Cash earned by the heroin drug ring next to guns that were used to protect the business. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane

A 65-year-old former NCAA and “beloved” American Basketball Association (ABA) Brownsville basketball player allegedly ran a major heroin distribution ring that came crashing down on Wednesday after a nearly eight-month-long investigation, officials said.

Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez stood in front of $185,000 in cash, six guns and more than two kilos of heroin to announce the major bust of a $20 million heroin drug operation that operated across the Bronx, Brooklyn and upstate New York, allegedly led by professional basketball player James “Fly” Williams.

“Avid basketball fans have heard of him. In the 1970s, he was a high school superstar and college basketball prodigy who grew up in Brownsville Brooklyn,” Gonzalez said. “His popularity and status in the community may have ironically helped in operating and hide this elaborate criminal enterprise.”

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Williams allegedly purchased the drugs from suppliers in the Bronx and then distributed them in bulk and retail amounts throughout Brownsville, Bushwick, Flatbush, Fort Greene, Canarsie and other neighborhoods.

Williams, Jeffrey Britt, Hanziel Martinez Cintron, and Richard Rivera were all charged with violating New York’s drug kingpin statute, a charge that yields 25 years to life in prison, along with first and third degree sale of dangerous substances.

Between September 2016 and May 2017, a tip from a Brooklyn community member set the Brooklyn North Narcotics unit of the NYPD off on an investigation carried by court-ordered wiretaps, surveillance and undercover buying, leading to the arrests of 13 members of the ring on Wednesday.

According to Gonzalez, Williams supported youth in Brownsville, speaking of his own addiction and connecting them to NBA scholarships while supporting their studies.

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“That someone with his stature in a community, with his influence on young people, would run such a substantial narcotics operation is truly sad and reprehensible,” Gonzalez said. “He will now be held accountable for his actions.”

Officials found that Rivera supplied to Cintron, who would cut and package the drugs to be sold in the Bronx and Brooklyn. Britt would then send the drugs to Williams’ end, using a network of street dealers.

Search warrants sent out Wednesday led to the collection of the money, guns and drugs. Members of the network were buying an upwards of $30,000 of heroin weekly that they stored in false Pringles cans and various other containers.

Deputy Chief Michael Kemper, a leading officer of the investigation, said “Operation Flying High” was a success and it is still active. Additional arrests are expected.

With almost over three times as many overdoses than homicide deaths in Brooklyn last year, the City Council has funded a drug rehabilitation program that Gonzalez is looking forward to using by the end of the year.

“We allege that Fly Williams and his associates are the worst kind of drug dealers, because they were selling this poison to their neighbors and others in their communities,” Gonzalez said. “These are our communities and our neighbors, these are our family members and they need to be protected from the scourge of heroin.”

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