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Drugs

The Feds Busted a Massive Oxy Ring in New York This Month

A couple allegedly used their small pharmacies in Ridgewood, Queens and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to dish out the drug on an historic scale.
Drew Schwartz
Brooklyn, US

Photo via Flickr user Fernando Coutinho

An ambitious New York couple allegedly ran one of the largest prescription pill rings in the city's history, dishing out nearly $15 million worth of Oxycodone from their mom-and-pop pharmacies before the feds shut them down this month, as the New York Daily News reports.

Since 2010, Pharmacist Lilian Jakacki and her husband Marcin have sold almost 700,000 pills, according to the feds. They used their pharmacies in Ridgewood, Queens and Greenpoint, Brooklyn to fill fake prescriptions for dealers and addicts, the DEA said.

"They flooded the city with over half a million illegally diverted oxycodone pills based on obviously fake prescriptions or no prescription at all, helping fuel the growing crisis of prescription pain abuse," Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said Thursday.

From 2010 to 2012, the couple's Greenpoint location purchased more Oxycodone than any other pharmacy in its zipcode—including two national chains, as the News reported. They filled prescriptions for customers with pretty transparently fake last names, like Coach or Chanel, and distributed 430,000 pills without a prescription. An undercover DEA agent made a massive buy earlier this month, with the couple allegedly calling the pills "candies."

The dynamic, allegedly Oxy-dealing duo faces a bevy of drug and money laundering charges that could land them up to 20 years in prison, and are both currently being held on a $1 million bond. Cops also arrested Robert Cybulski, who was accused of purchasing tens of thousands of pills from the Jakackis—as many as 500 at a time, the New York Post reports. He was released on a $100,000 bond.