Two Men Charged Over Queens Stash Apartment Holding About 120 Kilograms of Cocaine
NEW YORK — The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on November 10, 2026, that a federal indictment has been unsealed charging two men with operating a stash apartment in a luxury high-rise in Long Island City, Queens, where agents seized approximately 120 kilograms of cocaine and a handgun with a loaded magazine.
According to the indictment, Glen Contreras, 40, of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, and Erick Marcano, 53, of the Bronx, were arrested on October 29 and 30, 2026. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had been investigating a network moving bulk loads of cocaine into the New York City area since August 2026. Contreras leased an apartment in the high-rise to store the organization's cocaine, and surveillance footage captured him and another individual moving boxes into the building and up to the apartment's floor in August 2026.
On the night of October 29, 2026, agents searched the apartment and recovered approximately 120 kilograms of cocaine and a handgun with a loaded magazine. Contreras was arrested the same day at his New Jersey residence, where agents recovered approximately $40,000 in cash and a currency counter. During the search, Marcano arrived on the same floor carrying a key fob that opened the apartment's door, in an apparent attempt to remove surveillance cameras, according to the indictment.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said stash houses like this one supply the drugs that devastate communities, and that the operation kept a massive amount of poison from reaching the streets. Farhana Islam, the DEA's Special Agent in Charge in New York, said the seizure from a residential high-rise exposed the alarming scale of the alleged trafficking operation.
Each man is charged with one count of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms and more of cocaine, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life. Contreras is also charged with possessing a firearm in furtherance of the drug trafficking crime, which carries an additional mandatory minimum of five years to run consecutively. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Pavlis. The charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：纽约市皇后区 Long Island City 的高层住宅楼 Skyline Tower（资料图，非涉案公寓）。Kidfly182，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。
