A 40-year-old Camden man who police say ran a cocaine manufacturing operation out of an Atlantic City motel room has been convicted of shooting a 53-year-old man following a street fight, along with a long list of drug and weapons charges. Ricardo Berrios now faces up to two consecutive life terms in prison when he is sentenced in December.
An Atlantic County jury found Berrios guilty of attempted murder, maintaining a narcotics production facility, and numerous drug- and weapons-related offenses, according to NJ.com. Prosecutors said Berrios shot the 53-year-old victim in the arm and abdomen on South Florida Avenue at 12:53 a.m. on July 5, 2024, hours after the two men had a fistfight. The victim underwent surgery and survived his injuries, the outlet reported.
Motel Room Doubled as a Drug Lab
While investigating the shooting, police acting on warrants unrelated to the case tracked Berrios to the Downbeach Inn on Pacific Avenue. There, officers say he had been running a cocaine manufacturing facility out of the motel room. Officers seized heroin, fentanyl and other drug paraphernalia from the room, and found Berrios in possession of nearly 37 grams of cocaine and 73 bags of heroin, per the same account.
Investigators later recovered the gun used in the shooting on July 18, 2024, also in Atlantic City, closing the loop on the physical evidence tying Berrios to the attack. He has been held in the Atlantic County jail since his arrest on July 5, 2024, according to the report.
A Long Record Catches Up With Him
Berrios carried a history that weighed heavily on the case: six prior convictions and four parole violations, NJ.com reported. The jury also found him guilty of being a persistent offender based on that record, according to WPG Talk Radio, a designation that factors into the severe sentencing exposure he now faces. Berrios is scheduled to be sentenced on December 15, 2026, and faces a maximum of two consecutive life terms in prison, the station reported.
Not the First Drug Bust Tied to an Atlantic City Hotel
Berrios's case fits a pattern of Atlantic City motels and hotels doubling as drug operations in recent years. In 2021, a two-month investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies led to 10 arrests connected to the Madison Hotel and an apartment at Lighthouse Plaza, according to BreakingAC. Police recovered three guns and large quantities of heroin, Ecstasy, methamphetamine and cocaine in that operation, and Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner at the time described the Madison Hotel as a significant nuisance in the heart of the city's Tourism District. That hotel was later closed after code violations, with officials saying it would stay shuttered until repairs and a reinspection were completed.
Other cases have surfaced similar setups closer to home. Atlantic City man Courtney Tiggett pleaded guilty to maintaining a narcotics production facility and weapons offenses after a March 2017 search of his North Connecticut Avenue home turned up suspected heroin, a loaded 9mm handgun, ammunition and drug-production equipment, BreakingAC reported. Tiggett's plea agreement required him to serve at least half of a 14-year sentence. Separately, federal authorities near Atlantic City once seized more than 30 pounds of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine from a basement drug mill, according to Daily Voice, with two men held without bail on charges of conspiring to possess and sell more than a kilogram of heroin.
For now, Berrios remains in the Atlantic County jail awaiting his December sentencing date, with the jury's verdict placing him at the center of Atlantic City's long-running struggle with drug operations hiding in plain sight along its hotel corridors.
