Finding a crack in North Jersey's methamphetamine market, authorities have smashed a distribution ring that they said brought the drug in from the West Coast.
The operation sold $10,000 worth of meth a week in Hudson, Bergen and Essex counties, said authorities, who arrested 19 people. They said they also seized two guns and money-counterfeiting equipment.
The ringleader, 40-year-old Edward Cruz Jr. of Belleville, recruited members from the Greenville section of Jersey City, North Bergen and Perth Amboy, said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.
Meth-producing labs tend to operate in rural areas -- in part, because of the noxious fumes from the chemicals used to make it. Unfortunately, authorities don't find most meth labs until an amateur chemist has caused a fire -- or, worse, an explosion.
A Texas man was charged with murder this week after vapors from a meth lab explosion killed a 20-year-old woman.
Given the dangers, distributors consider "crank" or "ice" worth importing -- mostly from California, the country's major source of meth for more than two decades. Because it isn't easily found it highly populated areas, crystallized meth can sell for five times as much as a gram as cocaine.
Adolf Hitler's favorite drug primarily releases dopamine and serotonin, which intensify feelings of euphoria. That makes it highly addictive, easily increasing tolerance in the user.
It also eventually becomes extremely destructive to the central nervous system, causing anorexia, insomnia, tremors, convulsions -- even death -- among other effects.
Trouble is: Meth addiction is one of the most difficult to treat.
Besides Cruz, authorities identified those arrested as: Jersey City residents Andy Philip, 24, of Monmouth Street; Carcious Lloyd Thompson, 40, of Kensington Avenue; Jason Camerino, 29, of Fairview Avenue; Ladislao Rodriguez, 53, of Wayne Street; Michael Trinidad, 22, of Neptune Avenue; Stephen L. Scarano, 44, of Ogden Avenue; Virgilio Peralta, 64, of Cottage Street and Patrick Fleming, 50, of North Bergen.
