An alleged drug trafficker who amassed enough fentanyl “to kill millions” was indicted on Long Island Thursday, the district attorney announced while revealing the jaw-dropping $360,000 cache.
Phillip Gonzalez, 42, was indicted on charges including operating as a major drug trafficker and sent back to jail Thursday following a 10-day sting in late February sparked by one of his purported clients’ fatal overdoses, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Suffolk County police originally responded to reports of two overdoses at a home in East Patchogue on Feb. 17.
One victim who died at the scene had a contact for their dealer on their phone, the district attorney’s office said.
From there, they traced the phone number back to Gonzalez, a resident of Selden. An undercover detective arranged a meet-up where Gonzelez allegedly sold him “a quantity of powder cocaine,” according to the release.
The cops repeated the same process and bought another batch of cocaine from Gonzalez just four days later, prosecutors said.
The police department executed a search warrant at Gonzalez’s rental home in Selden on Feb. 26. There, they allegedly recovered 4.5 kilograms of fentanyl — enough to wipe out more than 2 million people, which is more than all of Suffolk County, the district attorney warned.
Authorities also seized 2.5 kilograms of Xylazine, more commonly known as “Tranq,” which is illegal for sale or purchase when mixed with illicit drugs.
Other parts of the illicit potluck include 1.5 kilograms of crystal meth, 223 grams of the cocktail drug Tusi, 40,820 milligrams of ketamine, 234 grams of cocaine, and five boxes containing hundreds of vials with fentanyl and more Tusi, the release said.
The vials of fentanyl and Tusi matched those recovered at the scene in East Patchogue, according to the district attorney’s office.
The entire cache had a street value of over $360,000, prosecutors estimated.
Gonzalez faces anywhere from 15 years to life in prison on more than 25 drug-related charges. He is set to appear in court on April 6.
Read the full article here