Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman today announced that a Passaic County man was sentenced to state prison today for leading a narcotics supply ring that distributed millions of dollars in heroin out of a number of heroin processing “mills” and stash houses in Paterson.
Segundo Garcia, 38, of Prospect Park, aka “Moreno,” was sentenced to 15 years in state prison, including six years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Adam E. Jacobs in Passaic County. Garcia pleaded guilty on Dec. 3, 2013 to a charge of first-degree possession of heroin with intent to distribute.
The network led by Garcia supplied multiple kilos of heroin per week to other suppliers and large-scale dealers in northern New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
During the takedown of the ring in November 2012, detectives searched 10 houses and one vehicle, seizing three kilos of bulk heroin, another kilo of heroin packaged in thousands of glassine envelopes for individual sale, and about $255,000 in cash. The bulk heroin had a “wholesale” value of over $300,000, and could have sold for $1 million or more once cut and packaged for sale on the street. The bulk heroin was seized from mills at 447 East 21st Street and 246 Maryland Avenue in Paterson, where, in the months prior to the takedown, workers clad in aprons and surgical masks cut, processed and packaged heroin for the network.
Garcia, a Dominican national, served more than five years in federal prison for drug dealing beginning in 2000. He was subsequently deported by federal immigration authorities, but re-entered the U.S. illegally and established his large-scale heroin distribution network in Paterson.