A murderous, high-living group of drug traffickers hauling millions of dollars worth of cocaine from Mexico to New York and New England has been smashed with the indictments of six suspects in Manhattan, The Post has learned.
The alleged ringleader, Samuel Rodriguez, 46, portrayed himself as a humble auto-body shop owner, but authorities claim he amassed enough illicit loot to purchase two sprawling compounds in Middleboro, Mass. – one for himself and another spread for his in-laws – along with a home in Puerto Rico.
Another gang leader, José Nuñez, 34, also owned a body shop, in The Bronx, and is now a fugitive in the Dominican Republic, where he is believed to own beachfront property, sources said.
And two other suspects, Gustavo Carillo, 33, and Rafael Gil, 35, were the seafood and meat managers, respectively, at a Food Emporium on the Upper East Side, sources said.
“In this investigation we uncovered a true case of drugs and thugs, leading right back to individuals involved in homicides, ripping people off and a definite connection between traffickers out of Mexico hooked right into a group in New York,” said John Gilbride, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in New York.
“And that is a connection we do not find in every drug investigation.”
The joint task force made up of federal agents, city cops and state police known as “Redrum” – murder spelled backwards – conducted a multistate probe that kicked off in the fall of 2002, said Bridget Brennan, the city’s Special Narcotics prosecutor.
On Oct. 17, 2002, a Texas couple of Mexican descent walked into the 34th Precinct reporting they were carjacked on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge by two men posing as NYPD cops who left them stranded and took off in their car.
The couple, Jesus Anchondo, 60, and Elva Saldana, 50, played the role of innocent tourists victimized in the Big Apple. But investigators learned from confidential sources that the two were actually carrying $1.3 million in cash back to El Paso, Texas, as part of a mega-cocaine transaction and were robbed by a bunch of criminals.
Investigators were told the Texas couriers had to report the robbery to police to ensure their superiors believed that they did not steal the money themselves – a theft that would have resulted in their deaths. From that break, Redrum traced cellphone records to a suspected major Mexican drug trafficking operation and to Nuñez’s nondescript auto shop at 10 W. 181th St. in The Bronx, where he allegedly specialized in equipping cars with hidden “traps” to stash drugs and money.
They also identified links to Rodriguez’s shop in Taunton, Mass., and to Gil and Carillo. On Nov. 10, 2003, Carillo’s body – shot six times in the back – was discovered inside his luxury BMW, which was abandoned and set on fire on I-95 in Waterford, Conn., near the Rhode Island border.
Investigators believe he was carrying nine kilos of cocaine, which were missing.
Two hours later, Rodriguez mysteriously showed up at Boston Medical Center with a bullet wound in the groin. Rodriguez, whose Middleboro home was raided in February, was extradited yesterday to New York, where he’s scheduled to be arraigned today in state Supreme Court.