Three arrested as feds seize $4M worth of drugs out of Soundview pizzeria – Bronx Times

Mexzzarella Pizza, located at 553 Soundview Ave., was the site of an alleged drug trafficking scheme.

Photo Erin Edwards

Three people were arrested and charged for allegedly operating a drug trafficking scheme out of a Soundview pizzeria in the Bronx, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced this week, after recovering more than 100 pounds of narcotics with an estimated street value of $4 million.  

Authorities booked Zulema Cardenas Espinoza, 53, Alexander Samboy, 45, and Rosendo Perez Guadencio, 47, each on one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree and one count in the third degree. Perez Guadencio also faces one count of operating as a major trafficker. 

According to the DEA, investigators conducted surveillance on Mexzzarella Pizza, located at 553 Soundview Ave. — which sits right across from P.S. 69 Journey Prep School — on Thursday, Oct. 19, when they observed Perez Guadencio and Cardenas Espinoza take a seemingly weighted shopping bag from their car to the inside of the pizzeria around 10:15 a.m.

Then just after noon authorities spotted Samboy enter Mexzzarella with what looked like an empty backpack, just to leave less than 20 minutes later with the same backpack — only this time it looked “heavily weighted,” according to the DEA’s investigation. Officials followed Samboy as he left the pizzeria by car and pulled him over in front of 788 Metcalf Ave., less than a mile from Mexzzarella. After conducting a search of his car, officers recovered five kilograms of suspected cocaine.

Back at the pizzeria, officers made contact with Perez Guadencio and Cardenas Espinoza and detained them. Around 5:45 p.m. officers conducted a full search of Mexzzarella, and came across 42 kilograms of suspected cocaine, one kilogram of heroin and fentanyl, 1,000 glassine envelopes of oxycodone and fentanyl, rocks of cocaine, a kilo press, 100 vials of suspected crack cocaine, a “yellow…