Upper West Side Apartment Was Center of Multi-State Drug Ring, Police Say

472 Columbus Avenue.

An apartment at 472 Columbus Avenue off of 83rd Street served as the home base for a cocaine ring, police say. Gerardo Gonzalez was seen selling cocaine to people with license plates from several states, meeting them in the street near the apartment, police said. The men have been arrested and were set to be indicted on Thursday.

Police sent a release that included details of the charges:

The investigation centered on GERARDO GONZALEZ, an alleged cocaine distributor who operated from an apartment at 472 Columbus Avenue in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Through a variety of investigative tools, including wiretaps and physical surveillance, agents and investigators identified and charged five other individuals associated with GONZALEZ’s drug network.

Among those charged are alleged drug dealers ERIC ESPINAL, of Fordham Manor in the Bronx, SOCRATES SANTANA, of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, VANCE HALL, of Pittsburgh, and JOSE MARTINEZ, of Jersey City, and alleged money launderer XIONGBIN ZHAO, of Brooklyn.

The investigation revealed that GONZALEZ met with drug customers and suppliers in the vicinity of the Columbus Avenue apartment and conducted alleged narcotics transactions on the street and inside vehicles. Agents and investigators observed GONZALEZ hand off bags of suspected narcotics to customers in vehicles bearing out of state license plates from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. GONZALEZ was also observed meeting with MARTINEZ, an alleged cocaine supplier, in the Upper West Side in order to purchase kilogram quantities of cocaine.

As alleged in the indictment, GONZALEZ and his co-defendants discussed quantities and prices of narcotics for sale in phone conversations. They are estimated to have sold up to 10 kilograms of cocaine per week, charging approximately $30,000 per kilogram.

In order to conceal the illicit nature of his money, GONZALEZ met ZHAO in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn on at least two occasions in order to deliver large quantities of cash. Over the course of two meetings in December of 2017 and January of 2018, ZHAO allegedly received more than $350,000 cash from GONZALEZ. On January 3, 2018, agents and investigators observed GONZALEZ meet with ZHAO outside 1353 76th Street in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn and stopped ZHAO’s vehicle following the meeting. Agents recovered a duffle bag containing over $180,000 cash.

As detailed in the indictment, GONZALEZ appeared to be conscious of law enforcement surveillance. On January 31, 2018, in a phone call with ESPINAL, GONZALEZ said he believed he saw surveillance by the “FBI or DEA.”

A court authorized search of GONZALEZ’s apartment at 472 Columbus Avenue, Apt. 2C, on March 6, 2018 yielded two kilograms of cocaine imprinted with a crown (more than four pounds), additional bags of cocaine, and over 30 grams of heroin mixed with methamphetamine, xylazine (an animal tranquilizer) and multiple non-controlled substances. Also recovered were $60,000 cash, a money counter and drug packaging equipment. A second court authorized search that same day at the residence of ESPINAL, 2985 Botanical Square, Apt. 3J, in the Bronx, yielded a pound of cocaine, four pounds of marijuana and $30,000 cash.