Open-air drug market in Jackson Heights busted
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Sixteen people were charged in Queens Criminal Court this week for allegedly helping to run an open-air drug market near Roosevelt Avenue. File photo by Doug Letterman via Flickr
By Jacob Kaye
Over a dozen people who allegedly helped run an open-air drug market near a troubled stretch in Queens were indicted on felony charges this week.
Sixteen people were hit with drug trafficking, conspiracy and other charges in Queens Criminal Court after prosecutors say they caught them running a brazen drug operation on a residential street in Jackson Heights. While most were arrested on Monday or already in the city’s custody, two remain on the lam.
The alleged drug traffickers, who range from 21 to 63 years old, sold their wares not far from Roosevelt Avenue, a major commercial block in Queens that has come under scrutiny over the past several years for alleged increases in crime. In addition to a spike in sex trafficking and violent crime, Roosevelt Avenue has seen an influx of illegal vending, dirty sidewalks and other issues that worsen the quality of life there, residents say.
Improving conditions on the block, which stretches through Western Queens, have become a focus of the NYPD and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz in recent years. This week’s bust stemmed from that effort, the DA said.
“My office has prioritized addressing the pressing issues on and near Roosevelt Avenue to make sure that nearby families and residents are protected,” Katz said in a statement.
According to prosecutors, the 16 defendants sold cocaine, fentanyl, crystal meth and other drugs on 93rd Street and 35th Avenue in Jackson Heights in open view around the clock.
They allegedly set up shop outside of a residential building where 33-year-old Roberto Maldonado lived.
Three of the defendants, including 31-year-old Jonathan Mendoza, the alleged ring leader, were charged as major drug traffickers and now face the possibility of life in prison.
“As alleged, these defendants peddled deadly drugs on a residential street in Jackson Heights at all hours of the day,” Katz said. “We are committed to dismantling drug rings in Queens County, block by block and street by street.”
The investigation into the drug crew began in February 2024 after residents began to complain to police about the drug sales in Jackson Heights.
The NYPD teamed up with Homeland Security Investigations for the investigation and began making undercover drug buys and listening in on the group electronically.
Undercover officers allegedly bought drugs from the group on 26 separate occasions, spending $10,400 along the way. According to the DA’s office, the defendants sold the police and other customers the drugs while sitting in lawn chairs they had set up outside of Maldonado’s house, operating in full view of their neighbors.
Mendoza, the alleged ring leader, had so much control over the operation that he continued to lead it after getting locked up on Rikers Island on a separate crime.
Prosecutors said that Mendoza ran the group from the jails by issuing his orders over the phone to Diana Idrovo, his girlfriend and fellow defendant.
Law enforcement made the mass arrest on Monday and allegedly found over 300 grams of fentanyl, 2 kilos of cocaine, 16 grams of oxycodone, 30 grams of crystal meth, 160 grams of ecstasy, a handgun, scales, money counters, and over $30,000 in cash.
“These individuals allegedly operated a brazen drug enterprise, running a 24-hour open-air market on a residential block in Jackson Heights and selling fentanyl, cocaine, meth, and other dangerous narcotics, including directly to undercover officers,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement. “They conducted their business in plain sight, using a neighborhood street as a base of operations. I want to thank our investigators, HSI, and the Queens District Attorney’s Office for their partnership in dismantling this operation.”
Thirteen of the defendants were arraigned on a 47-count indictment on Tuesday, charging them conspiracy in the fourth degree and variously charging them with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree and third degrees and other crimes.
Mendoza and defendants Brian Zamudio and Moises Andon were all also charged with operating as a major trafficker.
One of the defendants is in custody and will be arraigned at a later date, the DA’s office said. Two of the defendants have not yet been arrested.
In addition to Mendoza, Zamudio, Andon, Idrovo, and Maldonado, the defendants include 33-year-old Jessi Garcia, 22-year-old Jason Aspiroz, 21-year-old Jose Prado, 29-year-old Joan Salto, 29-year-old WIlson Matute, 21-year-old Xavier Cabrera, 32-year-old Ramon Salcedo, 21-year-old Salomon Andon, 34-year-old Joshua Pressley, 30-year-old Alexis Sierra, 63-year-old Antonio Valerio, and 25-year-old Mario Castillo.
All of the defendants lived in Queens.
