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Friday, October 29, 2010

Three NYC high-end cocaine dealers busted by cops

Charlie Sheen isn't the only one now with powder on his face.

Three high-end drug dealers were cooling their heels behind bars yesterday after police smashed their door-to-door cocaine delivery service that catered to the city's elite — including celebrities, law enforcement sources said.

The dealers, identified as Manuel Castillo, 34, Juan Torres, 30, and Torres' girlfriend, Stephanie Matute, 30, charged a 300 percent mark up on 70 percent pure cocaine and made curbside deliveries to Manhattan nightclubs as well as hotspots in the Hamptons, sources said.

The investigation began in May when an undercover cop posing as a Chelsea power broker made 10 drug buys, said sources.

Cops moved in on Thursday when the undercover officer met with ringleader Castillo and his deliveryman Torres at a Cafe in Astoria, Queens, claiming he needed a large quantity of cocaine for a Halloween party. The men sold the undercover 70 grams at a discounted price of $7,200 sources said.

The service has been in business for an estimated five years, making deliveries throughout the city and brought in an estimated half a million dollars annually, sources said.

"The service has delivered to some celebrity clients based on intelligence," said one source close to the investigation.

A gram of the drug, which was packaged not in the traditional small plastic envelope but in a tinted glass vial, sold for $120 a gram, about 300 percent above the wholesale street price, said sources.

A gram of cocaine has sold for up to $80 in past undercover buys, said sources.

"This is the most expensive delivery service we have come across," said a source, adding that when tested it was determined that the drug was in high 60 percent to low 70 percent pure.

Following the arrest last night, cops searched Castillo's home and found an additional 43 vials of cocaine.

Investigators are taking a look to see if Castillo, who owns a laundromat "At Your Service" laundry in Astoria, was laundering the drug proceeds through the business, said sources.

Castillo, of Queens and Torres, of Manhattan's Upper West Side, and Matute were arrested by investigators from the NYPD Manhattan South Narcotics team. The case is being prosecuted by NYC Special Narcotics Prosecutors Office of Bridget Brennan.

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