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PR Newswire
May 19, 1993, Wednesday
State and Regional News
CRACK VIAL DISTRIBUTORS CHARGED IN DRUG CONSPIRACY
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA, May 19
Michael J. Rotko, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Ernest D. Preate Jr., Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, S.B. Billbrough, Special Agent in Charge, Philadelphia Office, Drug Enforcement Administration, C. Michael Daley, Chief of the Criminal Investigation Division, Philadelphia Office, Internal Revenue Service, David Warren, Special Agent in Charge, Philadelphia Office, U.S. Customs Service, and R.M. Hazelwood, III, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Service, Philadelphia, announced today that a federal grand jury has returned two indictments charging twenty-five (25) individuals with conspiring to aid and abet the distribution of approximately 815,000 grams of "crack" cocaine through the sale of "crack" cocaine vials to "crack" dealers.
The two indictments charge that the twenty-five defendants established and maintained two competing criminal organizations, referred to as the Belkin Crack Vial Organization and the Sigal Crack Vial Organization, in order to manufacture and distribute crack vials for use by "crack" dealers in packaging and selling "crack" cocaine. Each organization created and manufactured its own brands of "crack" vials: the Belkin Crack Vial Organization manufactured the "Banana" vial, and the "Illusion" vial; the Sigal Crack Vial Organization created the "Black Rose" vial. The "Banana" vials were popular with "crack" vial dealers, the grand jury alleged, because they were designed to give the appearance of containing more "crack" than they actually held.
The two organizations are charged with manufacturing approximately 16,300,000 "crack" vials during the last three years. The indictment charges that the Belkin Organization's "crack" vial factory is located at Vortex Products Corporation, 100 Prospect Street, Metuchen, New Jersey; the Sigal Organization's "crack" vial factory is located at M & C Supply Company, 145 Railroad Drive, Warminster, Pennsylvania.
At one point, the grand jury charged, the Sigal Organization's vial business was so successful that it had trouble meeting orders. The indictment charges that one defendant said "the packaging broke down ... of course I want to have it done ... they're running 24-hour shifts ... you can't do no more ... the machine is running non-stop."
According to the indictment, the "crack" vials usually moved from the factories to storage facilities in and around Philadelphia, New York and northern New Jersey. The vials were distributed by members of the organizations to retail stores owned by members of the organization, as well as others, in Philadelphia, New York, Wilmington and elsewhere. The stores -- which often sold "crack" vials together with narcotic cutting agents and other drug paraphernalia -- then sold the vials directly to "crack" dealers, often in packs of 100 or more. The "crack" dealers used the vials to package chunks of "crack" cocaine to "crack" addicts and users.
"If you've ever seen crack vials on the street in Philadelphia, you may have been looking at vials made by one of these two organizations," said Attorney General Preate.
The following retail stores are identified in the indictments as being operated by members of the Belkin and Sigal organizations and as selling "crack" vials to "crack" users:Sound of Music II Sound of Music
2634 Germantown Avenue 3613 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, PA
Music City Music City
2309-11 North Front Street 2722 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, PA
John's Discount Store Seven Plus Electronics
1402 West Girard Avenue 1408 West Girard Avenue
Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, PA
Sound of Chelten Hi-Tech Electronics
127 West Chelten Avenue 135-A South 52nd Street
Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, PA
Blue Star Sportswear Hi-Sound Stereo
135-B South 52nd Street 502 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA Wilmington, DE
4th Street Car Stereo 5th Street Car Stereo
404 Market Street 2957 North Fifth Street
Wilmington, DE Philadelphia, PA
Car Stereo City Yok's Electronics
2752 Germantown Avenue 2640 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, PA
Sound of Woodland Golden Sound
6337 Woodland Avenue 4093 Lancaster Avenue
Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, PA
New York Sound & Video
27 North 52nd Street
Philadelphia, PA
The grand jury charged that the Belkin Organization attempted to extend its distribution system outside of the Middle Atlantic area. One defendant was overheard describing a trip he had taken to Atlanta, Georgia. He stated: "We made deals with the three big dealers. The big dealers took the capsules. I gave everybody capsules, even the small dealers. But it was under the condition that they will continue to distribute them further."In order to hide their profits, the indictments charge, certain of the defendants laundered cash receipts in order to hide the fact that the proceeds came from the sale of "crack" vials. One defendant alone is charged with 90 counts of money laundering.
This morning, teams of law enforcement agents began serving arrests warrants on twenty-five defendants in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Agents also executed search warrants on thirty-five locations, including the factories where the "crack" vials were manufactured, residences of certain defendants, storage facilities and warehouses used by the defendants, retail stores from which "crack" vials were sold, and safe deposit boxes used by certain of the defendants.One indictment charges the following individuals with criminal participation in the Belkin Crack Vial Organization:
Henry Belkin, a/k/a "Mike," Leonard Edelson, Sam Zhadanov, Alexander Srebrianski, a/k/a "Alex," Zachria Gispan, a/k/a "Zacki," Michael Haftka, a/k/a "Mischa," Gavriel Golan, a/k/a "Gabby," Roman Zabizhim, FNU Kim, a/k/a "Mr. Kim."
A separate indictment charges the following individuals with criminal participation in the Sigal Crack Vial Organization:
Valery Sigal, a/k/a "Joe," Gennady Sigal, a/k/a "Gene, Zoltan Racz, Zoltan Harta, Dany Hersohn, a/k/a "Danik," FNU Kim, a/k/a "Mr. Kim," Mi Ran Kim, Menachem Gola, a/k/a "Nachem," Jabar Pierre Bouayad, John Bonner, James Skyrm, Robert Platt, Yechiel Shifman, a/k/a "Yok," Majid Gholamzadeh, a/k/a "Magic," Edik Ilin, Aziz Kadoory Aziz, a/k/a "Joe."
The investigation was begun by the Bureau of Narcotics Investigation of the Attorney General's Office. Federal agencies joined when the investigation expanded beyond Pennsylvania. Rotko and Preate called the investigation and indictments "an example of the excellent results which can come from close cooperation between state and federal law enforcement agencies." Assistant United States Attorneys Paul L. Gray and Scott D. Godshall have been working closely with the agents during
the investigation and will be handling the prosecution.
Bump.