Crime is up 3% and heroin remains a problem

Riverdale and Kingsbridge saw two major heroin busts this year — and with demand for the drug showing no signs of slowing down, they probably won’t be the last. 

On May 17, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents found an estimated $50 million worth of heroin stashed in a Riverdale apartment at 210 W. 251st St. Authorities said it was the largest bust by the DEA in state history. At the time, Agent Erin Mulvey said the 154 pounds of heroin in that apartment could have dosed “every man, woman and child in New York City.”

The next local bust was on May 28 at a Kingsbridge apartment, where DEA agents recovered one of several stashes in a statewide ring amounting to $5 million worth of heroin. 

Darrin Porcher, a professor who teaches at the School of Criminal Justice at Monroe College, said drug traffickers pick places like Riverdale on purpose.

“It actually makes a lot of sense,” Mr. Porcher, a former NYPD lieutenant, explained. “They will store the drugs in places that are not high-crime areas because they do not want to bring attention to their operations.”

The traffickers use these apartments as warehouses and refrain from actually selling drugs or doing anything that would attract attention from other criminals or the police.

“If you have 50 kilos of heroin in the south Bronx, you’re probably going to need a tank to guard it,” Mr. Porcher said. 

“You’ve got in Riverdale, lots of families, kids, retired people… [traffickers] pick out nicer buildings, they pay their rent” to avoid detection, he explained. 

“There are investigations going on all over the city. A number are in the Bronx, without being specific,” said Special Agent in Charge James Hunt, who leads the DEA’s New York Division.

Agent Hunt emphasized that as long as Mexican drug cartels find demand for heroin, they will keep stashing it around New York City in unassuming neighborhoods like Riverdale. He added that treatment for addiction and drug education will help lower demand. 

Agent Hunt also stressed that the public can play a role in catching drug traffickers.