Computers stuffed with cocaine
Saturday, March 22, 2008
A UPS driver from Lodi doubled as a cocaine courier for a notorious Jamaican drug gang, stuffing kilos into computers and delivering them to street-level dealers in Bergen County, authorities charged Friday.
Leaders of the Shower Posse gang would arrange for buyers to meet Amilcar Caballero-Pardo, 35, along his assigned route, which included stops in Teaneck and other nearby towns, police said. It was in Teaneck, authorities said, that they witnessed Caballero-Pardo drop off packages of cocaine.
Caballero-Pardo, a 14-year employee with the United Parcel Service, was arrested at the UPS hub in Secaucus after he finished his route on Thursday. He was charged with drug distribution and conspiracy.
"He was shocked," said Detective Sgt. Ricky Rosario, a Passaic County Sheriff's Department officer assigned to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, which led the monthlong investigation into the drug enterprise of the Shower Posse.
The group was allegedly led by Oral Watson, a 31-year-old Jamaican national from the Eastside of Paterson, and distributed crack and powder cocaine to dealers throughout Passaic, Bergen and Morris counties, investigators said. Also arrested was Dwight Donald Lewis, 37, also of Paterson, who leased an apartment in Hackensack that the gang used as a stash house, authorities said.
Authorities arrested Watson outside the Prospect Avenue apartment building, The Carlyle, on Thursday morning. A search of the sixth floor, one-bedroom apartment rented by Lewis uncovered cash, drugs, guns and luxury items, authorities said.
"It had not too much as far as furniture goes," Rosario said. "There was no bed in the bedroom, no nothing."
The living room had a 70-inch flat-screen TV and a three-piece sofa, Rosario said. Beneath the seat cushions police found an AK-47 assault rifle.
"We found drugs in the bedroom closet, inside of a black gym bag," Rosario said. "A loaded 9mm handgun was found in the closet where the drugs were found, wedged in between some T-shirts."
Between the Hackensack raid and another in Paterson, police seized more than 12 kilos of cocaine, which has a street value of $500,000 when sold in smaller quantities; about $85,000 in cash; $40,000 worth of jewelry; a 2007 BMW 530; and a 2006 Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle, authorities said.
Lewis and Watson were each being held Friday night at Passaic County Jail on $500,000 bail. An agent for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said Lewis, who spent most of 2005 in state prison on a drug distribution conviction, illegally reentered the United States after his release. Watson is a legal permanent resident of the U.S., investigators said.
Watson funneled drug money through party promotions, in which he would rent out halls in Newark and Paterson to promote Jamaican-themed concerts, authorities said. The money collected from entrance fees and liquor sales would drain back into Watson's drug enterprise, while appearing to be legitimately earned cash, investigators said.
Laura Kida, 39, of Pine Brook, and Fabricio Zambrano, 27 and Carlos Calle-Munoz, 26, both of Dover, identified as associates of Watson and Lewis, were charged Friday.
The Shower Posse is one of the two largest Jamaican posses in the United States, according to a 1989 report by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation. The most significant incident involving the Shower Posse occurred in August 1985 in a park in Oakland, when three rival posses engaged in a large gunbattle.
Three people died in the shootout, 19 were injured and police seized 33 weapons. Most of the victims of the Oakland melee apparently were innocent bystanders, police said in 1985.
Shower Posse networks are involved in the sale of cocaine and marijuana in most of the major cities in New Jersey, according to the state report.
A UPS driver from Lodi doubled as a cocaine courier for a notorious Jamaican drug gang, stuffing kilos into computers and delivering them to street-level dealers in Bergen County, authorities charged Friday.
Leaders of the Shower Posse gang would arrange for buyers to meet Amilcar Caballero-Pardo, 35, along his assigned route, which included stops in Teaneck and other nearby towns, police said. It was in Teaneck, authorities said, that they witnessed Caballero-Pardo drop off packages of cocaine.
Caballero-Pardo, a 14-year employee with the United Parcel Service, was arrested at the UPS hub in Secaucus after he finished his route on Thursday. He was charged with drug distribution and conspiracy.
"He was shocked," said Detective Sgt. Ricky Rosario, a Passaic County Sheriff's Department officer assigned to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, which led the monthlong investigation into the drug enterprise of the Shower Posse.
The group was allegedly led by Oral Watson, a 31-year-old Jamaican national from the Eastside of Paterson, and distributed crack and powder cocaine to dealers throughout Passaic, Bergen and Morris counties, investigators said. Also arrested was Dwight Donald Lewis, 37, also of Paterson, who leased an apartment in Hackensack that the gang used as a stash house, authorities said.
Authorities arrested Watson outside the Prospect Avenue apartment building, The Carlyle, on Thursday morning. A search of the sixth floor, one-bedroom apartment rented by Lewis uncovered cash, drugs, guns and luxury items, authorities said.
"It had not too much as far as furniture goes," Rosario said. "There was no bed in the bedroom, no nothing."
The living room had a 70-inch flat-screen TV and a three-piece sofa, Rosario said. Beneath the seat cushions police found an AK-47 assault rifle.
"We found drugs in the bedroom closet, inside of a black gym bag," Rosario said. "A loaded 9mm handgun was found in the closet where the drugs were found, wedged in between some T-shirts."
Between the Hackensack raid and another in Paterson, police seized more than 12 kilos of cocaine, which has a street value of $500,000 when sold in smaller quantities; about $85,000 in cash; $40,000 worth of jewelry; a 2007 BMW 530; and a 2006 Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle, authorities said.
Lewis and Watson were each being held Friday night at Passaic County Jail on $500,000 bail. An agent for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said Lewis, who spent most of 2005 in state prison on a drug distribution conviction, illegally reentered the United States after his release. Watson is a legal permanent resident of the U.S., investigators said.
Watson funneled drug money through party promotions, in which he would rent out halls in Newark and Paterson to promote Jamaican-themed concerts, authorities said. The money collected from entrance fees and liquor sales would drain back into Watson's drug enterprise, while appearing to be legitimately earned cash, investigators said.
Laura Kida, 39, of Pine Brook, and Fabricio Zambrano, 27 and Carlos Calle-Munoz, 26, both of Dover, identified as associates of Watson and Lewis, were charged Friday.
The Shower Posse is one of the two largest Jamaican posses in the United States, according to a 1989 report by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation. The most significant incident involving the Shower Posse occurred in August 1985 in a park in Oakland, when three rival posses engaged in a large gunbattle.
Three people died in the shootout, 19 were injured and police seized 33 weapons. Most of the victims of the Oakland melee apparently were innocent bystanders, police said in 1985.
Shower Posse networks are involved in the sale of cocaine and marijuana in most of the major cities in New Jersey, according to the state report.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
A UPS driver from Lodi doubled as a cocaine courier for a notorious Jamaican drug gang, stuffing kilos into computers and delivering them to street-level dealers in Bergen County, authorities charged Friday.
Leaders of the Shower Posse gang would arrange for buyers to meet Amilcar Caballero-Pardo, 35, along his assigned route, which included stops in Teaneck and other nearby towns, police said. It was in Teaneck, authorities said, that they witnessed Caballero-Pardo drop off packages of cocaine.
Caballero-Pardo, a 14-year employee with the United Parcel Service, was arrested at the UPS hub in Secaucus after he finished his route on Thursday. He was charged with drug distribution and conspiracy.
"He was shocked," said Detective Sgt. Ricky Rosario, a Passaic County Sheriff's Department officer assigned to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, which led the monthlong investigation into the drug enterprise of the Shower Posse.
The group was allegedly led by Oral Watson, a 31-year-old Jamaican national from the Eastside of Paterson, and distributed crack and powder cocaine to dealers throughout Passaic, Bergen and Morris counties, investigators said. Also arrested was Dwight Donald Lewis, 37, also of Paterson, who leased an apartment in Hackensack that the gang used as a stash house, authorities said.
Authorities arrested Watson outside the Prospect Avenue apartment building, The Carlyle, on Thursday morning. A search of the sixth floor, one-bedroom apartment rented by Lewis uncovered cash, drugs, guns and luxury items, authorities said.
"It had not too much as far as furniture goes," Rosario said. "There was no bed in the bedroom, no nothing."
The living room had a 70-inch flat-screen TV and a three-piece sofa, Rosario said. Beneath the seat cushions police found an AK-47 assault rifle.
"We found drugs in the bedroom closet, inside of a black gym bag," Rosario said. "A loaded 9mm handgun was found in the closet where the drugs were found, wedged in between some T-shirts."
Between the Hackensack raid and another in Paterson, police seized more than 12 kilos of cocaine, which has a street value of $500,000 when sold in smaller quantities; about $85,000 in cash; $40,000 worth of jewelry; a 2007 BMW 530; and a 2006 Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle, authorities said.
Lewis and Watson were each being held Friday night at Passaic County Jail on $500,000 bail. An agent for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said Lewis, who spent most of 2005 in state prison on a drug distribution conviction, illegally reentered the United States after his release. Watson is a legal permanent resident of the U.S., investigators said.
Watson funneled drug money through party promotions, in which he would rent out halls in Newark and Paterson to promote Jamaican-themed concerts, authorities said. The money collected from entrance fees and liquor sales would drain back into Watson's drug enterprise, while appearing to be legitimately earned cash, investigators said.
Laura Kida, 39, of Pine Brook, and Fabricio Zambrano, 27 and Carlos Calle-Munoz, 26, both of Dover, identified as associates of Watson and Lewis, were charged Friday.
The Shower Posse is one of the two largest Jamaican posses in the United States, according to a 1989 report by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation. The most significant incident involving the Shower Posse occurred in August 1985 in a park in Oakland, when three rival posses engaged in a large gunbattle.
Three people died in the shootout, 19 were injured and police seized 33 weapons. Most of the victims of the Oakland melee apparently were innocent bystanders, police said in 1985.
Shower Posse networks are involved in the sale of cocaine and marijuana in most of the major cities in New Jersey, according to the state report.
A UPS driver from Lodi doubled as a cocaine courier for a notorious Jamaican drug gang, stuffing kilos into computers and delivering them to street-level dealers in Bergen County, authorities charged Friday.
Leaders of the Shower Posse gang would arrange for buyers to meet Amilcar Caballero-Pardo, 35, along his assigned route, which included stops in Teaneck and other nearby towns, police said. It was in Teaneck, authorities said, that they witnessed Caballero-Pardo drop off packages of cocaine.
Caballero-Pardo, a 14-year employee with the United Parcel Service, was arrested at the UPS hub in Secaucus after he finished his route on Thursday. He was charged with drug distribution and conspiracy.
"He was shocked," said Detective Sgt. Ricky Rosario, a Passaic County Sheriff's Department officer assigned to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, which led the monthlong investigation into the drug enterprise of the Shower Posse.
The group was allegedly led by Oral Watson, a 31-year-old Jamaican national from the Eastside of Paterson, and distributed crack and powder cocaine to dealers throughout Passaic, Bergen and Morris counties, investigators said. Also arrested was Dwight Donald Lewis, 37, also of Paterson, who leased an apartment in Hackensack that the gang used as a stash house, authorities said.
Authorities arrested Watson outside the Prospect Avenue apartment building, The Carlyle, on Thursday morning. A search of the sixth floor, one-bedroom apartment rented by Lewis uncovered cash, drugs, guns and luxury items, authorities said.
"It had not too much as far as furniture goes," Rosario said. "There was no bed in the bedroom, no nothing."
The living room had a 70-inch flat-screen TV and a three-piece sofa, Rosario said. Beneath the seat cushions police found an AK-47 assault rifle.
"We found drugs in the bedroom closet, inside of a black gym bag," Rosario said. "A loaded 9mm handgun was found in the closet where the drugs were found, wedged in between some T-shirts."
Between the Hackensack raid and another in Paterson, police seized more than 12 kilos of cocaine, which has a street value of $500,000 when sold in smaller quantities; about $85,000 in cash; $40,000 worth of jewelry; a 2007 BMW 530; and a 2006 Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle, authorities said.
Lewis and Watson were each being held Friday night at Passaic County Jail on $500,000 bail. An agent for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said Lewis, who spent most of 2005 in state prison on a drug distribution conviction, illegally reentered the United States after his release. Watson is a legal permanent resident of the U.S., investigators said.
Watson funneled drug money through party promotions, in which he would rent out halls in Newark and Paterson to promote Jamaican-themed concerts, authorities said. The money collected from entrance fees and liquor sales would drain back into Watson's drug enterprise, while appearing to be legitimately earned cash, investigators said.
Laura Kida, 39, of Pine Brook, and Fabricio Zambrano, 27 and Carlos Calle-Munoz, 26, both of Dover, identified as associates of Watson and Lewis, were charged Friday.
The Shower Posse is one of the two largest Jamaican posses in the United States, according to a 1989 report by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation. The most significant incident involving the Shower Posse occurred in August 1985 in a park in Oakland, when three rival posses engaged in a large gunbattle.
Three people died in the shootout, 19 were injured and police seized 33 weapons. Most of the victims of the Oakland melee apparently were innocent bystanders, police said in 1985.
Shower Posse networks are involved in the sale of cocaine and marijuana in most of the major cities in New Jersey, according to the state report.