Atlantic City Cops Dismantle Fentanyl Ring Targeting Boardwalk Tourists

Atlantic City police, alongside state and federal partners, arrested 16 individuals on November 14, 2022, in a sweeping takedown dubbed Operation Florida Keys, targeting a fentanyl distribution ring led by twin brothers Joseph and Justin Suarez, both 37, of Atlantic City. The network operated from stash houses on South Florida Avenue in the Ducktown section and surrounding Atlantic County areas, using street-level dealers to peddle heroin mixed with fentanyl, stamped 'Bad Bunny,' and cocaine to tourists along the iconic boardwalk. Authorities executed search warrants at 10 residences, confiscating 785 bricks of heroin-fentanyl—equating to 39,205 individual doses—seven ounces of cocaine, four handguns, ammunition, and $86,000 in drug proceeds.

The Suarez brothers face first-degree charges as leaders of a narcotics trafficking network, remaining jailed with seven others as of June 2023. Three mid-level operatives—Arcadia Ridley, 32, of Absecon; James DiMeo; and Keith Potter—pleaded guilty that month to conspiracy and weapons charges in the $400,000 operation, which fueled 25 overdoses in Atlantic County, including eight fatalities. Ridley stored 15,000 bags of fentanyl and a handgun in her bedroom closet, accessible to her 5-year-old daughter, though child endangerment charges were dropped in her plea deal for concurrent five-year sentences.

This bust echoes separate boardwalk stings, like a three-day undercover operation in early September 2022 that netted 10 arrests, 11 pounds of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and a loaded .22 handgun from dealers hawking drugs amid casino crowds and families. Atlantic City's opioid crisis persists, with prior task force raids—like a 2015 probe seizing 16,000 heroin doses and arresting 19—highlighting fentanyl-laced heroin's role in fueling overdoses across Atlantic and Ocean counties. Local leaders hail the operation as a vital blow to street-level terror keeping Ducktown residents imprisoned in fear.