Operation Family Feud nets 31 arrests for drug trafficking, firearms violations

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – As part of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) operation dubbed “Family Feud,” 31 individuals were arrested Thursday for drug trafficking and firearms violations.

The indictment alleges that beginning in 2008, the organization distributed heroin, crack, cocaine, marijuana, Oxycodone and Alprazolam within 1,000 feet of a real property comprising the Luis Muñoz Morales and Brisas de Cayey public housing projects and the San Tomás and Canteras wards, all in the municipality of Cayey.

The defendants acted in different roles such as leaders, managers, enforcers, runners, drug processors, enforcers and lookouts in order to further the goals of the conspiracy. Thirty-one of the 33 individuals named on the indictment face one count of possession of firearms of different brands and calibers, including fully automatic weapons, in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes.

The indictment also alleges that, as part the conspiracy, some of the defendants used social media to post pictures of co-conspirators in possession of firearms to threaten witnesses and promote their drug trafficking activities. The defendants would take pictures of themselves in possession of firearms and drugs with cellular phones and distributed them as a means of intimidation.

Two individuals remain at-large. The HSI investigation continues.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cesar Rivera-Giraud is in charge of the prosecution of the case. If convicted the defendants face a minimum sentence of 10 years up to life in prison.