Heroin Trafficking Ring Busted in New Orleans

Heroin Trafficking Ring Busted in New Orleans

U.S. Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite, Jr. announced that Andre Addison, a resident of New Orleans, pled guilty today to possession with intent to distribute heroin. Addison was one of fifteen defendants charged in a seventeen-count superseding indictment for Violations of the Controlled Substances Act.

According to court documents, the investigation – entitled "Operation Megabusted" — revealed that a heroin trafficking organization, led by Byron M. Evans, was responsible for distributing kilogram quantities of heroin and cocaine between Houston, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana. This organization was supplied by two Columbian Foreign Nationals illegally present in the United States.

Variety of couriers for this drug trafficking organization transported kilogram quantities of heroin and cocaine from Houston to New Orleans via the Megabus and other methods of transportation. Upon arrival in New Orleans, the heroin and cocaine were distributed throughout New Orleans, Avondale, St. Charles Parish, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In total, this organization is responsible for the distribution of approximately 30 kilograms of heroin and cocaine over the span of a two-year period.

Alvaro Herney Cortes, one of two Columbian Foreign Nationals indicted, remains an active fugitive. Thirteen of the fourteen defendants in custody have now pled guilty, including Byron M. Evans, a/k/a “B-Boy,”; Yulian Gabriel Vera-Oliveros, a/k/a “Luis Angel Jimenez,” a/k/a “Paco,”; Alvaro Herney Cortes, a/k/a “Ezequiel Padilla Romero,” a/k/a “Cookie,”; et. al.

This case was investigated by the New Orleans Gang Task Force (NOGTF), which includes members of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office (JPSO), and the St. Tammany Police Sheriff’s Office (STPSO). Also assisting in the investigation were members of the Houston Police Department (HPD)/HIDTA Task Force; Hattiesburg 12-NET Task Force; St. Charles Sheriff’s Office; and the Hattiesburg District Attorney’s Office.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney J. Collin Sims. The guilty plea was entered on [date]. Addison is scheduled to be sentenced on [date]. Addison faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine, and a term of supervised release of at least 3 years. The investigation and prosecution of this case were part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime and Gang Section’s (OCGS) Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative, which is a nationwide project to reduce gun and gang violence and to disrupt and dismantle the most violent gang and drug trafficking organizations.

U.S. Attorney Polite commended the New Orleans Gang Task Force and the other law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation for their tireless efforts to combat the flow of heroin and other illicit substances into the New Orleans area. He also commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Sims for his diligent prosecution of this case.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt, and that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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