Sting operation breaks up Newburgh gang

Damion Jackson

Thirteen members of a Newburgh drug gang have pleaded guilty to distributing heroin and cocaine, the U.S. Attorney General’s Office said on May 11.

The arrests were part of a 10-month undercover investigation that centered on Damion Jackson (“Toe-Toe”) of Newburgh and his supplier in Paterson, New Jersey. It was part of an initiative that began last year known as the Suburban and Upstate Response to the Growing Epidemic (SURGE).

Besides bulk heroin and cocaine, officers seized hundreds of doses of heroin in glassines, a kilo of meth, 49 pounds of marijuana, three illegal handguns, a sawed-off shotgun, a shotgun and more than $36,000 in cash. Officers said that the defendants cut the cocaine with baking soda to increase their profits.

Jackson will be sentenced to 12 to 18 years in prison. The other Newburgh defendants and their sentences were: Frederick Blue (“Fredo”), 13 years; Dwaine Tate (“Devil”), 10; Kevin Maldonado (“Kels”), 10; Steve Cohen (“Lonkie”), 7 to 9; Andrew Hutchinson (“Jimmy”), 7; Oneil Mitchell (“O”), 5; Adrian Hutchinson (“Travis”), 4½ to 9; Demetrius Kelly (“Meech”), 7; Kenny Maldonado-Irizarry (“Ken Block”), 5; Monique Bentley (“Cola”), 4½; Tykwon Burks (“Chop”), 2 to 6; and Ethan Santana (“Edai”), 2 and 6.

Behind The Story

Type: News

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