“I’d like to apologize to the people of Montauk,” Elvin Silva-Ruiz, accused of arranging for the shipment of cocaine and oxycodone from Puerto Rico to Montauk and arrested in a major drug bust last summer, told a Suffolk County Criminal Court judge at his sentencing last Thursday morning.
As part of a plea with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, Justice Timothy P. Mazzei sentenced him to four years in prison on the top count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree, a felony, and five years of post-release supervision. A 40-year-old with serious health problems, he was also sentenced to one and a third to four years on a second-degree conspiracy charge, also a felony. The sentences will run concurrently. Since he has been held on bail since August, he will get credit for time served and likely be behind bars for another two and a half years.
Of the seven men in custody on a 33-count indictment, Mr. Silva-Ruiz was the last to be sentenced. The men — all from Puerto Rico — were running the largest drug ring on the South Fork, making as much as $100,000 in three weeks, William Nash, an assistant district attorney with D.A. Timothy D. Sini’s narcotics bureau, has said in court.
The D.A.’s office said many of them were working at seasonal jobs at Montauk eateries — sometimes selling out of the back door of the kitchen — and living in places their employers provided. During a five-month investigation, officials used court-authorized eavesdropping and electronic surveillance as well as undercover drug buys to make a case that led to the arrest of 17 people in August 2018.
A warrant remains out for Angel DeJesus-Rodriguez, 30, who was indicted.
Known as Pito, Mr. Silva-Ruiz had pleaded guilty on Dec. 20, 2018, according to the D.A.’s office. His guilty plea and allocution — or oral admission of his crime — were sealed, however. Christopher C. Brocato, a Central Islip attorney, said in court last Thursday that his client had been cooperative.
Mr. Nash described Mr. Silva-Ruiz at his arraignment in August as “a key component in the large narcotics distribution organization.” He was caught on a digital recording selling half an ounce of cocaine to an undercover officer and was in charge of arranging for the shipment of cocaine and oxycodone, the D.A.’s office said.
As part of the deal, he forfeited $27,000 that was in his bank account. The D.A.’s office had also previously confiscated $20,769 in cash that he had when he was arrested in August at Kennedy Airport, where he was getting ready to board a flight to Puerto Rico to pay for more drugs. Geraldo Vargas-Munoz, 38, who was considered the kingpin in the Montauk drug ring, drove him to the airport that day, and also took a plea deal.
He is serving 11 years in Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, N.Y. Described by the D.A.’s office as “the largest purveyor and major trafficker of cocaine and oxycodone in Montauk, he was facing 25 years to life.
“I know it was wrong,” Mr. Silva-Ruiz told Justice Mazzei, through a Spanish interpreter, last Thursday. He also apologized to his family. “I want another opportunity to do things the right way in the future.” He said he would try to live “properly” and “correctly” when he was done serving his time.
His attorney asked Justice Mazzei to ensure that Mr. Silva-Ruiz’s file included a note about his client’s poor health. When he was arrested, he was being treated for leukemia. He is in kidney failure, a complication of the leukemia, and receives dialysis three times a week. “He cannot go any more than 72 hours without dialysis,” Mr. Brocato said, adding that he was afraid that as his client is transferred between the Suffolk County jail, where he has been held since his arrest in August, to an upstate prison, that his treatment would fall by the wayside. The judge made the note.
“He got himself tied up with some not so nice people,” Mr. Brocato said after the sentencing, adding that once he got involved, he could not stop.
Mr. Brocato said that Puerto Rico is “the hub of the drug business.” It is well known, he said, that those in the drug trade say “get it to Puerto Rico,” because it is a United States territory and not subject to Customs inspection. The only inspection of packages leaving Puerto Rico is by the U.S. Postal Service.
Justice Mazzei has previously sentenced four others who were indicted in the drug ring.
William Crespo-Duran, known as Flaco, was sentenced to six years in prison on a top A felony drug possession charge in April. He is serving time in the Greene Correctional Facility and will be up for parole in 2022.
Antonio Ramirez-Gonzalez, known as Tete, who was described by the D.A.’s office as the “gatekeeper of ill-gotten proceeds,” got a three-to-nine-year prison sentence in March. He is being held at Lakeview Shock Incarceration Center and is up for parole in 2020. In the same courtroom that day, Gilberto Quintana-Crespo, who had a role in securing packages containing the drugs, got one year in the county jail. Since he had been in custody since his arrest, he was released with time served on April 15.
Eric Mendez, 39, also indicted, was sentenced to three years of probation. He pleaded guilty to a driving while intoxicated and misdemeanor drug charge on April 18.
Other Montauk men arrested last August, but not indicted, included Kevin Becker. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the fourth degree, a felony, on Aug. 28. While he was free on $10,000 bail and due to be sentenced on Halloween, he was picked up on a new charge of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.
His guilty plea of fourth-degree conspiracy stood, and he was sentenced to a one-and-a-half to three-year stay in state prison. He entered the Willard Drug Treatment Center, a prison for drug-addicted convicts, on Jan. 3, according to online records. Upon successful completion of the treatment, he was released on April 23.
Bryan Ruiz-Sanchez, 23, was released from the county jail in February after serving his sentence. He pleaded guilty in county court to conspiracy in the second degree, a felony, on Sept. 12, and was sentenced to nine months on Oct. 17. He had been incarcerated since his arrest and given credit for time served.
John DeMelio, 33, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree conspiracy on Aug. 29, but still has not been sentenced. He was due in county court yesterday.
John Valentin-Doherty, 30, pleaded guilty on Feb. 25 to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, a felony, in county court. He is scheduled for sentencing on July 8.
Alex Joel Tirado-Rivera, 32, and Bracklie Vargas-Gonzalez, 25, who were charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, a misdemeanor, and unlawful possession of marijuana, are due back in town court on July 18.
In East Hampton Town Justice Court, Louis Madariaga-Medina, 32, and Thomas Harwood, 25, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a violation, on Oct. 4 and May 2, respectively. Mr. Harwood was fined $200 and Mr. Madariaga-Medina was fined $375.
Gilbert Rodriguez-Mendez, 41, was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and is due back in town justice court today.