophisticated drug dealers who recruited and smuggled unauthorized immigrants from the Dominican Republic into the United States to help store and distribute drugs in and around Providence, Boston, and Hartford, Stephen G. Dambruch, acting US Attorney for Rhode Island, told reporters on Thursday.
All three brothers had been convicted of felony drug offenses in the past, were deported, and had then returned to the country illegally, Dambruch said.
Juan Valdez, 50, who lived in a plain, brown house in Milton, had been deported four times.
“This case illustrates that drug cartels based in foreign countries will go anywhere to distribute their deadly product,” said Harold H. Shaw, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office. “We cannot and will not allow organizations like this to threaten the safety and stability of our neighborhoods and profit from the addiction of others.”
About 130 law enforcement officials, including federal agents and local police, fanned out across Rhode Island, Boston, and Connecticut Tuesday morning and arrested 15 men and women whom officials said conspired to distribute cocaine and heroin.
One of those men was Edgardo Romero, who was arrested by law enforcement officials around 6 a.m. Tuesday at the Dorchester home of the mother of his two children.
She said she woke with a start when investigators broke down the front door and rushed through the house and into her bedroom, brandishing flashlights. The couple’s 9-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter screamed as their father was taken away, said the woman, who asked only to be identified as Maria to protect her children’s privacy.
“They have nightmares and yell in the early morning hours, ‘No! No! No!” Maria said. She said she did not know that Romero was allegedly involved in drug dealing.
“If he was in that type of stuff, he shouldn’t have come to the house,” she said.
The FBI launched its investigation last September and dubbed it Operation Triple Play in a reference to the brothers. To make their case, investigators bugged the men’s phones and relied on the help of two informants who bought drugs from the brothers, according to a 191-page affidavit filed in federal court in Rhode Island.
The brothers used stolen identities from residents of Puerto Rico to elude authorities, and they stashed large quantities of heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine in houses in Woonsocket and Cranston, officials said.
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Authorities said they did not know how the men were able to reenter the United States — returning to the country illegally following a deportation is a federal offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
Though the investigation began during President Obama’s administration, a press release from Dambruch’s office noted the arrests followed a memo from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who on Tuesday directed US attorneys to bring down “criminal aliens who profit by smuggling poison into our country and bringing death and violence to our streets.”
Immigrant advocates said they were dismayed by the emphasis federal officials put on the status of those arrested, and they cautioned against language that lumps all unauthorized immigrants together as hardened criminals.
“Since the presidential election, we have seen the demonization of immigrant families and children,” said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice. “Generalizations that immigrants are dangerous needlessly pit communities against one another.”
Yeah, I'm sure they were just trying to put food on the table for their family.
--more--"
Should have put the stuff in self-storage:
"Self-storage offers space for stuff. But it gobbles up space" by Winnie Hu New York Times April 14, 2017
NEW YORK — For many New Yorkers, a storage unit or two (or three) is the only solution to living small. It is the spare closet or extra room that they don’t have, or can’t otherwise afford in a crowded city with ever shrinking and more expensive living quarters, including micro-apartments that are barely larger than storage units themselves. It is a temporary holding place for those in between jobs, moves, marriages, and divorces, and an extension of the workplace for small businesses.
Man$ions are for the, you know. All you are getting is a cell.
But as self-storage buildings have multiplied across the city, they are drawing increased scrutiny from city officials and community groups who say they take up space that could be used for something more productive. Now the city is proposing to restrict the development of new self-storage buildings in some industrial areas in the boroughs outside Manhattan, as part of a broader strategy to save more land for manufacturing and industry.
New York joins a small but growing number of communities, including San Francisco, Miami, and Charleston, S.C., that have moved to restrict or curb the spread of self-storage buildings, seeking to strike a balance between the demands for more storage with the needs of communities for other things such as jobs, housing, and grocery stores.
While even critics acknowledge that storage is needed, especially in space-challenged cities, some see the proliferation of these massive boxes as emblematic of the hoarding ways of Americans. As comedian George Carlin joked about people’s growing piles of material possessions: “That’s what life is all about, tryin’ to find a place for your stuff!”
He is sorely missed in these trying times.
Timothy J. Dietz, president and chief executive of the Self Storage Association, an industry group, said self-storage provided residents and businesses small, secure spaces, flexible month-to-month leases and cheaper prices than traditional warehouses.
“Self-storage has become part of the fabric of our culture,” he said. “It helps families in transition, businesses, soldiers, retirees.”
New York, perhaps surprisingly, has actually lagged the rest of the country in self-storage capacity and is the most undersupplied major metropolitan market, said R. Christian Sonne, an executive vice president for CBRE, who follows the industry.
New York City’s 240 self-storage buildings include about 60 that have opened in the past decade, according to industry estimates. Many are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, offering free coffee, restrooms, and internet access.
City planners have proposed a special permit for self-storage sites in designated industrial areas that would establish a review process that would take about two years on average....
--more--"
What I cleaned out from my shed: "Raids target violent MS-13 gang; More than 400 officers fan out in sweep" by Milton J. Valencia and Maria Sacchetti Globe Staff January 29, 2016 Several of the suspects are in the country illegally, officials said. What? Can't hold them. Mean if you know this, you're a Trump right!! “The degree of violence posed by MS-13 is real and too often seen in our communities,” said Harold Shaw, head of the FBI in Boston. Hmmmm! Where to Find Smack in Bo$t... , Addicts’ parents also trapped by addiction Less than two weeks ago, an alleged MS-13 member committed the brazen daylight shooting of two rivals at the Maverick T Stop in East Boston. Both victims survived --more--" See: Two people are wounded in shooting at Maverick Station, Arrest warrant issued in Maverick Station shooting
"MS-13 leaders said to have recruited local students" by Jan Ransom and Milton J. Valencia Globe Staff January 30, 2016 s — reinforced the fear of violence among some parents and young people in East Boston and other immigrant communities. Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes said. “We’re going to make sure that our city and streets are safe as well as our schools.” Chelsea’s Gentrification, Gentrification in Eastie and Southie leaves some behind US Attorney Carmen Ortiz said the revelation about MS-13 recruiting at high schools should send a message to community members and school officials who must do more to raise awareness and create prevention programs for at-risk youth, many of whom identify with the Central American gang members. --more--"
Related: Alleged victims of gang include mother, 3 teens
On the other hand, how can you say no to the children?
Also see: California Prison Escape
Almost happened in Somerville?
SGSs:
Saga of escaped inmates ends with San Francisco capture
A saga, huh?
After a perilous journey north, teen died at gang’s hands
Ex-Boston detective sentenced in gang case
Yeah, turns out government at all levels brought drugs to your city (all so the CIA could have black profits that could be laundered at banks to bolster the bottom line).
With MS-13, history is repeating itself
I call it running in circles, but $ame thing.
Suspect in Dominican Republic officer killing caught in Mass.
Lawrence man arraigned on drug, driving charges
2/1: MS-13 gang arrests prompt warnings to local teens Its members are mostly Salvadoran nationals or first-generation Salvadoran-Americans, but the gang also includes Hondurans, Guatemalans, Mexicans, and other Central and South American immigrants, according to the FBI.
Francisco Flores, 56; former El Salvadoran president
Who needed to silence him, huh?
2 teenagers charged in Everett slaying
Salvadoran teen recounts threats from gangs
"Suspect in Chelsea slaying could have been held by ICE" by Maria Sacchetti Globe Staff February 05, 2016 --more--"
"3 accused MS-13 members waive bail at hearing" by Milton J. Valencia Globe Staff February 09, 2016 --more--"
Who was their lawyer?
"As Cubans and Central Americans enter U.S., the welcomes vary" by Julia Preston New York Times February 12, 2016 --more--"
Officials vow to protect East Boston after gang slayings
U.S. expands restrictions on visa-waiver program for visitors
The new countries are Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
Police arrest five in Dorchester, seize seven guns
"Freed inmates facing deportation to be turned over to fed" by Associated Press February 25, 2016 --more--"
Can toddlers be their own lawyers in immigration court? a growing debate over whether immigrant children facing deportation are entitled to taxpayer-funded attorneys.
Are they indigenous?
Authorities appeal for public’s help in Chelsea shooting
Teen held in Chelsea shooting that killed 1, injured 7
Brother of Chelsea teen shooting victim recalls their bond
2,200 miles from home, a boy finds a place to heal
Homeland Security using raids to curb border crossings
Lawyers sought for children in immigration court
Don’t send foreign entrepreneurs packing
Cape Cod gang leader accused of orchestrating witness killing
Two more charged in MS-13 gang killing
After policy shift, State Police can now detain immigrants for ICE
Citizenship applications soar in Mass.
Group protests Baker’s immigration policy
More than 60 people charged in gang crackdown “A dangerous pipeline of drugs and guns was disrupted and dismantled,”
One immigrant’s shining story
Teen who was found dead in Eastie faced treacherous trip from El Salvador
Police should proceed carefully on immigration status checks
Baker seeks to restrict IDs to residents
Court orders release of detained immigrant kids, not parents
Bloody fingerprint allegedly found at East Boston murder scene
Lawmakers call for US to be a refuge for Central Americans
Boy dies after being ejected from car driven by mother
All the way to the Dominican:
"3 arrested in Facebook Live killings" by Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, New York Times
Three men have been arrested in the Dominican Republic after two radio journalists were shot and killed during a Facebook Live broadcast Tuesday, according to local news reports.
Gunmen opened fire while one journalist, Luís Manuel Medina of Milenio Caliente, was reading the news at the radio station in a shopping center in San Pedro de Macorís, east of Santo Domingo, the capital.
In a video uploaded to YouTube, shots can be heard in the background as Medina continues reading. A woman is heard yelling off camera, “Shots! Shots! Shots!’’
He looks up from the screen, then the broadcast is abruptly cut.
The killings of journalists are rare on the island, but some say they have received death threats and harassment in recent years, particularly over their coverage of the country’s immigration debate and for denouncing what they see as government hostility and persecution of Dominicans of Haitian descent....
Related: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
She's missing -- same as Nikki Haley at the U.N.
When are the Sox on?
UPDATES:
Vicious Central American gangs drive rise in northward migration
Some US.officials have floated that theory anyway.
Central Americans surge across the US border before Trump takes office
Their ‘turf’ a football field, youths get refuge from gangs
NDUs:
Reflection, good deeds on Good Friday
A weekend of celebration for people of many faiths
Not in Brookline.
Boston’s homicides up slightly, shootings down
Seven years on, Haitians reflect on devastating earthquake
When are the Sox on?
UPDATES:
Vicious Central American gangs drive rise in northward migration
Some US.officials have floated that theory anyway.
Central Americans surge across the US border before Trump takes office
Their ‘turf’ a football field, youths get refuge from gangs
NDUs:
Reflection, good deeds on Good Friday
A weekend of celebration for people of many faiths
Not in Brookline.
Boston’s homicides up slightly, shootings down
Seven years on, Haitians reflect on devastating earthquake
