Bicoastal drug trafficking operation flew 22 tons of cocaine across country, prosecutors say

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Five alleged members of a drug trafficking organization were arrested Tuesday and accused of using luxury private shipping companies to fly hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine and cash between Los Angeles and New York City, federal authorities said.The alleged ringleaders of the organization — David “Gotti” Rodriguez and Raymond “White Boy” O’Connell — spent several years orchestrating the purchase and storage of bulk quantities of cocaine in Los Angeles to distribute across the East Coast before their arrest on multiple drug trafficking and criminal enterprise charges last year, according to a statement from the U.S.attorney’s office for the Central District of California.On Tuesday, Nohely Jimenez-Ruiz and Lorna “Cookie” Martinez of Los Angeles were arrested in connection with the operation, the statement said.

Jamel Donald Levy and Bruce Adams of New York and Cindy Rachel Imbert of New Jersey were also arrested.Federal authorities have accused Rodriguez and O’Connell of using a downtown Los Angeles jewelry store as a front for a complex drug operation that used luxury freight companies to ship concealed containers of cocaine to New York City’s Diamond District, starting as far back as 2013.After shipping the drugs over state lines via air, O’Connell and Rodriguez allegedly shipped the proceeds back west, where co-conspirators are accused of laundering the money and disseminating it through the organization, the statement said.

World & Nation Those handed over to U.S.custody include Roberto Salazar, wanted in connection to the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.Authorities said that, in total, at least 800 parcels containing 22 tons of cocaine were shipped from Los Angeles to New York, with an estimated value of about $315 million.

An additional 500 parcels containing at least $105 million in cocaine and cash...