“Operation Bread, White and Blues” Targeted Narcotics Distributors and
Outlaw Motorcycle Club Members

Marquis Gamble sentenced to total of 10-15 Years in Prison for
supplying Cocaine for Co-conspirators to bring into Orange County

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Thursday, October 10, 2019, Marquis Gamble, 35, of Nyack, was sentenced by Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to a total of ten to fifteen years in state prison in connection with the enforcement action dubbed “Operation Bread, White and Blues.” On June 19, 2019, Gamble pleaded guilty to Attempted Operating as a Major Trafficker, Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree and Conspiracy in the Second Degree. Gamble was sentenced to seven and a half to fifteen years in state prison on the Conspiracy charge, ten years in state prison and three years post-release supervision on the Attempted Operating as a Major Trafficker charge, and ten years in state prison and five years post-release supervision for Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently, resulting in Gamble receiving a total sentence of ten to fifteen years in state prison, and five years post-release supervision.

Indictments arising from the Operation Bread White and Blues enforcement action outlined two separate conspiracies, one of which primarily involved members and associates of self-professed “outlaw” motorcycle clubs trafficking cocaine, and another of which involved the sale of narcotic pills which the conspirators represented to contain oxycodone, but which contained fentanyl, a highly addictive and frequently lethal narcotic. The name of the operation referred to the co-conspirators use of the term “bread” to mean money they obtained through the sale of narcotics, “white” to represent the cocaine that was sold, and “blues” to represent the blue colored pills which were being trafficked. Most of the defendants in the action were arrested in a series of early morning raids and search warrant executions that occurred on Tuesday, February 5, 2019.

On February 5, 2019, members of the New York State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team aided by the New York State Police Special Operations Response Team and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had executed multiple search warrants and made over twenty arrests throughout Orange County and Rockland County. The arrests and search warrant executions were a result of a six-month-long narcotics investigation. Law enforcement officials recovered more than $200,000, 25 handguns, one assault rifle, multiple other rifles, ten vehicles, two motorcycles, over 2.5 pounds of cocaine, and 1,300 Fentanyl pills. The New York State Police were assisted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

At the time that Gamble pleaded guilty, he admitted that he had given 800 grams of cocaine to another co-conspirator, so that it could be delivered from Rockland County to Orange County, where it was to be sold. Those narcotics had a street value of $80,000. Gamble also admitted being a profiteer who was involved in a conspiracy to regularly deliver large amounts of cocaine to Orange County.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the New York State Police for their efforts in this investigation. District Attorney Hoovler highly commended the New York State Police for their investigation, given the complexity of the case.

Senior Assistant District Attorney David Byrne and Assistant District Attorney Neal Eriksen are prosecuting all the defendants charged in the operation.

“This defendant was responsible for large amounts of cocaine coming into Orange County and clearly deserved a significant state prison sentence,” said District Attorney David M. Hoovler. “Narcotics trafficking is destroying the fabric of our society, killing our residents, and must be fought at every level. It is only through enforcement actions such as ‘Operation Bread, White and Blues’ that law enforcement is able to pursue those higher-level drug dealers and craftier offenders who attempt to insulate themselves from criminal liability by dealing drugs through intermediaries.”