Twenty-two people were arrested Tuesday night as part of a massive $3.5 million quaaludes manufacturing and distributing ring, stretching from California to NYC. Twenty of those arrested as part of the three-year probe, dubbed "Operation Lude Behavior" (seriously), are expected to be arraigned today in Manhattan federal court. Among them are two current city public school teachers and a retired one.

Last year, there were reports about a resurgence of ludes, a designer drug that has a sedative/hypnotic effect on the user. The alleged ringleader of the conspiracy, Dennis Fairley, 65, is a chemist who owns chemical testing laboratories in Brooklyn and Emeryville, Ca., where officials say he's been manufacturing hundreds of thousands of ludes a year. Much of the conspiracy was allegedly run out of Fairley's $1.4 million 5th avenue apartment.

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara told reporters, "Instead of applying his training as a chemist to advance science, he allegedly used it to concoct dangerous poisons and advance his personal wealth." Law and Order might have a hard time ripping this story from the headlines, considering there's already an amazing show on TV about a public school teacher who uses his knowledge of chemistry to make drugs (sometimes sans pants).