50 Gang Suspects Arrested in Manhattan Drug Trafficking Sting

The suspects are members of a violent drug trafficking ring called the Trinitarios.

Hundreds of federal and state investigators are rounding up dozens of members of a violent drug trafficking gang that operated in the Marble Hill section of Manhattan, authorities tell NBC New York.

About 50 members of the Bronx Trinitarios gang were taken into custody early Wednesday on federal drug charges relating to the sale of marijuana, cocaine and crack cocaine.

The arrests were part of a long-term investigation dubbed "Operation Patria" in which federal and local law enforcement authorities monitored drug trafficking by the Trinitarios in Manhattan and the Bronx.

The Bronx Trinitarios gang often engaged in acts of violence, including murder and attempted murder, to protect and expand its criminal operations and defend its territory, according to law enforcement officials.

Prosecutor said quantities of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and ecstasy, as well as two firearms, two machetes and multiple knives were seized in the raids.

In addition to the arrests, investigators from the DEA, NYPD, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are executing nearly two dozen federal search warrants, law-enforcement officials say. 

Those arrested were processed at the NYPD’s 33rd precinct and appeared in federal court in Manhattan, where they were charged with racketeering, narcotics and firearms offenses, said prosecutors.

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