Florida man accused of trafficking $100M worth of cocaine to Long Island
Nassau County police detectives saw what prosecutors described as a hand-to-hand narcotics transaction in the parking lot of a Plainview hotel. When officers approached the two people, they allegedly found numerous open suitcases containing kilogram-sized packages of cocaine.
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A drug trafficking organization accused of distributing over $100 million worth of cocaine to Long Island was dismantled after several major drug busts, including one in Plainview.
An indictment was unsealed Thursday in federal court in Central Islip charging Omar Morales-Negrone with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. He was arrested Tuesday.
Morales-Negrone, of Florida, allegedly coordinated a drug trafficking organization that sent large-scale cocaine shipments from Puerto Rico to Long Island from 2019 to the present.
Authorities say he used freight shipping services and UPS to transport cocaine while concealing them inside furniture or disguising shipments as electronic parts.
Once the shipments arrived, those in the alleged drug trafficking organization would retrieve the packages and transport them to warehouses in New York and across Long Island.
Prosecutors say a large drug bust happened on Jan. 29, when the organization shipped 312 kilograms of cocaine valued at approximately $20 million from Puerto Rico to New York. The shipment arrived at JFK airport and was picked up by an alleged member of the organization in a U-Haul truck.
Later that day, Nassau County police detectives saw what prosecutors described as a hand-to-hand narcotics transaction in the parking lot of a Plainview hotel. When officers approached the two people, they allegedly found numerous open suitcases containing kilogram-sized packages of cocaine.
In a separate seizure on July 3, law enforcement recovered 153 kilograms of cocaine worth an estimated $10 million from a shipping container in Queens.
Investigators obtained ledgers detailing Morales-Negrone’s alleged narcotics business.
They determined the organization distributed over $100 million worth of cocaine on Long Island during its operation.
