A UPS driver from Lodi doubled as a cocaine courier

upsis

Gold Member
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.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
We get the drug dogs in our bldg every other month or so and about 2 years ago they alerted on this package which contained a bowling ball which had been drilled, stuffed with marijuana, plugged, and surrounded by coffee beans, which I have been told is supposed to distract the dogs. Well, I guess these dogs were not coffee drinkers as they went nuts over this package so the agents got with the driver to determine approx. delivery time. The driver delivered the pkg, got a signature, and almost immediately the consignee was arrested.
 

RockyRogue

Agent of Change
We get the drug dogs in our bldg every other month or so and about 2 years ago they alerted on this package which contained a bowling ball which had been drilled, stuffed with marijuana, plugged, and surrounded by coffee beans, which I have been told is supposed to distract the dogs.

Not surprised about the dogs in the hub. I remember hearing about this same kind of thing a number of years ago (L.A. maybe?). And there are a couple things that are supposed to throw the dogs off. Fortunately, in the case you describe they weren't!:happy2: -Rocky
 

Channahon

Well-Known Member
I had the opportunity to hold a package for law enforcement and their pooches. The process is to line up a few packages, including the suspected package. The dog hit on the package and arrangementes were made for delivery or pick up.

The officer told me the pooches nose sniffing skills only last so long, but they do document their "hits" and they have resumes as well. Which at times, comes in handy with court cases.
 

Johney

Well-Known Member
The driver delivered the pkg, got a signature, and almost immediately the consignee was arrested.
They actually allowed the driver to deliver the pkg knowing there were drugs in it? They don't do that here. Also those drug sniffing dogs will sniff out the contraband through any type of concealment. So I was told while talking to one of the cops at our building one day.
 

SmithBarney

Well-Known Member
Why did they wait until he was done delivering to arrest him. :anxious:

Duh.. so his numbers wouldn't ruin the building numbers for the day of course...
Management probably pleaded with the cops to let him finish..

Not to mention if he got arrested during the day, all those packages would
probably get impounded for weeks or months. Management couldn't have that happen.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
They did not arrest the driver as the pkg was not addressed nor intended for him. I'm sorry if I didn't make this clear (although I thought I did) They simply asked him what time he would be at this particular address, advised him that they would be waiting for him to complete the delivery and that he was to get out of there as soon as he could, and that he was to get an autograph for documentation purposes. They then arrested the consignee for receipt of illegal drugs with intent to distribute. Last I heard he was captain of the bowling team on his cell block and had just bowled his first 300.
 

ExupserNaples

Well-Known Member
About 5 years ago during peak, the cops showed up at the building looking for a helper who was felon wanted on some more charges. I happened to be on TAW so was in the office being a "real OMS." The cops wanted his location...right now... The manager pleads like a little school girl about letting the guy finish the day, to help the driver. Well for some reason the cops agree and agree to return later. In all of managements wisdom, they ODS the driver and tell him to be careful, that there is a wanted felon as his helper. The driver gets the message and tells the guy to get off the truck... He returns later that night, alone, and he gets sh** from the manager about it. DUH. Then the cops get back, and really ream the manager, it was quite funny.
 

bad company

semi-pro
Crazy, stupid, and sad that someone would ruin their life, career, and their families' lives over a little bit of extra cash.

At one of the centers I used to work out of, there was a large box of the white powder that was found during a visit from the K-9 team. The detectives wanted to have the intended consignee pick up the package from the customer counter. So they called the consignee from the center and informed him that the package was "accidently left behind (left in building)" and that if they wanted it today, that they would need to come pick it up in person and that UPS would refund the shipping charges. Sure enough, they needed the package ASAP and were on their way to pick up the package.

Undercover officers were setup outside in vehicles, parked in adjacent lots, and there was also an undercover posing as a customer counter clerk. Actually, they just gave him a helper jacket and told the customer counter clerk that he was her help for the day. They never told the clerk that he was a cop, which was funny because there were times that she wanted him to do such and such and he had no idea what she was talking about. I was given the task of going outside into the customer parking lot and verifying which vehicle the suspects were in (Caprice with 20" big shiny spinning wheels) because the undercovers who were outside could not see the car clearly due to the cars parked next to it. Anyway, the cop delivered the package to one of the suspects, the suspect signed for it with his own name, and the undercovers followed them back to their home. They then busted the house and found all kinds of goodies...i.e. cash, guns, and more drugs.
 
I've heard this story told at our center.
A suspected package came in for a known (to the law) drug pusher. (how the law knew this was coming in I have no idea) The cops put an undercover man in browns and package car with that one package, he made the delivery got the perps signature and then arrested him.
When I heard the story I thought, "oh GREAT now all the drug pushers are gonna thing UPS drivers are cops. Where's my bullet proof vest?"
 

HPLude

Member
Their must be sometime limit from when the receiver accepts the package before the cops can bust someone. Case would go NO WHERE in court IMO.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
I always wondered about the "signing for" the drugs part too.

I mean, if my UPS driver handed me a box, and asked me to sign, I would sign if it was addressed to me even if I had no idea what was in it.

That would be my defense in court. "Of course I signed for it, it was addressed to me! But I have no idea why someone would send me this illegal substance. You should go arrest the shipper!"

IE, I don't think they could charge you simply for signing for the drugs. Or, I guess they could charge you, but I don't see how just signing for it would hold up in court.




(Over9five is not an attorney, he just plays one on BrownCafe...)
 

UPS Lifer

Well-Known Member
We get the drug dogs in our bldg every other month or so and about 2 years ago they alerted on this package which contained a bowling ball which had been drilled, stuffed with marijuana, plugged, and surrounded by coffee beans, which I have been told is supposed to distract the dogs. Well, I guess these dogs were not coffee drinkers as they went nuts over this package so the agents got with the driver to determine approx. delivery time. The driver delivered the pkg, got a signature, and almost immediately the consignee was arrested.

Ontario has Customs agents on property. We provide offices for them. The dogs hit every air sort weekly or more!. It is real interesting to watch them at work!
 

BLACKBOX

Life is a Highway...
They simply asked him what time he would be at this particular address, advised him that they would be waiting for him to complete the delivery

If this is what the cops wanted me to do I would say hell no! What if someone knew the package was coming (other than the consignee) and decides to take it by force? I would 86 that package faster than "S" through a goose!

Years ago in our center we used to have US Customs come and "sniff" the boxline and trailers. At the end of that they used to get some employee to hide a "drug baggie" anywhere in the Center sort area, amazing that the dog finds it within 15 minutes.
 
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