The fentanyl mill busted in the Bronx this week is three doors down from a day-care center — and its pill presses were running in the basement when the place was raided, law-enforcement sources said Friday.
The illicit operation pumped out at least two dozen kilos and 222,000 pills of the deadly drug — all of which was recovered from the site, a two-story home on Beaumont Avenue near East 187th Street in the Belmont neighborhood, sources said.
Around the corner is the Belmont Community Day Care Center, which has a playground attached, sources said.
“The kids are right there. C’mon, do you have any compassion? Do you have any common sense?” raged Theresa Pinto, a 55-year-old mom of six and grandmother of 11 who lives across the street from the drug operation.
The bust occurred about a month after 1-year-old Nicholas Feliz Dominici died of a fentanyl overdose and three other children were sickened in Kingsbridge at the Divino Niño Daycare — which doubled as a fentanyl-pedding operation, authorities said.
Then last week, more than 40 pounds of fentanyl – valued at $1.5 million – were seized from a suspected drug mill running out of an apartment six blocks from the Bronx daycare where little Nicholas died.
“When I heard it was fentanyl again, my mind just raced to the young babies,” Pinto said of the bust in her neighborhood.
“They’re killing the babies either physically, mentally or with drugs. No. Enough! Enough!” she said.
Four men were arrested at the Beaumont home Thursday afternoon when multiple agencies raided it — marking at least the third drug bust involving fentanyl to take place in the borough since mid-September.
Wellinthon Eustate Espinal, 41, Cristian Eustate Espinal, 20, Heriberto Eustate Espinal, 27 and Roberto Jose Vargas Paulino, 31, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute or possess a controlled substance greater than 8 ounces, according to sources.
Fentanyl tablets and operating pill press machines were found in the basement, the sources said.
“People who were doing drugs [in the area] were always looking for [the home’s occupants],” said Manuela Duran, 23, a mom of a 2-year-old girl who lives next door. “I wouldn’t see [the occupants] often, but they were weird. They were all the time bringing boxes to cars.”
Neighbors told ABC 7 they heard smoke bombs explode before federal agents — all of whom were wearing hazmat suits and face masks — entered the house.
The Drug Enforcement Agency, Homeland Security, NYPD and state police were all involved in the takedown.
In the horrific case of the Divino Niño Daycare, investigators determined that four people — including the day care owner, Grei Mendez, and her husband Felix Herrera — helped run a fentanyl-peddling operation out of the basement facility, leading to the tot’s death and the three other children being injured Sept. 15.
All four people in that case have been hit with federal charges.
“It makes me want to move,” Duran said the bust on her street.
Pinto added, “I just want to get out of this block all together.
“I can’t wait to get out of here,” she said. “Anywhere out of New York. I’m so serious.”
