Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown have announced the filing of criminal charges against two sprawling, loosely-knit groups comprised of  thirty-seven individuals for allegedly selling Ecstasy, Vicodin, Oxycodone, Suboxone, and other highly addictive pharmaceuticals, as well as marijuana, in Queens.

Officers executed eight court-authorized search warrants and recovered three loaded handguns, large quantities of marijuana, Ecstasy, Vicodin, Suboxone, and approximately $20,000 in cash.

Commissioner Kelly said, “The combination of drugs and guns is a clear prescription for violence. Investigators today recovered firearms along with high-end pharmaceuticals and large quantities of marijuana, in addition to a veritable pharmacy of painkillers and other narcotics that were purchased during dangerous undercover operations. I commend the men and women of the NYPD Queens Narcotics Borough and the members of the District Attorney’s office for their comprehensive coverage of this prolific network of drug dealers.”

Queens District Attorney Brown said, “The drugs in which the defendants are alleged to have trafficked in are popular with club patrons despite the fact that they pose serious health risks. We have seen a huge rise in the use and abuse of prescription painkillers. Drugs such as Vicodin and Oxycodone are extremely potent and have a high potential for abuse and death. Customers, in this case, were allegedly steered to different dealers – depending on the drug requested.  Today’s arrests not only cut off the suppliers of these drugs, but the distributors as well.”

The twenty-eight defendants charged in the indictment were arrested April 21 and are expected to be arraigned in Queens Supreme Court in Kew Gardens. Nine additional defendants charged in criminal complaints were also arrested and are being held pending arraignment in Queens Criminal Court. The defendants are variously charged with numerous counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal sale of marihuana, criminal possession of marihuana, conspiracy and criminal facilitation.
  
District Attorney Brown said that, according to the charges, the investigation, called “Operation Bad Medicine,” began in June 2008 when an undercover detective learned that various illegal drugs were available for sale at a  bar known as Mix Café + Lounge, located at 40-17 30th Avenue in Astoria, Queens. One of the club’s owners, Javier Leon, 42, is accused of selling the undercover officer 80 Vicodin pills for $500 and $1,400 worth of cocaine from his Long Island City apartment in 2009. Bartender Stefan Sweeting, 27, is accused of selling Ecstasy and marihuana to undercover officers in the club on four separate occasions in 2009 and early 2010.

It is further alleged that Leon introduced undercover officers to Hi Kim, 27, reputed to be a main distributor for one of the groups and who is alleged to have sold thousands of Ecstasy pills to undercover officers, as well as scores of other illegal drugs – including Ketamine, Oxycodone, Vicodin, Aderall, Codeine and marihuana. Two of Kim’s roommates – Matheus Ottoni, 24, and Rafael Ottoni, 28 – are also charged in the indictment. Another cohort of Kim’s, John Congemi, 24, is accused of selling Oxycodone and Vicodin to an undercover officer, and being the link between Kim’s group and a second group, an alleged retail pharmaceutical drug distribution family, that included three siblings whose mother is charged with facilitation.

It is alleged that a member of this family, Christopher Olsen, 26, was an illegal distributor of pharmaceuticals – including Xanax, Oxycodone and Suboxone  – who sold to undercover detectives out of the Whitestone house he shared with his brother, Sean Olsen, 23, and his sister, Elizabeth Olsen, 16, both of whom are also charged with selling to undercover officers. Finally, their mother, Kathleen Olsen, 56, who also lives at the same address, is charged with criminal facilitation.
         
The investigation was conducted by Detectives Bryan Zuccaro and John Bulone, of the Queens Narcotics Squad, under the supervision of Sergeant Terrance Curran, Lieutenant Christopher Thomas, Captain Christopher Morello and Inspector Michael E. Bryan, and under the overall supervision of Assistant Chief Joseph Reznick, Commanding Officer of the Narcotics Division, and Chief Anthony Izzo, Commanding Officer, Organized Crime Control Bureau.

Assistant District Attorney Philip D. Anderson, Supervisor of the District Attorney’s Narcotics Investigations Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys  Wilbert J. LeMelle, Bureau Chief, and Karen J. Friedman, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.

Indictments and criminal complaints are accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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