Drug bust: Police seize 20 pounds of cocaine hidden in cigar boxes, two men indicted
CYPRESS HILLS, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Police have charged two men following a drug bust that supposedly uncovered around 20 pounds of cocaine -- with an estimated street value of $300,000 -- hidden inside 45 cigar boxes with false bottoms at a home in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn.
The investigation was conducted by the DEA New York Division, Group D-43, with assistance from SNP's Investigators Unit.
Jose Leonardo and Yenky Gil face various narcotics charges following the drug seizure.
Leonardo was arraigned Friday morning at Manhattan Supreme Court, and Gil was arraigned on a related indictment in May.
The Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York claims that on April 16, 2025, agents tracked Leonardo as he drove to 33 Crosby Avenue, the residence where the drugs were found.
Later that day, agents searched 33 Crosby Avenue and opened three cardboard boxes which contained a total of 45 wooden cigar boxes filled with cigars.
After prying off the wooden paneling on the underside of the boxes, the agents allegedly found thin bricks of cocaine. Similar bricks were recovered from Leonardo's bedroom, investigators say.
DEA laboratory analysis on the drugs seized on April 16 identified a total of nine kilograms of cocaine and nearly one kilogram of ketamine.
"Large shipments of narcotics are often creatively concealed -- in this case cocaine was hidden underneath real cigars. Drug shipments such as this are typically transported to a location where they can be repackaged into smaller amounts and distributed to multiple locations. Considerable effort went into shielding the cocaine from detection and preventing the loss of profits that result from law enforcement seizures," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan explained.
The second defendant, Gil, was arrested a month early after allegedly meeting with Leonardo at the residence. Agents say they stopped Gil and recovered a thin brick of cocaine that was similar in size and appearance to the bricks found in the cigar boxes in April.
"The seizure of this massive quantity of cocaine makes Brooklyn safer and delivers a heavy blow to the drug trafficking networks that poison our streets," said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
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