AG: Coke ring worth $31 million

HAZLETON – State Attorney General Tom Corbett announced Thursday that law enforcement officers broke up a $31 million cocaine trafficking ring that had been operating in the city and surrounding communities for at least the past three years.

During a press conference at City Hall with Luzerne County and local officials, Corbett elaborated on the six-month investigation dubbed “Operation Boomerang” that culminated with charges being filed against 32 suspected drug dealers and the arrest Wednesday of at least 20 of the suspects.

Frank Noonan, regional director of the Attorney General’s Office, said the Bureau of Narcotics Investigation is still seeking 12 members of the 40-person drug organization.

“I expect we’ll find a lot of them, but not the ones who went back to the Dominican Republic,” he said.

Also among those arrested was the alleged ring leader of the trafficking organization – Jorge “The Don” Rivera, 39, of 15 E. Broad St., Hazleton. Agents believe Rivera was responsible for the distribution of about 2 kilos of cocaine per week in the Hazleton area, Corbett said.

The organization allegedly made $200,000 per week and more than $31 million over the past three years from cocaine sales, he said.

Corbett also noted that agents allegedly made numerous controlled buys of cocaine from Rafael “Andy” Lebron, the operator of a barber shop in Hazleton, and from Jose Gonzalez, a high-ranking member of the Hispanic street gang the Latin Kings.

Using wire taps on their phones, agents learned that Gonzalez and Lebron had a “widespread customer base in the Hazleton area,” Corbett said.

• Gonzalez’s phone had more than 17,000 calls between April and July this year, and Lebron’s phone had more than 21,000 calls in that same time frame.

• Undercover officers made numerous controlled buys of up to 1 ounce of crack cocaine from Lebron and Gonzalez.

• On May 16, an undercover officer made a controlled buy from Gonzalez in the West Hazleton Elementary-Middle School parking lot. Gonzalez had a large quantity of cocaine, which he divided and measured in front of the officer in the parking lot.

• As the investigation progressed, investigators developed sufficient probable cause to place wire taps on Gonzalez’s and Lebron’s cell phones. The taps revealed that Lebron and Gonzalez were supplied with the cocaine by Rivera, who obtained it for redistribution here from several different sources in New York City, Corbett said.

“There is only one reason that these drug dealers are leaving New York City and setting up business in Hazleton – they have found an active market. And 2 kilos a week in the Hazleton area, that’s a large market,” he said.

“The pipeline of drug and gang-related activity is constantly flowing from large cities, and as long as there is a demand, it will continue,” he said.

Corbett said that cocaine customers called either Lebron or Gonzalez, who then called Rivera to get cocaine for the customers. Rivera then allegedly would direct one of his drug couriers to obtain the cocaine from one of several “stash houses” and deliver it to Lebron or Gonzalez.

Court papers identified Bienvenido Guerrero as the primary courier; others identified include Jose Cruz, Rafael “Flaco Miguel” Cosme-Ortiz and Jose Munoz. They allegedly used different vehicles, all registered to Rivera, to transport the cocaine.

On Aug. 7, Rivera and Lebron talked about expediting the delivery of cocaine to their customers. Lebron told Rivera that his customers “had problems with the police” and he wanted to get customers away from his house “in a hurry,” court papers state.

Corbett said that eight days later, Lebron used his juvenile girlfriend to deliver drugs and allegedly gave her a “drug phone.” She told Lebron that “too many people are calling” and she was running out of drugs.

Subsequent conversations between Rivera and members of the organization dealt with money, such as one argument over whether the price of a kilo of cocaine should be $27,000 or $26,000, Corbett said.

“This was a very detailed organization that was supplying the demand here in the Hazleton area. Today, this organization is out of business and the steady supply of cocaine coming into Hazleton has been shut off,” Corbett said.

Corbett thanked the Hazleton and Butler Township police departments and the Luzerne County Drug Task Force for their assistance in the investigation.

Mayor Lou Barletta thanked Corbett for providing the manpower and money to conduct the investigation, and all the officers involved, especially the city’s Narcotics Division detectives.

“Today is your reward. You may never know the lives that you have saved by taking very dangerous people off the street,” Barletta said.

“To our citizens, our streets are safer today than they were yesterday, but know that our work is not done,” he said.

“And to any drug dealers, drug users, illegal aliens or gang members who were lucky enough not to get caught this time, you need to ask yourself a question: Who’s next? Maybe it’s you,” Barletta said.

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Twenty suspected dealers arrested and 12 more are charged in Hazleton area drug sting.

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