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Friday, december 26, 2014
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NEW YEAR’S $130,000 APPROVEd FOR dININg gUIdE FIRE dISTRICT, PARK
CARVER SLAMS dE BLASIO
vol. 2, no. 52
Guide to ing New Year’s Din 2014
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pAGe 3
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26, 2014 special section • december a blank slate media
Nine arrested for part in alleged heroin ring Undercover officers bought drugs in Manhasset, DA says BY B I LL SAN ANTONIO
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice (at lectern) described an alleged heroin pipeline that transported drugs to New York from Mexico for distribution throughout the area.
Nine people have been arrested and charged as part of an alleged multi-million dollar narcotics pipeline that ran from Mexico to New York and distributed heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and anabolic steroids to Nassau County communities, Nassau County prosecutors said Thursday. The arrests come following an 18-month investigation by the Nassau County District attorney’s office and multiple law enforcement agencies at various levels across multiple states that began with undercover police officers purchasing heroin from dealers in Great Neck and Manhasset, prosecutors said.
The defendants have been accused of trafficking drugs throughout New York City and Long Island out of residences in Astoria, Queens, and the Bronx from vehicles driven to the United States from Mexico
and “mules” that flew east from California, prosecutors said. Proceeds from drug sales were transported by “mules” who carried cash onto planes and in vehicles as well as through money orders and wire transfers, prosecutors said. “The investigators on this case stopped at nothing, and
these are dangerous defendants,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said during a news conference detailing the investigation, which she described as still ongoing. “...I hope that it will put some dent [into the Nassau County drug trade], but it’s not going to stop the [heroin] epidemic.” There were 44 fatal heroin overdoses in Nassau County in 2013, according to county figures, as well as 115 deaths to prescription drug overdoses. “Heroin is a scourge on our society. It’s a national problem and there’s no exceptions here in Nassau County,” Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said during the news conference. “...There are far too many funerals, far too Continued on Page 43
Harbor Links golf pro Kunjan dies at 53 BY B I LL SAN ANTONIO
the last decade as the golf pro at Harbor Links Golf Course in Port Washington, died on Dec. 12 Guna Kunjan, a Bellerose, due to complications from stage Queens resident who worked for 4 soft tissue sarcoma. He was 53.
Kunjan underwent surgery on Nov. 4 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan to remove tumors from his lungs following months of chemotherapy and other treatments but “didn’t come out of surgery well” and remained hospitalized, said friend Larry Fox, a Great Neck resident who in August
co-chaired a golfing event that donated funds toward Kunjan’s treatments. Fox said Kunjan, who emigrated to the United States from Malaysia in 1981, “was beloved by everybody.” “He was a terrific golf teacher, No. 1, and I think he was a terrific human,” Fox said. “Everyone who ever came into con-
tact with him came away with the fact that when you met the guy, he endeared himself toward you. I don’t think anybody could say anything bad about this guy. We’re all going to miss him.” Kunjan seemed in good spirits prior to going in for surgery, and hopeful that he could soon return to the club, but Fox said Continued on Page 43
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