DEA Arrest 16 in Prescription Drug Organization

John P. Gibride, a DEA Special Agent who was in charge of "Operation Black Out", revealed that he and other drug enforcement officers dismantled a drug trafficking organization that had been responsible for distributing enormous quantities of oxy contin and amphetamines throughout the Syracuse, N.Y., area.

Gibride, who is in charge of the New York Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Glenn T. Suddaby the United States Attorney, Northern District of New York, announced that 16 people were charged with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, acquiring/obtaining possession of controlled substances by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery and deception of subterfuge.

The defendant, Dr. Harry Black, is being accused of writing unwarranted prescriptions for controlled substances to his patients, who would then distribute a portion of the prescribed drugs back to Black. The 16 defendants, other than Black, allegedly received multiple prescriptions from Black over a long period of time.

DEA agents who executed a search in Black's home recovered multiple ounces of marijuana, two handguns, numerous plastic bags with cocaine residue in them, hundreds of amphetamine capsules, numerous unmarked pill bottles that contained oxy contin and prescription bottles the had been prescribed to numerous people.

The accused are Dr. Larry Black, 61, Lisa Black, 42, Renee Lestrange, 47, Jay Haight, 64, Nabil Bajjaly, 52, Carol Bajjaly, 52, Ivan Feher, 61, Matthew Alexander, 47, Gregory O'Donnel, 48, James Patnaude, 48, Shawn Gleason, 40, Edward Zwiesler, 30, Michael Kerwawycz, 55, Philip Gabelman, 49, Lucian Maley, 55, and Nicholas Russo, 66. The above defendants are facing a maximum of 20 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine, and at least three years of supervised release after the sentence has been served.