A multi-agency drug operationspearheaded by Delaware State Police and the FBI led to the largest fentanyl seizure in the history of the First State, police announced Monday.
The yearslong investigation, dubbed Operation No Mas,took down a Delaware-based drug trafficking organization headed by Delaware native Luis Renteria, police said.
The organized crime enterprise has ties to Pennsylvania, Florida and California, but most of its operations were in the First State.
Renteria, along with the 27others who were arrested as part of the investigation, faces a myriad of charges ranging from racketeering and conspiracy to drug dealing, money laundering and "multiple" firearms charges.
If convicted,Renteria, who police said deputized most of the day-to-day work to his underling, Jose Perez Rosa, faces 30 years in prison.
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All told, police seized 7.5 kilograms of fentanyl, 4.2 kilograms of powder cocaine, 1.1 kilograms of crack cocaine, a half-kilogram of heroin, 45.3 pounds of marijuana, nearly 300 pills and 14 doses of LSD.
The drugs alone are worth more than $5 million.
Officers also confiscated 20 guns—one of which was stolen—as well as ammunition and a rifle. Five cars and more than $264,000 in cash was seized, too, when police executed 31 search warrants.
"The amount of fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, drug money and guns seized in this stinghas saved lives and will save lives," Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said Monday."The actions of these kinds of narcotics enterprises have ripples that stretch across our regionand, at times, across the nation.
"Disrupting them helps disrupt a drug trade that ...breeds violence in Delaware."
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Delaware State Police Lt. Robert Jones said Monday that various law enforcement agencies, including New Castle County police, Wilmington police andthe FBI, began separate investigations intoRenteria's organization in February 2018 after receiving information from various "sources."
Because the agencies share information through an online intelligence system, they quickly learned each individualdepartmentwas looking into "the same entity."
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"That led us to come together," Jones said. "We haven't had this type of collaboration probably ina couple years, so it was nice for everyone toget together."
By working collaboratively, police were able to develop other sources that led them to stash houses aroundNewark and elsewhere in northern Delaware. The largest raid, conducted on July 2 when 10 search warrants were executed, netted “a large amount of illegal narcotics,” Jones said.
Police raidedRenteria's Carole Road home in Brookside that day, during which they seized $179,751, Delaware Online/The News Journal classifieds show.
There were also several stash houses in Philadelphia— one of which Philadelphia police raided— but the main operation was out of Newark, New Castle and the Stanton area.
The trafficking extended beyond Delaware and Pennsylvania, though, Jones said. Renteria's workers are accused of bringing fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuanaand other drugs into Delaware from California and Florida.
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Jones did not say whetherRenteria's operation is linked to other countries or cartels, but detectives are still investigating. He also did not elaborate on how investigators learned aboutRenteria's enterprise.
“This investigation exemplifies the shared public safety mission of Delaware law enforcement agencies in concert with our federal partners," Delaware State Police Col. Melissa Zebley said."While we can see the scope of illegal drugs and weapons seized, it is hard to measure the full gravity this criminal organization could have had in our communities."
Jones said the most significant result of Operation No Maswas the amount of fentanyl seized, given fentanyl is responsible for 79% of Delaware's overdose deaths. One one-thousandth of a gram of fentanylis enough to kill a person, meaning the seizure could save thousands of lives, he said.
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Detectives are still looking into whetherRenteria's organization is directly responsible for any overdose deaths. Drug dealers often have unique stamps to differentiate their heroin from others, so police are working to trace whether any overdoses came from drugs linked to Renteria.
If so,Renteria and others will likely also be charged with those deaths, Jones said.
Jones added thatpolice "still have some work" to do in linking members of Renteria's organization to shootings and other violent crime in and around Wilmington, but said the crime syndicate is "responsible for some ... and those charges will be forthcoming."
Most of the 28 people arrested, including Renteria, remain in prison, though some have been released on bond.
Send story tips or ideas to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com or 302-324-2785. For all things breaking news, followher on Twitter at @izzihughes_
