After authorities allegedly found 20 pounds of cocaine hidden in cigar boxes inside the Brooklyn home of Jose Leonardo, the man was arraigned Friday in Manhattan, according to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York.
During a court-ordered search of the Cypress Hills home in April, approximately 20 pounds of cocaine was found inside 45 cigar boxes with false bottoms, leading to Leonardo’s April 16 arrest. That cocaine has an estimated street value of $300,000 said the special narcotics prosecutor’s office.
Leonardo allegedly drove a blue Nissan Rogue from his Cypress Hills residence to New Jersey on the day he was arrested, according to authorities. At around 9:30 a.m., investigators saw him remove a large box from his trunk and carry it to the rear of his residence. This eventually led them to cardboard boxes filled with the false-bottom cigar boxes filled with think bricks of cocaine, as well as similar thin bricks of ketamine.
Leonardo was charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First, Third and Fifth Degrees in an indictment filed by the office. A second defendant named Yenky Gil was also arraigned on a related indictment in May and charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Second and Third Degrees.
Gil was arrested about a month before Leonardo after allegedly meeting at the Cypress Hill home. Investigators followed him to Manhattan, where they stopped him and discovered a brick of cocaine.
“Large shipments of narcotics are often creatively concealed – in this case cocaine was hidden underneath real cigars. Drug shipments such as this are typically transported to a location where they can be repackaged into smaller amounts and distributed to multiple locations,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan. “Considerable effort went into shielding the cocaine from detection and preventing the loss of profits that result from law enforcement seizures.”
She also said that her office has observed increased cocaine production, with more supply coming from Central and South America.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said the investigation included coordinated efforts by the New York Police Department, the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the New York State Police, and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
In June, Leonardo was released on $100,000 bail/$100,000 bond with court-ordered electronic monitoring. Gil has been in custody since March with bail set at $50,000 cash/$100,000 bond.
This March, 1010 WINS also reported on an alleged narcotics packaging mill busted in Harlem.