22 busted for operating $3.5M quaaludes ring

By KIERAN CROWLEY and BRUCE GOLDING
Last Updated: 2:45 PM, April 7, 2010
Posted: 12:49 PM, April 7, 2010

Nearly two dozen people have been busted with conspiracy to distribute the popular 70s drug quaaludes for taking part in a nationwide, $3.5 million ring, authorities said today.

The three-year probe -- dubbed "Operation Lude Behavior" -- involved over 100 federal and local law enforcement officers.

The 22 people arrested hail from Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties, Paramus, NJ and Oakland, Calif.

Twenty of those arrested are expected to be arraigned this afternoon in Manhattan federal court. (Read the Complaint)

Two others -- including the ringleader Dennis Fairley -- will be arraigned in federal court in California. (Read the Complaint)

Fairley, who is a chemist, allegedly ran a drug racket that "stretched literally from California to the New York Island," said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.

"Instead of applying his training as a chemist to advance science, he allegedly used it to concoct dangerous poisons and advance his personal wealth," he added. "Today's coast-to-coast takedown ends Fairley's toxic experiment and nips in the bud any apparent re-emergence of quaaludes in our communities."

Since 2008, the ring allegedly manufactured and distributed over 100,000 pills, officials said.

Quaaludes are a sedative that became a very popular recreational drug during the 1970s.

The ring worked out of a luxury Fifth Avenue apartment and manufactured the pills in a Brooklyn lab.

Those arrested also include two current city public school teachers and a retired one, officials said.

Thersea Goldring, her husband, retired teacher Barry Goldring, and guidance counselor Ken Kutin were also allegedly part of the massive ring.

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