After a 15 month investigation, police announced today that they had busted a $1 million cocaine ring which sold predominately on the Upper East Side and East Harlem. Police said the ring was run by Ceferino (Papo) Perez and his wife, Elsie Detres-Perez, out of their Bronx apartment, although maybe it wasn't quite the equal, Jeffersons-esque relationship that may imply. Perez was heard on a wiretap saying, "My wife needs the money so she's willing to do it. You bag up and she seals." Only a truly caring husband would help his wife make ends meet by hiring her to package drugs for him.
Altogether, 22 men were charged and 19 men arrested in the bust—officials said that the group was packing 1,500 bags ( 500 grams) of cocaine a day, and had an $80,000-a-day street-level coke delivery service. Prosecutors said that the dealers would hand out fake business cards, for places such as "Bobby's Electronics," with numbers for ordering. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's office said guns, drugs, packaging paraphernalia and three cars used for the deliveries were all seized in the raids.
According to the indictment, Perez was a particularly hands-on boss—he would often answer the phone for the delivery service, and instruct customers to wait for their $20 baggies on the UES, most frequently on E. 95 Street between First and Second avenues. He also had each bag of coke individually resealed with heat to make sure they weren't tampered with by dealers, and gave specific instructions to his wife such as, "When you grab it, bang it." And people say Paul McCartney is a romantic.
