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DA's battle against heroin protects youth
Tom Spota: Man of the Year in Government
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December 23, 2009 | 12:08 PM
One man can make a difference, and although he may not lay claim to doing it all in an escalating fight against heroin trafficking and addiction in Suffolk County, District Attorney Tom Spota has done more than anyone locally to battle the epidemic of heroin use. His early and powerful effort to take on this plague affecting, especially, our young people has earned the district attorney our honor as Man of the Year in Government.
While schools and health advocates have focused on spreading information to counter the past few years' upsurge in teen heroin use, local law enforcers have bumped up efforts to battle the dealers destroying lives with their trade. Among their number, Spota and his department's heroin task force have led the charge to stop narcotics from reaching youth in the first place.
County Executive Steve Levy made announced last week a multitiered plan to combat heroin use in Suffolk, including the formation of a consolidated heroin investigation task force in the Suffolk County Police Department.
However, Spota had similarly created a heroin task force back on March 17 consisting of DA investigators and prosecutors, deputies under county Sheriff Vincent DeMarco, federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents and state police, assisted in some operations by Suffolk police. Their efforts in the past nine months have led to dozens of alleged-dealer arrests, seizure of millions of dollars worth of drugs and firearms and disruption of multiple
narcotics smuggling rings.
"Every time you make one of these busts, you make our job [treating addiction] a little bit easier," Jeffrey Reynolds, executive director of Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, told Suffolk law enforcers at a Dec. 17 press conference.
In the DA heroin unit's first three months alone, it made over 110 arrests, according to Spota's office. In the force's first major action, announced in March, it nabbed 13 alleged members of a drug smuggling ring based in Elmhurst, Queens, including alleged ringleaders Gilberto "Macho" Rivera and Felix Cruz. The group allegedly handled an estimated two kilos of heroin every 10 days for distribution on the streets of western Suffolk, according to investigators. The DA's office seized approximately 3 kilos of heroin, 350 grams of cocaine, a large quantity of oxycodone pills, 50 guns and packaging paraphernalia, it reported.
"Enforcement activities will continue to be the centerpiece of our effort to keep heroin from our children," Spota said at a March 19 press conference, according to notes supplied by his spokesman, Bob Clifford, and added: "To that end, today I announce a new multipronged enforcement initiative … specifically designed to disrupt the heroin supply routes established on our highways. If you travel to New York City to buy heroin, beware, we will be traveling with you."
The heroin unit made the largest seizure in county history in August, according to Spota, when agents took 17 pounds of heroin packaged in shoe insoles in a twin arrest in Melville. The unit had surpassed its own record, set in March, when it seized 6.6 pounds; the largest prior seizure recorded was 1.1 pounds confiscated in 1995,
according to Spota's office.
In December, Spota announced another 31 heroin-sale arrests, including raids and detention of the alleged principles in two major Island distribution rings based in Queens and Brooklyn, the brothers Juan and Carlos Muniz for the first, and Carlos Sanchez in the second. The investigation spanned six months and utilized undercover detectives, electronic surveillance and wiretaps to gather incriminating evidence on the alleged drug rings, Spota said.
"We thank the district attorney and his team for doing a great job in that six month investigation," said County Executive Steve Levy Dec. 17.
"It is often said that those who don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it," Spota had said July 24, after announcing the capture of Port Jefferson man, Alex Vavas, charged with running another major heroin operation. "Obviously, we are seeing that with the resurgence of heroin in our communities. The young people who are its current victims don't remember the way heroin ravaged communities and lives in the 1970s and '80s. Law enforcement remembers and that is why we will continue to fight this scourge with all the
weapons in our arsenal."
"I am greatly appreciative for all the brave men and women who make up the DA's heroin task force," said county Legislator John Kennedy Jr. (R-Nesconset). With the dozens of arrests and prosecutions Spota and his unit have accomplished, "they have sent a powerful message to the drug dealers," Kennedy said.
"To his credit, the DA came out early" and focused law enforcement and the community's attention on the "devastation" of local heroin use that is now readily apparent, the legislator said. "My hat's off to him."
Spota, a former Republican who switched to the Democrats before running for district attorney, has nevertheless retained the support of his former party — no small feat — which did not choose to challenge him in this year's election.
Although the district attorney "shares his beliefs and ideals and principles" despite the difference in party affiliation, GOP county Chairman John Jay LaValle maintains that alone could not secure local Republicans' continuing support: That was accomplished by Spota's repeated demonstrations, in successes such as his heroin busts, that he was the type of DA Suffolk needs. Spota "is doing a great job enforcing the law and putting criminals behind bars," LaValle said.
Indeed, a great job so far, but the war is not won. We trust District Attorney Tom Spota and all law enforcement will keep up the pressure to rid our streets of heroin and other narcotics. In the meantime we salute Spota for his determination and honor him as our Man of the Year in Government.
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