Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., announced the indictments of nine individuals, including Tribeca physician Dr. Noel Smith, for charges including conspiring to distribute tens of thousands of prescription pills, including opioids and other controlled substances, in Manhattan and Staten Island. The defendants allegedly operated a scheme that involved obtaining oxycodone, Adderall, Klonopin, and Suboxone pills in Manhattan to illegally sell in Staten Island.
The defendants are charged in three New York State Supreme Court indictments that were the result of a yearlong wiretap investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the New York City Police Department, the Business Integrity Commission, the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, and the New York Strike Force Tactical Diversion Squad.
Smith, a Tribeca-based family practitioner, is charged with numerous counts of Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance by a Practitioner for writing prescriptions for Adderall, Klonopin, and Suboxone to Timothy Bonaguro, Christopher Gorga, Ivan Iorizzo, Mark, Lanfranchi, and Louis Ventafredda.
Along with associate Anthony Santo, Bonaguo, Gorga, Iorizzo, Lanfranchi, and Ventafredda are charged with Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree and numerous counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree for participating in a scheme to obtain and fill the prescriptions from Smith and distribute the pills through illegal street-level sales to buyers on Staten Island.
To build up an inventory of pills, Iorizzo, Lanfranchi, and Ventafredda designed a plan that would maximize their hauls:
Iorizzo obtained prescriptions in his name for Adderall, Klonopin, and Suboxone.
Bonaguro and Gorga obtained prescriptions in their names for Adderall and Klonopin.
Iorizzo, Lanfranchi, and Ventafredda would assume the identity of one of Iorizzo’s brothers for Adderall and Klonopin prescriptions.
Iorizzo, Lanfranchi, and Santo would assume the identity of another one of Iorizzo’s brothers for Adderall and Klonopin prescriptions.
Iorizzo, Lanfranchi, Santo, and Ventafredda are also charged with Identity Theft in the First Degree for impersonating Iorizzo’s brothers in order to obtain an extra inventory of pills to sell.
In a separate indictment, Iorizzo and Ventafredda are charged along with Elia Albanese and Carmine Russo with Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree and numerous counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree for participating in a scheme to obtain oxycodone pills from a different Midtown Manhattan doctor and illegally sell the pills. Iorizzo and Ventafredda carried out a similar scheme for building inventory.
Albanese and Russo obtained prescriptions in their names for oxycodone from the midtown doctor in their names and would get them filled in Manhattan. Iorizzo and Ventafredda would then run the pills obtained by Albanese and Russo so that Iorizzo and associates could then sell the oxycodone on Staten Island.
Assistant D.A.s Anne Ternes and Mao Yu Lin are handling the prosecution of this case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Julieta V. Lozano (Chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau), Executive Assistant D.A.s Christopher Conroy (Senior Advisor to the Investigation Division) and Susan Hoffinger (Investigation Division Chief). Assistant District Attorney Sun Moon Heo, Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor; Senior Financial Investigator Robert Pomeroy and former Senior Financial Investigator Evelyn Marrero; Rackets Investigators Robert Mistretta, Daniel Frooks, and Shannon Rowe; Investigative Analysts L. Jackson Howell and Benjamin Kobrin; Trial Preparation Assistants William Briskin, Miranda Coombe, and Georgia Longstreet Joseph; and former Investigative Analysts Alessandro Schooley, Lauren Davila, Sloane Ruffa, and Anna Bruckner, also provided assistance with the investigation.
