Dorchester man arrested in major R.I. heroin bust

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A 47-year-old Dorchester man is one of two people arrested in a heroin trafficking case that resulted in the seizure of about 42 pounds of the substance with a street value of about $4.5 million, Rhode Island federal prosecutors said today.

Angel Feliz was arrested along with Jorge Daniel Estrada, 21, of Providence. Both face federal charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and attempt to possess with the intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, the Rhode Island US attorney’s office said in a statement.

The prosecutors said a person who had recently been arrested by Providence police for allegedly possessing narcotics agreed to cooperate and arrange controlled deliveries of heroin.

The informant received two deliveries of a kilogram of heroin, one on the evening of Oct. 23 and a second the following afternoon, prosecutors said.

Later that day, the informant received a call and was given a location to meet a person who would be traveling from Massachusetts to Rhode Island to pick up the two kilograms, prosecutors said. Law enforcement officers gave the informant two fake kilograms and watched the “delivery” being made.

It wasn’t immediately clear what roles Feliz and Estrada allegedly played in the scenario.

A search of Estrada’s residence in Providence resulted in the seizure of an additional 17 kilograms of heroin, prosecutors said.

The investigation was conducted by Providence police and the DEA Drug Task Force, which consists of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, prosecutors said.

It was the second major heroin bust in the news in two days. Massachusetts State Police and Boston police arrested two men and seized another 42 pounds of suspected heroin on Wednesday in East Boston.