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"This is a big case," said county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., standing in front of a conference table heaped with 44 pounds of cocaine having a street value of more than $2 million and piles of cash totaling more than $300,000.
"Many, many drug dealers were being supplied by this group of men," said Castor. "I think we have struck a very, very serious blow to narcotics trafficking here in central Montgomery County."
While seven of the nine-member drug ring have been arrested and are behind bars, including the four alleged ringleaders, two remain at liberty.
Authorities are asking the public's help in finding Joseph Stone, 28, a former Norristown resident who was living in a halfway house in Philadelphia, and Elwood "Who-Do" Johnson, 40, of the 1300 block of Locust Street, Norristown.
The public should not approach either of the two men but, instead, contact county detectives or their local police departments.
Stone, particularly, should be considered armed and extremely dangerous, according to Castor.
A known Norristown drug dealer, Stone was serving a state prison sentence for a 2002 armed robbery in the county, said Castor. While authorities had believed that Stone was still behind bars, he had apparently been released last year by the state Department of Corrections to serve out the rest of his sentence at a Philadelphia halfway house, said Castor.
"Apparently, he was unsupervised," Castor said.
The seven who were arrested include:
José Javier Cabrera, also known as Ramón Verdin, 33, of the 500 block of East Marshall Street, Norristown.
Mumin Niree "Moe" Bentley, 27, of the 700 block of Carmen Drive, Norristown.
Abraham Moran-Martinez, 22, of the 900 block of Mayberry Road, Swedeland.
Anthony Mendoza, also known as José Rodrigo Verdin, and Manuel Romero, 27, of the 500 block of East Marshall Street, Norristown.
Steven "Black" Anthony, no further personal information provided.
David "Dink" Ross, 27, of the 1200 block of Linwood Avenue, Norristown.
Efrain "Gallo" Lopez-Rodriguez, 28, of the 1000 block of West Lafayette Streeet, Norristown.
The alleged ringleaders are Cabrera, Mendoza, Moran-Martinez and Lopez-Rodriguez, all Mexicans living illegally in the United States, said Castor.
The initial charges filed against the seven were withdrawn and new drug-trafficking and corrupt-organization charges were filed against them on Monday. Arraigned on the new charges before District Judge Bill Maruszczak, each of the seven were returned to the county prison in lieu of $1 million bail.
Authorities launched their investigation in the summer after getting multiple tips about a major cocaine-trafficking ring in the area. The initial target of the investigation was Bentley, who authorities subsequently learned was a major cocaine supplier for Norristown drug dealers, according to Castor.
Unable to infiltrate the ring because its leaders would only do business with people they knew, authorities used phone wiretaps and surveillance to further their investigation, said Castor.
After witnessing a sale of cocaine on Oct. 25 by one of Cabrera's representatives to one of Stone's representatives, police arrested the pair and moved forward to arrest other ring members. At the same time, search warrants were also used to search the vehicles and properties of these alleged ring members, according to Castor.
In addition to the drugs and cash confiscated as a result of these warrants, authorities also confiscated 15 vehicles, including two tow trucks, and two handguns, a shotgun and a rifle.
"This is one of the biggest cocaine busts in the history of the county," said Assistant District Attorney Robert J. Sander, who heads the county's narcotics prosecution team.
Castor credited the break-up of the drug ring to the cooperation of law-enforcement authorities including the county's undercover narcotics enforcement team, police officers working in the district attorney's drug task force unit including officers from Norristown, Plymouth, Upper Merion, East Norriton, West Norriton, Hatboro, Souderton, Conshohocken and Whitpain.
Also, with many of the telephone conversations in Spanish, the county jail supplied translators as did the state Attorney General's Office while the state police provided drug-sniffing canines to aid the investigation.
"I am amazed at the level of cooperation we get from all of the departments and agencies, everyone working with the common goal of taking this filth off our streets," said Castor.
Noting that there were four major drug rings in the Norristown area when he took office as district attorney some seven years ago, Castor said he believes that this ring moved in to "fill the void" after authorities took down the initial four organizations.
"This stuff is poison and that is why we have so many shootings in Norristown," said Norristown detective Lt. Kevin McKeon, when asked whether law-enforcement officials are engaged in a futile battle. "If we don't keep up, it would be chaos."
"These men will be spending decades in prison and we want to make the climate so hostile they will go elsewhere to deal drugs," said Castor. "This is what we are sworn to do and what we will continue to do while I am DA."
Margaret Gibbons can be reached at mgibbons@timesherald.com or 610-272-2501, ext. 216.
