Four men were indicted on Wednesday after being arrested in a drug bust at a West Harlem housing complex.
The city’s special narcotics prosecutor announced the indictment of the men on Wednesday. They were arrested on March 20 in a low-profile raid of 3333 Broadway, a 1,200-unit apartment complex on 133rd Street overlooking Columbia’s Manhattanville expansion.
Rudy Cabrera, Jaime Gonzalez-Campo, Juan Honorio, and Rafael Oliveras were charged with possession of heroin and cocaine. It was reported that Cabrera pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.
Honorio, 49, and Oliveras, 55, drove from New York to Chicago to arrange the deal and were met by Cabrera, 37, and the load of drugs back in New York, the prosecutor, Bridget Brennan, said in a statement.
All four defendants were present during the bust and reportedly tried to dispose of the drugs before police opened the door to the apartment. As police were entering Honorio’s apartment, Cabrera was observed tossing about two pounds of heroin from the 13th-floor window, and there were signs that cocaine was flushed down the toilet and sink, according to Brennan. Police seized a drug press, surveillance equipment, drug ledgers, bank records, and two vehicles, in addition to the drugs.
The New York Police Department started the investigation in December, when Honorio and Oliveras sold a handgun and 100 grams of cocaine to an undercover officer. Over the next few months, Honorio and Oliveras sold six guns and 400 more grams of cocaine to undercover officers.
Honorio and Oliveras both live in 3333 and are being held without bail on multiple counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal sale of a firearm, tampering with physical evidence, and criminally using drug paraphernalia. Cabrera is also being held without bail, and Gonzalez-Campo, 24, is being held on a fugitive warrant pending extradition to Chicago.
On Wednesday evening, the NYPD narcotics team met with the 3333 Broadway Tenants’ Association to answer questions about the bust. Alicia Barksdale, president of the Tenants’ Association, said that she was ecstatic to see the dealers arrested.
“I think it’s a great thing that the special narcotics team arrested these guys, and that they are on point as far as knowing that there are drug problems in the building,” Barksdale said.
According to Barksdale, the defendants were quiet neighbors.
“There are people who will get through the cracks—quiet, nice guys,” she said. “You don’t see them, you don’t know them.”
Barksdale said that it is “impossible to know how widespread the [drug] problem” is, but she was hopeful that the presence of the NYPD would encourage more tenants to report suspicious activity.
“It’s a huge building, it’s a city within a city,” she said. “Just because we’re inside a big building doesn’t mean we aren’t being protected.”
