DENVER (KDVR) Police have announced a significant drug bust in Denver that turned up more than 200 pounds of drugs, including meth, cocaine, heroin, crack and thousands of fentanyl pills. Provisional data from 2021 indicates that fentanyl is present in nearly 50% of all accidental drug-related deaths in Denver, according to the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment. Some of those details did come out in the initial media coverage and press conference around the bust in 2015. They then used a confidential source to place recorded calls with Romo and set up a controlled purchase of $1,600 of methamphetamine. Candelaria Vallejo-Gallo, who lives in Aurora, was charged as a federal drug kingpin. Most of the drugs came from Mexico and have a street value in the "millions of dollars," according to Dunn. Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Dean Phillips said the technique aims to increase profits and prevent users from knowing the lethal consequences of their narcotics. 35 people were arrested earlier this week after a drug distribution investigation between police departments and officials . "DEA lab testing revealed, on average, 2 out of every 5 pills laced with fentanyl contains a potential lethal dose," said David Olesky, DEA Denver Field Division Acting Special Agent in Charge. They also recovered from the drug ring 250 pounds of methamphetamine, 60 pounds of heroin, 6.8 kilograms of cocaine, 12 firearms, 19 vehicles and $931,000 in U.S. currency. DEA Denver Field Division Acting Special Agent in Charge David Olesky said a year ago, a large seizure would have been anywhere from 5,000-10,000 . . Using that statistic, Colorado law enforcement estimated the 110,000 pills they seized couldve contained more than 46,000 lethal pills. 2020 / 07:49 PM MDT. Devin Booker sulked. According to the three and information from the attorney generals office, the 64 people who have been charged saw Colorado Statewide Grand Jury indictments against them returned between October 2019 and Thursday. More Videos The following criteria must be met to charge someone as a kingpin, according to Dunn: "It's a very rare occurrence, a very serious occurrence and not a charge we take lightly," said Dunn. "The operation resulted in the seizure of over 400 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 15,000 fentanyl pills, five pounds of heroin and over four pounds of cocaine," said U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn. (CBS4) - The U.S. Department of Justice says a drug strike force dismantled a major drug dealing operation which was working in Denver and Aurora. Then on the law enforcement side, it's like, "Oh, well, this is absolutely justified because these people are so dangerous.". How much of that was present in the initial media coverage surrounding "The Syndicate" drug bust? Mills has gone before a judge and bond was set. The Syndicate had made 12 million dollars in 4 years, and 32 people involved were indicted. So they got plenty of attention at the time, there was a big press conference at the Colorado Attorney General's office, and every outlet in Denver and many around the country, as well, covered this story. Of the 30 defendants indicted, 24 have been arrested and one is in state custody on a separate charge. At a news conference on Wednesday, the District Attorney's Office for the 18th Judicial District announced the grand jury indictments of 19 people in connection with a drug-distribution ring crossing several counties -- including Arapahoe, Douglas, Denver and Jefferson counties. "This criminal enterprise was responsible for poisoning our community and furthering the meth and opioid epidemic, but today our community is safer" said. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Fentanyl is an opioid known for its potency. 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Arthur Mills, 59, was arrested on Thursday, according to the Denver Police Department. Along with the drugs, law enforcement officials seized 28 guns, rifle-rated ballistic vests, 100-round drum magazines, armor-piercing ammunition and three hand grenades from the houses. Of the 30 indicted,24 were arrested and one is in state custody on a separate charge. 23 hit with "Numbers" in 2020. Woman charged as federal 'kingpin' in major metro Denver-wide drug bust by: . Well, and something that I found interesting about this reported podcast is that there are a lot of flashy details like, skydiving drug mules, buried bags of cash, partying, cocaine. RELATED: More than $60,000 in cocaine seized from Edwards mobile home. If there is a huge markup, the vast majority of buyers are still going to turn to the black market because they're just like, "No, I'm not willing to pay twice as much to get weed from a dispensary.". Legalizing weed nationally is just not going to solve the problem overnight. Weiser, Mason and Reuter lauded the local, state and federal partnership that they said was key to bringing down the organization and helping curb the ongoing increase in fentanyl trafficking and overdose deaths, which have risen sharply in the past few years in Colorado. For almost five years, the group had fooled regulators overseeing Colorado's medical marijuana industry by operating seemingly legitimate growhouses, all the while trafficking its harvests out of state using cars and skydiving planes. Four of the remaining suspects are in Mexico, and the fifth is on the run in the United States. An eight-month investigation into a drug trafficking ring based in metro Denver led law enforcement to seize 110,000 fentanyl pills, 13 pounds of meth, 8 pounds of heroin, 24 pounds of cocaine. Under the caregiving program, they could grow up to 500 plants. Four others are in Mexico and one is at large in the U.S. Would we have as much black market activity, and would a group like this have been able to pull off the feat they did, if we had just across-the-country legal cannabis? There's a lot of considerations that need to be carefully weighed to make sure we can slowly chip away at the black market. N.S. This spring, Le Creuset has introduced an exciting new shade thats already selling fast: shallot, a soft lavender with pink and slight gray undertones. You still need to make sure that consumers can find weed in conveniently available locations. I think the first and most immediate one, or the most obvious one, is just this question of federal legalization. By Shelly Bradbury. Keeler: Avs fans, could we please skip Valeri Nichushkin, Nazem Kadri revisionist history? Agents set up a wiretap on Romos phone and for months tracked his calls, setting up more wiretaps as they identified people who were also involved in drug and gun sales. / CBS Colorado, UPDATE: Aurora Woman Who Was 'Kingpin' Of Drug Running Operation Sentenced To Prison. Eagle County Detectives Make Major Drug Bust Involving Coke, Meth And Magic Mushrooms September 3, 2021 / 3:46 PM / CBS Colorado EAGLE, Colo. (CBS4) - Detectives pulled off a major drug. CBS4's Karen Morfitt spoke to Marion Rorke, Substance Use Coordinator for DDPHE, in February about the program that launched in September 2021. RCMP arrest 14 people, seize 'significant quantity of drugs, firearms and cash' in major drug trafficking bust. First and foremost is we don't want people to die preventable deaths. Kevin Durant moped. Defendants face charges including racketeering, distribution of controlled substances and money laundering. You could try to do it inside, but that requires huge amounts of electricity and then you have to deal with the huge amount of waste that comes with harvesting cannabis. The fentanyl is believed to have been manufactured south of the U.S. border, and smuggled into the U.S. and eventually brought to Colorado. A Boogie wit da Hoodie (nee Artist Dubose) - Dec. 7; the Bronx, NY-born rapper was arrested at his home in Demarest, NJ and charged with possession of marijuana and several handguns; two other men were also charged; had a No. "Without a doubt, our law enforcement here today have saved the lives of Coloradans," Weis said. Oct. Authorities seize drugs, 17 guns and $44,000 cash in Larimer County drug ring bust. March 11, 2022 / 2:51 PM "I cannot overstate how dangerous that was to the community," Dunn said. I spent considerable time trying to get in touch with each and every person. Daniel Valentine, 42, was arrested in the bust that happened last week. Kiszla: Avs embarrass themselves with silence about Valeri Nichushkin's mysterious absence following reported 9-1-1 call. 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DENVER Twenty-one people have been charged in Colorado for their alleged involvement in a drug trafficking ring linked to a Mexican cartel, according to law enforcement officials. / CBS Colorado. PHOTO BY QUINCY SNOWDON/Sentinel Colorado. Four people have been arrested following a major drug bust on the Western Slope, the Grand Junction Police Department said Thursday. SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. IRS Special Agent in Charge Amanda Prestegard said, Its crucially important to include a financial component in investigation of drug related crime. The Denver DEAs Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Strike Force led the investigation in partnership with Arvada police. Had these pills reached the streets, thousands of unwitting end users wouldve been at significant risk of overdose and death as weve seen too much of already in Colorado, Dunn said. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. If you're doing that in a state like Minnesota, you have a couple options. Four suspects are in Mexico and one is at large in the U.S., according to federal authorities. 64 people indicted after bust of international drug trafficking ring in Colorado Sixty pounds of heroin, 77,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl and $931,000 was seized. The pills were disguised to look like prescription oxycodone. Yeah, it's tough because I feel like in these situations, the truth always lies somewhere in between, right? I mean, California is experiencing problems on that front because weed is so heavily taxed there that many people are still choosing to use their street dealer rather than buying it a dispensary. This impressive collaboration between law enforcement agencies is a true success story for making our entire community safer.. You can try to do it outside, but that's seriously exposed and easy to see from the air. All are facing numerous charges for possession and distribution of illegal drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. They also found four firearms, two of them stolen. What I hope you take away from the indictment today of 19 people who were peddling poison in our community is that one pill alone can kill, 18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner said, noting law enforcement likely saved thousands of lives by confiscating the pills. Cannabis is a big business and there's a lot of consumer demand for it, so the competition for a limited number of licenses is really stiff. They had paperwork that was official and signed by the state of Colorado. Here's an example. Kiszla: One-hit wonders? I think there's this misconception that in an era of increased marijuana legalization that there's less "need" for a black market, or that smuggling is on the decline but what is the reality of the situation? Three people have been charged following a major bust at two residences in West Nipissing in which police seized illegal drugs with a street value of more than $8 million. TORONTO - Twenty people are facing rafts of charges each and more than $61 million worth of cocaine, crystal meth and marijuana was seized in what Toronto police are calling the largest drug . A Boogie wit da Hoodie's mug shot. First published on April 28, 2020 / 11:48 AM. At that time, there were 32 court cases that came out of this, and the state of Colorado wanted to make sure that it could successfully prosecute each of those cases without additional media coverage marring their legal cases. Are other banks to follow? More than $60,000 in cocaine seized from Edwards mobile home, Fentanyl-laced tablets linked to 8 overdoses in Northern Colorado, Activity must be a felony under federal drug laws, Activity must take place as a continuing series of violation, Must undertake the activity with five or more people, Defendant must as a supervisor or organizer or manager of the criminal enterprise, Must obtain substantial income or financial gain. Authorities say they seized about 400 lbs. Officialssays 30 people were indicted including the so-called drug kingpin who ran the operation. / CBS Colorado. All rights reserved. They'd covered the bust, but they were on to other things. It can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin and up to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to DDPHE. In the past 20 years. June 17, 2020 at 5:33 p.m. Officials with the Northern Colorado Drug Task Force arrested six people and seized methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, pot, counterfeit . Colorado law enforcement officials on Wednesday announced the indictment by the 18th Judicial District grand jury of 19 people on 20 felonies in connection to the multi-state drug trafficking ring. Investigators said they used confidential informants, undercover agents, surveillance and phone taps to trace the movements of those involved and the drugs they were moving across state lines and around the Denver metro. This has happened in Canada, for instance, where there are jurisdictions with just no pot shops, so everyone in that jurisdiction who wants to buy weed has to get it from a black market dealer, right? Mexican cartel elements such as this criminal enterprise are directly responsible for the steady high rate of overdose deaths in the United States from both opioids and methamphetamine. Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized more than 2,200 pounds of methamphetamine earlier this month . I mean, I do some editorializing at the end of this show. So there are well-established markets in both states that have legal cannabis and in states that don't. This effort is an excellent example of what we accomplish through ongoing collaboration in our state.. "This criminal enterprise was responsible for poisoning our community and furthering the opioid and methamphetamine epidemic, but today our community is safer," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Dean Phillips. 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Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. The charges were announced Friday by Colorado Attorney General Phil . Agents said Colorado communities are safer now with the seized drugs and weapons off the streets, but the work is far from over. by: Deborah Takahara. The truth is probably somewhere in between in that it was probably overzealous on the side of the SWAT team, but there was probably some justification in that these guys were involved in a pretty shady underworld. 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Well and you address this in the podcast but what is the reality like for someone who is growing illegally who wants to start growing legally? You were living in Colorado when the major drug bust happened, right? Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Colorado was on board, but they wanted to wrap up all their court cases before revealing more information at the time. Colorado communities and families have suffered greatly from the opioid epidemicand that impact is getting worse during this pandemic. In a news release, DDPHE said from 2020 to 2021, fentanyl-involved deaths have increased by 41%, from 159 to 222. ", RELATED: Fentanyl-laced tablets linked to 8 overdoses in Northern Colorado. "Overdoses caused by fentanyl can happen faster and are harder to stop than those caused by other opioids," DDPHE said. The investigation began in late 2018. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of overdose deaths in Colorado involving fentanyl more than doubled, from 222 to 540. September 3, 2021 / 3:46 PM Had these pills reached the streets, thousands of unwitting end users would have been at significant risk of overdose and death. They also took out paraphernalia consistent with illegal narcotic sales, a sawed-off shotgun and $9,434 in cash. "This investigation demonstrates and corroborates the alarming trend in counterfeit prescription pills laced with fentanyl flooding our streets, as well as the continuing nexus between drug trafficking and violent crime impacting our communities. Eight of the 19 people indicted in the trafficking ring remained at large Wednesday, officials said. Posted: Feb 19, 2020 / 06:11 PM . I think it is an argument for taking cannabis off the schedule of drugs, or at least getting it out of Schedule I drug classification at the federal level. Moreover, it would answer this main question in my mind, "If Colorado had a seemingly thriving legal market, why would you take risks to set up this massive black market operation?". DENVER Sixty-four people have been charged in Colorado for their alleged involvement in what officials called an international trafficking and money laundering ring that dealt with fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin and firearms, according to law enforcement officials. Undercover agents set up two buys from one of Romos associates, Saul Ramon Rivera Beltran, and purchased heroin, fentanyl and meth, according to the indictment. WESTMINSTER, Colo. (CBS4) - The North Metro Drug Task Force arrested two men for allegedly selling drugs from a home after receiving more than 100 complaints. There are some states that just don't have a legal market, so by definition, the only place where you can buy cannabis in those states is "the black market.". But that's not to say that there isn't also a thriving black market in states that have legalized weed. The drug ring was in operation as early as July 2015. You some, some people didn't want to talk about this, some people believe they were subjected to overzealous law enforcement and some people, you know, wanted to just sort of address the errors of their pasts and express remorse for what they had done. The influx of fake prescription opioids is growing and deadly concern for this office and law enforcement community as a whole. Right, so the reality of the situation is that weed is still illegal at the federal level, and not all states have legal weed. The massive bust was a collaboration between Carroll County, New Hampshire and Maine. Authorities arrested five people in connection with an alleged . That included nearly 35 pounds of meth, nearly 10 pounds of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. And then in conjunction with what I was saying earlier, too, they could establish their warehouse right next to the hundreds of legitimate ones that are spread throughout the city. "This investigation is not about the amount of drugs seized or number of people arrested," said Olesky. I approached the Colorado Department of Law. The reason for that is that one personally actually went on the lam and it took until 2019 to locate him in North Carolina and prompt extradite him back to Colorado. You can find more resources about fentanyl at www.denvergov.org. DENVER A woman who's accused of being the ringleader of a large drug ring operation in the Denver metro area has been charged as a kingpin, a charge rarely sought, federal authorities announced Wednesday afternoon. Aurora Woman Who Was 'Kingpin' Of Drug Running Operation Sentenced To Prison. In response to this data, DDPHE urged caution around drugs bought from any source other than a pharmacy, as those drugs could contain fentanyl and vary greatly in strength and contents. First published on February 19, 2020 / 10:59 PM. DEA agents began the investigation in April by focusing on a single person, Samuel Padilla Romo. They seized almost a pound and a half of suspected cocaine, a slightly larger amount of a substance believed to be meth, more than a quarter of a pound of suspected ketamine, 32 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, 60 tabs of LSD, 36 pills of Xanax and 53 Ritalin pills. The Avalanche championship dynasty crumbles less than a year after hoisting the Stanley Cup. That's just like a massive wave of support for federal legalization, which could immediately tackle part of this problem. They were using skydiving planes to ship pot out of state. He was in the Denver County jail as of Friday night. And they did have registered patients as well, but they were using all their allotted plants to really grow for the black market and ship it out of state. So, let's start from the standpoint of someone trying to start a large, illegal marijuana grow. The Aurora Police Department assisted in the seizure on Amherst Circle. Was that a fear of yours? DENVER - Sixty-four people have been charged in Colorado for their alleged involvement in what officials called an international trafficking and money laundering ring that dealt with fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin and firearms, according to law enforcement officials. The Denver Police Department will continue to arrest those who prey on those who suffer from addiction, Chief Paul M. Pazen said in a news release. If convicted as a drug kingpin, she faces 20 years to life in federal prison. "The larger criminal enterprise used Denver and Aurora as a base of operations for distribution throughout the state and elsewhere throughout the United States," Phillips said. This organization was preparing for a battle, Olesky said. (CBS4) - The U.S. Department of Justice says a drug strike force dismantled a major drug dealing operation which was working in Denver and Aurora. Police said Wednesday they had seized nearly $11.6 million in cash, proceeds of crime and assets . We're seeing multimillion dollar bidding wars for the limited licenses that come up in the new markets. patron saint of heart transplant, simon gault briscoes, leak and sons funeral home country club hills il,

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