More than 100 busted for dealing heroin in Suffolk
The war against heroin on Long Island has seen battles on fronts ranging from a retired restaurateur's drug network to a violent gang member to an itinerant heroin saleswoman, Suffolk authorities said yesterday.
Scenes from that war: Alex Vavas does not use heroin, but controlled a crew of dealers to support his lavish life and immaculate Port Jefferson home, earning about $13,000 a week selling the drug that is proliferating on Long Island, Suffolk authorities said Monday.
When David Priest, a Bloods gang member, was arrested in April and charged with selling heroin and other drugs, his East Islip neighbors applauded, authorities said.
"I think he needs mental help," said his mother, Mary Priest, of East Islip. "He's very vicious and very violent."
Natalia Roucoulet told police she's homeless, but they say she was a traveling heroin saleswoman driving across Long Island and storing the drugs in a black safe inside her sport utility vehicle.
Vavas, 57, Priest, 19, and Roucoulet, 19, are among 110 people arrested during a four-month, multiagency crackdown on heroin street sales. The arrests began in April, after a heroin task force was formed - the first of its kind in Suffolk, authorities said. They say it's a sizable chunk of arrests. Last year from April 15 to July 15, there were 191 heroin-related arrests, compared with 292 during the same period this year.
Law enforcement officials announced the arrests Monday, displaying weapons, drugs and cash seized during the execution of 11 search warrants.
The highest concentrations of arrests were in Ronkonkoma, Central Islip and Port Jefferson Station, said Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota.
Vavas, retired from running diners in Queens, oversaw a crew of dealers out of a house on Old Town Road in Port Jefferson Station, where 50 people were seen buying heroin during one day of surveillance, Spota said.
At Vavas' home on Pine Hill Road, investigators seized 244 bags of heroin stored in a kitchen cabinet, a loaded handgun and a shotgun, Spota said.
Nine members of Vavas' crew were also arrested in the crackdown.
Vavas, a married father of two, told authorities that he bought heroin packets for $80 each and sold them for $110 to $120 to "pay my bills," he said, according to Spota.
Neither Vavas' attorney nor his relatives could be reached Monday.
Priest's mother said she adopted him as an infant and that he was born to a crack addict. She said she suspected he was a gang member after finding a notebook detailing Bloods' rules and history.
Roucoulet, born in Russia, sold heroin to an undercover officer three times, authorities said. Her relatives could not be reached Monday.
County Executive Steve Levy noted that heroin is on the rise. In 2004, there were 4,406 packets of heroin seized - about a third of the 13,141 seized so far this year.
"It's in our suburbs, it's in our rural areas, it's everywhere," Levy said.
The war against heroin on Long Island has seen battles on fronts ranging from a retired restaurateur's drug network to a violent gang member to an itinerant heroin saleswoman, Suffolk authorities said yesterday.
Scenes from that war: Alex Vavas does not use heroin, but controlled a crew of dealers to support his lavish life and immaculate Port Jefferson home, earning about $13,000 a week selling the drug that is proliferating on Long Island, Suffolk authorities said Monday.
When David Priest, a Bloods gang member, was arrested in April and charged with selling heroin and other drugs, his East Islip neighbors applauded, authorities said.
"I think he needs mental help," said his mother, Mary Priest, of East Islip. "He's very vicious and very violent."
Natalia Roucoulet told police she's homeless, but they say she was a traveling heroin saleswoman driving across Long Island and storing the drugs in a black safe inside her sport utility vehicle.
Vavas, 57, Priest, 19, and Roucoulet, 19, are among 110 people arrested during a four-month, multiagency crackdown on heroin street sales. The arrests began in April, after a heroin task force was formed - the first of its kind in Suffolk, authorities said. They say it's a sizable chunk of arrests. Last year from April 15 to July 15, there were 191 heroin-related arrests, compared with 292 during the same period this year.
Law enforcement officials announced the arrests Monday, displaying weapons, drugs and cash seized during the execution of 11 search warrants.
The highest concentrations of arrests were in Ronkonkoma, Central Islip and Port Jefferson Station, said Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota.
Vavas, retired from running diners in Queens, oversaw a crew of dealers out of a house on Old Town Road in Port Jefferson Station, where 50 people were seen buying heroin during one day of surveillance, Spota said.
At Vavas' home on Pine Hill Road, investigators seized 244 bags of heroin stored in a kitchen cabinet, a loaded handgun and a shotgun, Spota said.
Nine members of Vavas' crew were also arrested in the crackdown.
Vavas, a married father of two, told authorities that he bought heroin packets for $80 each and sold them for $110 to $120 to "pay my bills," he said, according to Spota.
Neither Vavas' attorney nor his relatives could be reached Monday.
Priest's mother said she adopted him as an infant and that he was born to a crack addict. She said she suspected he was a gang member after finding a notebook detailing Bloods' rules and history.
Roucoulet, born in Russia, sold heroin to an undercover officer three times, authorities said. Her relatives could not be reached Monday.
County Executive Steve Levy noted that heroin is on the rise. In 2004, there were 4,406 packets of heroin seized - about a third of the 13,141 seized so far this year.
"It's in our suburbs, it's in our rural areas, it's everywhere," Levy said.
source: "More than 100 busted for dealing heroin in Suffolk"; www.newsday.com ; July 2009.