Authorities Arrest 14 in Alleged OxyContin Ring
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NEWARK, N.J. – More than a dozen reputed street gang members, organized crime associates, pharmacists, and college students have been arrested for their parts in an alleged ring that sold the powerful painkiller OxyContin in the Boston area, authorities said yesterday.
The ring moved tens of thousands of pills, which sold for $80 to $100 apiece, authorities said. It took in about $150,000 a week and had been operating for more than a year.
“No one expects there to be a connection between organized crime figures, street gang members, and college students,” Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said. “They do make strange bedfellows.”
Authorities arrested 14 suspects in New Jersey, two in Massachusetts, and one in Arizona on Wednesday and yesterday. More arrests were expected.
The alleged ringleader, Louis Gallicchio, 64, of Newark – described by detectives as a Lucchese crime family associate – befriended street gang members and recruited them to be runners, delivering shipments of pills bought illegally from two pharmacies in Newark, officials said.
Mr. Gallicchio’s main supplier was Clara Lightsey, 46, of East Orange, who allegedly obtained both legitimate and fake prescriptions to buy the drugs from two pharmacists, said Robert Buccino, Union County’s chief of detectives.
When arrested, she had more than 20,000 OxyContin pills and a handgun stuffed into her bra, Mr. Buccino said.
Arraignments were scheduled for Monday, authorities said.