A multimillion-dollar cocaine operation in Washington Heights helped fuel the drug habits of a small Dutchess County town 67 miles north of New York City, officials said Wednesday.
But now the cocaine supply to Wappingers Falls has dried up, and Robert Garcia, his wife, Adalgisa Hernandez, and six others are under arrest on drug charges, said New York State Attorney Eric Schneiderman.
“By shutting down this massive criminal enterprise, ‘Operation Snowfall’ has taken these alleged drug dealers off the streets and into custody and helped make our communities safer,” Schneiderman said.
Garcia and Hernandez had an apartment on Wadsworth Ave. in Washington Heights — just two blocks from the George Washington Bridge — but rented out apartments in a building on St. Nicholas Ave., where they stashed, bagged and sold their cocaine.
Most of the drugs were hidden in a trap door in an apartment kitchen, according to court documents.
Hernandez took roughly 100 cocaine orders per day from her Wadsworth Ave. apartment.
The orders were then relayed to workers at the St. Nicholas Ave. building, and they supplied drugs to a revolving door of customers visiting their fifth-floor pad, officials said.
One repeat customer was Michael Novick of Wappingers Falls, whose sister is on the village’s Board of Trustees and whose brother is a police officer.
Novick allegedly directed accomplices to travel to Washington Heights several times a week to buy cocaine from Garcia and Hernandez. His cohorts bought several ounces of cocaine each time, court documents revealed.
He would then resell the drugs to his neighbors in Wappingers Falls, usually from a village eatery called Chubby’s Deli, officials said.
Garcia and Hernandez would get their drugs from the Dominican Republic, officials said.
One of the couple’s associates was recently arrested at Kennedy Airport when he was caught carrying more than $30,000 in profits on a flight to the Dominican Republic, officials said.
About two and a half kilos of cocaine — about $100,000 worth — was seized from the St. Nicholas Ave. apartment when investigators executed search warrants Wednesday morning, officials said.
Garcia, Hernandez, the couple’s co-workers, and Novick and his accomplices were all arrested Wednesday morning and are facing multiple counts of drug selling and possession, officials said.
