Feds Bust Camden NJ Drug Trafficking Ring

CAMDEN, N.J. – In a major blow to the city’s street crime, federal, state, and local law enforcement partners led by the FBI arrested 16 members of related drug trafficking organizations, bound by family and narcotics business relationships, that processed and distributed crack, powder cocaine and heroin on the streets of Camden County.

According to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, the arrests targeted a group of interconnected drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) operating primarily in the Whitman Park section of Camden. The complaints unsealed today charge 21 defendants in two separate DTOs: one allegedly led by Efraim Rivera (the Rivera DTO), and the second involving two groups run by the Roldan and Ramos families – allegedly led by cousins Raymond Roldan and Jerome “Ant” Ramos – operated cooperatively on Sheridan Street as one organization (the Sheridan Street DTO).

In addition to the 16 defendants arrested today, two of the charged individuals, Dewayne Jackson and Mark Washington, were already in custody on state charges. Three more are being sought by law enforcement. Those arrested today are expected to appear this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Marie Donio in Camden federal court.

“According to the charges, these individuals turned entire city blocks into distribution centers for narcotics,” said U.S. Attorney Fishman. “Relying on the bond of blood ties, they allegedly operated drug trafficking businesses as a family affair, sharing suppliers and street dealers in Camden and throughout South Jersey. Law enforcement is collectively committed to improving the quality of life of the people who live in these neighborhoods, who deserve freedom from drug trafficking and related violence.”

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, the DTOs together controlled or supplied numerous drug distribution groups, or “sets,” throughout Camden with powder cocaine, crack and – through the Ramos group – heroin. They also supplied other narcotics distributors, who sold the DTOs’ drugs throughout Camden County, including in Lindenwold, Sicklerville and Gloucester City.

Many of the DTOs’ members are relatives, and the Roldan and Ramos groups live in close proximity to one another on Sheridan Street. While the Roldan and Ramos groups each ran their own open-air drug sets along three blocks of Sheridan Street, they shared territory, set workers and suppliers, and used the same locations to process powder cocaine into crack cocaine.

An investigation led by the FBI used surveillance, confidential informants and cooperating witnesses, controlled drug purchases, record checks and telephone wiretaps to uncover the distribution networks. Just during the time period of the wiretap – from Dec. 4, 2013 to March 4, 2014 – the Rivera DTO trafficked at least 225 ounces and the Sheridan Street DTO trafficked more than 50 ounces of powder cocaine. During the same period, the Rivera DTO trafficked approximately 24 ounces of crack. The Sheridan Street DTO sold more than 36 ounces of crack during a similar time frame – ending April 16, 2014 – during which the Ramos group also trafficked a minimum 325 grams of heroin, making approximately $1,800 a day on heroin alone.

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