Uniondale man sentenced to 12 years for narcotics trafficking

A Uniondale man was sentenced to 12 years in prison and five years post release supervision on July 8 for his role in a major narcotic trafficking ring that operated in the Hempstead area.

Orlando Ramsay, 49, pleaded guilty on May 21 to operating as a major narcotics trafficker, three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, conspiracy, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

“Orlando Ramsay was a major trafficker in a Hempstead narcotics ring that supplied dangerous opioids and other drugs to smaller dealers across Nassau County and promoted violence in and around Hempstead,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in the news release. “The defendant was arrested in possession of drugs with a street value of more than $500,000 including a kilogram of heroin.”

Donnelly said that on Oct. 17, 2020, Ramsay was allegedly pulled over with roughly 350 grams of cocaine in his vehicle on his way to deliver the narcotics. Nassau police arrested him.

Through a search of Ramsay’s home on Oct. 18, police said they found 1,500 grams of cocaine, 1 kilogram of heroin, 200 grams of morphine, 12 grams of fentanyl, four firearms, $185,000 in cash, and various drug paraphernalia.

Donnelly said the street value of the narcotics recovered from the search warrant was nearly $500,000.

In October 2019, the Nassau County District Attorney, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Long Island Gang Task Force, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Long Island Field Division began investigating an increase of violence and drug dealing in the Hempstead area, Donnelly said.

Operation Honeycomb was named because the home the drugs were packaged and stored at was referred to as the “honeycomb” on wiretapped calls by individuals allegedly involved in the ring, she added.

Ramsay was one of several individuals who emerged as a “major trafficker” during the investigation, Donnelly said, which requires the value of narcotics possessed or sold by the trafficker to exceed $75,000 during a period of six months or less.

“The defendant is one of the last to be sentenced as part of a multi-partner operation that resulted in the indictments of 40 individuals, including several major traffickers from Hempstead,” Donnelly said in the release.

These individuals allegedly acted as major suppliers to multiple small dealers in Nassau County and worked together to obtain and distribute narcotics, including heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, officials said.

Prosecutors allege that the drugs were trafficked from California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Puerto Rico.

When the coronavirus pandemic emerged, the cost of cocaine varied widely due to demand exceeding supply, Donnelly said. Cocaine prices rose to street prices of $125 per gram, and she said dealers began mixing fentanyl with cocaine and heroin to increase the potency of the supply while using less cocaine.

“I thank our many law enforcement partners for their work breaking up this dangerous outfit and making our communities safer,” Donnelly said in the release.