HEROIN PROBE RESULTS IN 38 ARRESTS; Most Suspects are From Bergen or Passaic

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 15, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B01

A state police task force investigating heroin trafficking in North Jersey has arrested 38 people, most of them from Bergen and Passaic counties, and seized more than $600,000 worth of uncut heroin.

Law enforcement authorities used undercover drug purchases and surveillance to penetrate a ring of traffickers stretching from North Jersey through New York City to Yugoslavia, state Attorney General Robert Del Tufo said Tuesday.

Dubbed “Operation Big Apple” because the drugs came into the country through Kennedy International Airport, the investigation began a year ago and started bearing fruit with the Feb. 7 arrest of Nicholas Lore, also known as Aniello Moschillo. The Hasbrouck Heights resident was charged with cocaine possession.

Lore is suspected of being one of the network’s linchpins, authorities said.

Police seized five ounces of cocaine and $11,000 in that arrest.

The case broke open March 20 when agents executing search warrants at Xhemil Zhuta’s Elmwood Park residence seized 2 kilograms of heroin, a .38-caliber pistol loaded with hollow-point bullets, and about $2,000, officials said.

Arrested with Zhuta, the alleged leader of the network, were his wife, Qibaret, son, Mendi, and daughter, Teuta.

Arrested at other North Jersey locations that day were Saban Adili, 41, of Dallas; Esref Ismaili, 40, of Fairfield, Conn.; Esat Sulesjmanoski, 41, of Lincoln Park; and Bajram Ibrahimi, 56, of Paterson, who allegedly is the courier who brought the heroin from Yugoslavia to the United States.

Further arrests occurred later in March and in early April.

In all, 38 people were charged, including 32 from Bergen and Passaic counties.

Authorities said the Cambridge Club Tavern in Garfield was the principal distribution point of heroin and cocaine in the Garfield-Lodi area.

Zimbret Mahmudi, a 28-year-old Garfield resident who authorities say is the owner of the club, was among those arrested.

He is being held at the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

The elder Zhuta and his wife were being held in the jail in lieu of $500,000 and $250,000 bail, respectively.

The investigation is continuing and authorities expect to make more arrests, said Col. Justin J. Dintino, state police superintendent.

ID: 17374483 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)