Police make 10 arrests during raids

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Local and federal authorities swept through Buffalo's east side, tracking down drugs and weapons.

Around 150 law enforcement officers from agencies like Buffalo Police, Erie County Sheriff's Office, the FBI, and DEA, along with five swat teams, put in a lot of hard work and planning that made it a seamless bust.

The six-month investigation came to an end with the arrest of 10 people. Three of those individuals, Mashi Phillips, Isaiah Washington, and Rayshawn Minter, are facing federal charges.

Officials say Phillips was the primary distributor of cocaine in this case.

D.E.A. Resident Agent in Charge Dale Kasprzyk says they wire-taped Phillip's cell phone.

"Those telephone intercepts combined with a lot of surveillance and a lot of undercover purchases of narcotics really helped cement the basis of our investigations," said Kasprzyk.  

Around 6:30 Tuesday morning, News 4 cameras were there as a team of various law enforcement agencies searched 10 homes, including a house right across the street from a day care facility. Officials says they were seeing a lot of violence in the east side neighborhood, which prompted their investigation and searches on streets like French, Box, Winslow, and Glenwood.

"A number of these defendants worked together and in the charging documents you will see that one of the defendants is in fact charged with narcotics conspiracy. That is agreeing with others to traffic drugs," said U.S. Attorney William Hochul.

Inside the homes, they found not only drugs, but guns: two AK-47's, five handguns, and a shot gun.

"This gun was located above a bedroom doorway mounted in such a way that Mr. Bolden could walk with his hands up and quickly grab the weapon if needed to and drop it down and use it to hurt people," said Kasprzyk.

That gun was loaded with 29 rounds.

"This was a violent dangerous group of people," said Kasprzyk.

"Today was very successful, we have more to come," added Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda.

Phillips faces federal charges of conspiracy and drug trafficking.