After a yearlong investigation that stretched across the Capital Region and into the Hudson Valley, authorities say they have cut into a sprawling drug trafficking network accused of pumping fentanyl, heroin and cocaine into multiple counties. Prosecutors allege the ring linked local resellers to urban supply lines and pushed deadly narcotics throughout the region. The arrests and charges were announced on April 16, 2026.
Indictment, arrests and seizures
According to the New York Attorney General’s office, a 276-count indictment was unsealed in Albany County Court, charging 26 people with crimes that include criminal sale and criminal possession of a controlled substance, as well as second-degree conspiracy, following an investigation that ran for about a year. Officers reported seizing more than five kilograms of cocaine and approximately 1.2 kilograms of heroin laced with fentanyl, along with five handguns and roughly $67,000 in cash. Investigators pegged the combined potential street value of the narcotics at about $350,000. The probe stretched through Albany, the Bronx, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Ulster and Westchester counties and led to 26 arrests, according to News10.
Who was charged
Those charged in the case include Nicole Alberts, Marcella Anastasio, Matthew Bell, Lauren Cave and Tyrun Covington, among others, prosecutors said. Albany-area defendant Mark E. Hebert II also faces a separate count of fourth-degree grand larceny, accused of stealing a vehicle in Bethlehem. “The investigation unveiled numerous individuals distributing deadly drugs and that lives have been saved,” New York State Police Superintendent Steven James said in a statement, per News10.
How investigators built the case
The operation was led by the attorney general’s Organized Crime Task Force, working with state and local agencies in a coordinated push that the office has leaned on repeatedly in recent years. That task-force model has powered other large takedowns across upstate and suburban New York, including a 2021 Capital Region sweep that also pulled guns and narcotics off the streets, according to the New York State Attorney General.
What happens next
With the indictment now unsealed in Albany County Court, prosecutors are expected to move ahead with arraignments and pretrial proceedings there. All the charges remain allegations at this stage, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in court.
