Uncovering the '340' ring April 9, 2006 - dailylocal.com
WEST CHESTER -- The brick-faced apartment building at 340 W. Washington St. in the borough seemed empty on Friday afternoon, except for an elderly woman standing outside in a house dress.
The structure is now two years removed from being the symbolic centerpiece of a multijurisdictional investigation spanning from New York to Delaware that disrupted what authorities called a "structured and wide-spread drug organization" based in Chester County.
The "340" drug ring -- as dubbed by police for the Washington Street apartment complex where a number of its drug dealers lived -- supplied cocaine across southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and northern Delaware.
The ring accounted for 60 percent of the cocaine sold in Chester County.
"This was an organization that operated and distributed drugs in multiple communities ..Those arrests had a huge impact on narcotic trafficking in the borough," said West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn. "Unfortunately, somebody always looks to fill that void, so our job is never really done."
About 50 individuals comprised the 340 ring. When news of its takedown broke on April 8, 2004, police said they had made 25 arrests. The arrests continued for months after the initial announcement. One defendant, Miguel "Chello" Santos, reportedly a mid-level dealer, was nabbed in New Jersey as recently as July.
Deputy District Attorney Stephen J. Kelly, who prosecutes many of the larger narcotics cases in the county, called this one of the biggest drug busts he has seen.
On Friday, Kelly was the prosecutor when 41-year-old Angel Colon, of Camden, N.J., was sentenced to 20 to 50 years in prison by Common Pleas Judge James P. MacElree II. Investigators place Colon as one of the four-highest ranking members of the 340 ring.
MacElree sentenced another leader, Nelson Lugo, 37, of New Castle, Del., to 26 to 68 years in prison in December.
Both Colon and Lugo pleaded guilty to charges of delivering controlled substances and running a corrupt organization.
The two remaining ring leaders still have outstanding legal matters.
Luis Colon, 31, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty last year to the same charges as Lugo and Angel Colon, no relation. He had been scheduled for sentencing on Friday also, but his hearing was postponed.
And Oscar Lugo, the brother of Nelson Lugo and the man some law enforcement officials say is the king of the 340 drug enterprise, is awaiting trial.
When that will take place remains uncertain.
Kelly, who took over the cases against 340 leaders from former prosecutor Ty Howard after he recently left the District Attorney?s office for another job, said the timing of the Oscar Lugo trial depends on the availability of Pennsylvania State Trooper Kelly Cruz, the lead investigator in the case.
Cruz, a Navy reservist, currently is stationed in the Middle East, Kelly said. The District Attorney?s office is attempting to arrange with the federal government to have the officer return home, Kelly said, at the very least so he could record video testimony that would be used at Oscar Lugo?s trial.
In the meantime, Oscar Lugo, 35, who had addresses in Delaware, New Jersey, Florida and Puerto Rico prior to his arrest, is in prison in Delaware. He pleaded guilty to drug charges in there on Aug. 30 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Lugo had fled to Puerto Rico in October 2003, but when he attempted to return through Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey in March 2004 using a fake identification, he was arrested by state police from Delaware and Pennsylvania, and U.S. Marshals.
The years in prison piled up quickly for all the defendants -- even some of the organization?s lower-level members received sentences of eight to 16 years or 10 to 20 years.
The 340 ring?s cocaine arrived in Chester County in bulk at the New Image Auto Body Shop on the 100 block of Pine Street in New Garden.
Authorities now know the business was a front for the criminal enterprise?s multimillion-dollar drug-trafficking operation.
Shipments of between 45 and 100 kilograms of cocaine arrived at the location as often as three times per month loaded in SUVs or minivans, one former member testified at a preliminary hearing in August 2004. There, the drugs were diluted with various substances, repackaged and then distributed throughout 340?s ranks.
Police estimated the ring was responsible for selling more than 100,000 kilograms of cocaine throughout the Delaware Valley.
Cooperators also told authorities about man known only as "El Mexicano" who arranged the shipments to the body shop.
El Mexicano has been described as about 6 feet tall with black hair and a slight mustache. He is also known to always wear a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and a belt with a large, fancy buckle.
One source has given a similar description of the man?s appearance and dress, but has said, despite the nickname, the man is not Mexican or even Hispanic.
El Mexicano remains at large.
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