BUFFALO — Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced Thursday the takedown of a 10-person drug trafficking ring that allegedly trafficked narcotics — including heroin and faux oxycodone pills which contained fentanyl — from California to Western New York, including Chautauqua County.

The 59-count indictment against nine Buffalo residents and their alleged supplier in California details a broad scheme to sell dangerous narcotics throughout Erie and Chautauqua counties in Western New York. As part of the multi-agency investigation dubbed “Operation Blue Death,” authorities seized 502 pills laced with fentanyl, over 100 grams of black tar heroin, over 130 grams of cocaine, 15 pounds of marijuana, and a 9mm highpoint pistol with 27 rounds of ammunition. The pills — purposely designed to look identical to oxycodone pills — were made from a toxic mix of fentanyl and acetaminophen.

The attorney general did not mention any specific incidents in Chautauqua County that included the sale of narcotics mentioned in the drug bust. A message sent to the Attorney General’s Office wasn’t immediately returned.

“As we charge in our indictment, these dealers were playing Russian Roulette with New Yorkers’ lives,” Schneiderman said. “Today we’re taking these poison pill traffickers off our streets following an extensive investigation that spanned both coasts. With the opioid epidemic devastating families in Buffalo and across New York, we’ll continue to use every tool at our disposal to tackle the crisis head on.”

State, federal, and local law enforcement agents led by Schneiderman’s Organized Crime Task Force, along with the New York State Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, conducted a nearly year-long investigation that included undercover operations, hundreds of hours of covert surveillance and wiretaps.

Today’s indictment follows Attorney General Schneiderman’s September public health warning in Buffalo regarding the dangerous and potentially lethal faux-oxycodone pills after they were intercepted by authorities. Law enforcement subsequently determined that the pills, which appear virtually identical to the prescription medication oxycodone, actually contain a toxic mixture of the deadly drug fentanyl and acetaminophen. Attorney General Schneiderman explained that the faux oxycodone pills, which were purposely designed to be sold as prescription-strength oxycodone, are extremely dangerous as the unsuspecting user is actually ingesting a potentially deadly quantity of fentanyl, which is fifty times stronger than heroin.

In interviews in September, Chautauqua County Sheriff Joe Gerace and Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings both said they had not seen the pills laced with fentanyl in the area.

Today’s indictment charges ten individuals with a total of 59 felony counts of possession and distribution of narcotics: Jonathan Rosario, Jonathan Ivan Medina, a/k/a “Tati,” Carlos Martinez, Roger Gonzalez, Randy Gonzalez, Pablo Zambrano, Frank Perez, Angel Medina, Anthony Roman and Fernando Maldonado.