February 23, 2000

QUEENS DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

UNITED STATES DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION

NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT

NEW YORK STATE POLICE

MULTIMILLION DOLLAR INTERNATIONAL ECSTASY NETWORK SMASHED; SIX ISRAELI NATIONALS AND DOZENS OF WHOLESALERS ARRESTED. THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND TABLETS WORTH $7.5 MILLION SEIZED.

District Attorney Brown said, "This is an extremely significant case because it shuts off one of the most active supply lines for ecstasy in the New York region distributing as many as 100,000 tablets a week. Ecstasy - - which is also known as Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA - - is a stimulant which also has hallucinogenic properties. It is increasingly used by young people at all night raves in clubs and at private parties to heighten the user's senses and energy level. Unfortunately in addition to keeping the user alert and awake the drug can cause brain damage. Less severe adverse effects include nausea, hallucinations and chills and after effects such as depression, paranoia and anxiety have been reported. With these arrests we hope to drive home the message that, despite its name, this drug is a nightmare for users and dealers alike. The dealers, like those arrested in today's case, face substantial state prison sentences and, on another level, the user can face the nightmare of cognitive loss and other impairments in addition to prosecution."

Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration Donnie R. Marshall said, "Ecstasy (MDMA) trafficking has become an explosive problem in the United States, Ecstasy, the so-called "party drug" among young people, is also known as XTC, or X and has become the most popular of the club drugs. Reemerging in the early 1990's, it has become a significant trafficking and abuse problem not only in New York city, but in Miami, Los Angeles, and virtually every metropolitan area of the United States. No longer confined to our major cities it is expanding into our rural communities as well. We need to warn our young people that this is not a harmless drug. They risk permanent brain damage each time they swallow MDMA and its effects can be fatal when taken with alcohol. Young people must be made to realize that MDMA is one party they should not attend."

Mr. Marshall pointed out that, "this case demonstrates that the Netherlands and Belgium have become the main location for manufacturing and exporting MDMA. To add to the globalization of this problem, Israeli and Russian Organized Crime syndicates have gained control of the smuggling of MDMA from Europe into the U.S. This case clearly demonstrates the internationalization of crime. Only with a concerted global law enforcement offensive can we conquer this threat".

New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir said, "This joint enforcement effort has literally shut down a major pipeline of the designer drug "Ecstasy" flowing into this City's clubs and into the hands of young people. As a result of the law enforcement community working together towards a common goal, this investigation has yielded dozens of arrests and the seizure of illegal drugs valued at $7.5 million. By taking this drug out of the hands of the dealers and users, we hope that our City's young people realize that there is nothing "hip" in using "Ecstacy" as there are serious side effects, one of which could result in brain damage. Additionally, we are committed to continuing operations such as these until every pipeline is shut down".

New York State Superintendent of Police James W. McMahon said,"These arrests will send a powerful message to all those involved in the drug trade, that the New York State Police will not tolerate those who bring drugs into our communities. By participating in this joint investigation, the New York State Police continue to work cooperatively with our colleagues in the law enforcement community to bring down these multimillion dollar drug operations and to protect our young people from the horrors of drug addiction."

The officials said that the investigation, which was carried out jointly by the Queens District Attorney's Office and the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, consisting of members of the New York City Police Department, the New York State Police and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, began in April, 1999 when investigators learned that an Israeli man subsequently identified as Oshri Amar was selling large quantities of ecstasy in the New York metropolitan region. Undercover investigators then made two purchases of ecstasy from the defendant, paying $8 a tablet for a thousand tablets. Thereafter, the Queens District Attorney's Office's Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau successfully obtained court authorization to install wiretaps on the defendant Amar's telephone and several other telephones that he and his associates controlled. Court authorized eavesdropping warrants were used for over 30 telephones and beepers.

The officials said that it is alleged that over the course of the last several months, the investigation revealed that Amar and his associates Igal Malka (aka Yaish Malka), Yariv Azulay, Oshri Ganchrski (aka Eli Levy), Eyal Levy and Robert Levy (aka Sharlie Castro), engaged in hundreds of wholesale transactions with mid-level buyers/suppliers from Florida, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, California, Ohio, Massachusetts, and the New York metropolitan area and that they routinely obtained large quantities of ecstasy from manufacturers in the Netherlands and Belgium; that they directed shipments of the drug via couriers through gateways in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France to the United States; and that they arranged for members of the network to accompany the couriers on any given flight. It is further alleged that the defendant Amar conducted the day to day business of the network from his Forest Hills apartment where he received orders from dozens of wholesale customers and made arrangements for couriers to deliver the drugs to various locations in New York City where he would then direct the wholesale customers to pick up and pay for the drugs.

District Attorney Brown said, "According to the charges, the defendants made enormous profits trafficking in the drug paying between $1 to $2 per tablet to underground Dutch and Belgian laboratories and then charging their wholesalers $6 to $8 per pill. At the club level tablets sell for $20 - $30 a tablet. For example, in a shipment of 200,000 tablets the profit to the defendant Amar and his associates at the wholesale level is alleged to be approximately $1 million, and at the retail level in the clubs the profit would be anywhere from $12 - $22 per tablet."

The officials said that information gathered during the course of the investigation is being shared with law enforcement authorities nationwide and internationally. That information has fueled investigations in several jurisdictions.

Thirty-two individuals were arrested this morning or are being sought by members of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force. Five of the principal defendants were arrested previously and four are being held without bail. All of the defendants are charged with conspiracy to sell and distribute a controlled substance as well as various counts of criminal possession and or sale of a controlled substance. They face sentences ranging from up to 25 years in prison to 25 years to life in prison upon conviction.

In addition 21 individuals are under arrest - - and three others are being sought - - in Providence, Rhode Island by local police and the Drug Enforcement Task Force in that city as part of this investigation. Those individuals will be prosecuted by the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office.

The investigation was carried out by Detective George Repetti and Special Agent Michael Mokhoff under the supervision of Supervising Agent Frederick Cabbell of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force which is under the command of Assistant Special Agent in Charge John Gilbride and Associate Special Agent Allan M. Keaney and Sgt. Joshua Genn and Det. Joseph Fezza of the Queens District Attorney's Office Squad which is under the command of Captain Harold J. Knorr and Lt. Kenneth Rosello.

Assistant District Attorneys Jennifer Friedman and Brett Harvey of the District Attorney's Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau which is under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Brian J. Mich are in charge of the Queens prosecutions.

The officials expressed their appreciation to the Israeli National Police, the Dutch Police and the Drug Enforcement Task Forces in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for their assistance in the investigation.

It should be noted that an arrest is merely an accusation and that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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