J. GONZALEZ

PROVIDENCE — The chief executive officer of what the police called the largest street-level drug-dealing operation in the city is allegedly a pregnant mother who drives a Porsche Cayenne SUV — while on welfare.

The police say that Joanna “Rosa” Gonzalez, a 28-year-old mother of two in Wanskuck, was employing dozens of people including her mother, her sister, their boyfriends, and their children in a crack-cocaine enterprise that covered the city from the North End to the West Side.

The operation was run as efficiently as if Gonzalez had taken a page out of a business-management textbook — so lucrative, the police said, that she and several other welfare recipients working for her drove expensive luxury cars and made thousands of dollars. It was a family business, said Lt. Thomas Verdi, head of the Providence police narcotics unit, where even the young children were involved as lookouts and drug runners with drugs stashed in their backpacks for delivery.

But the business closed last week, when the police locked up 17 people, charging Gonzalez, her family and other alleged top managers under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. The Providence police and Drug Enforcement Agency announced the outcome of “Operation Rosa” yesterday.

Gonzalez, who is 8½ months pregnant, is being held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions, along with her alleged drug supplier, “enforcer,” “banker,” “managers” and “distributors,” said Assistant Attorney General Bethany Macktaz. Her two children, ages 9 and 12, are now in the custody of the Department of Children, Youth and Families. “It’s just sickening,” Verdi said yesterday. “[Gonzalez] was pretty much grooming them to do what she does.”

The detectives who ran the 18-month investigation say the case is ongoing. Twelve people are wanted in connection with the sting, including Gonzalez’s 26-year-old sister, Evelyn. The investigators are also following the drug supply and have traced one source to San Diego, Calif., said Brian Crowell, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Providence field office.

The operation was bringing in 2 to 3 kilos of cocaine every one to two weeks, Crowell said, which was cut, cooked and packaged for sale on the street at about $30 to $32 per gram. The proceeds came to about $9,000 a week, Verdi said, although that was a conservative estimate.

The police searched five residences and four bank accounts, seizing $52,000 and a loaded .32-caliber pistol that was stolen.

They also seized vehicles worth a total of $300,000 that were owned by some of the drug operators claiming welfare checks, according to Providence Detective Sgt. Patrick McNulty.

That included Gonzalez, who had a Porsche, 2002 Kawasaki motorcycle and Nissan Maxima, McNulty said. Her alleged “banker,” Virgen Chadheen, 40, who the police said was on welfare, had a Cadillac Escalade. Her alleged “supplier,” John Delarosa, 33, whose wife receives state assistance, had a Mazda MPV and a Mercedes S550. And police said welfare recipient Henry Grullon, 36, an alleged business “associate” and boyfriend of Gonzalez’s sister, owned a Lincoln Navigator, BMW 745i, Suzuki and Honda motorcycles — and a rundown Chrysler minivan.

This investigation began when undercover Providence detectives made a few simple drug buys on the street. Then they learned that the road led to Gonzalez, Verdi said, and the police and DEA detectives began targeting her to dismantle her organization. They obtained a Superior Court order in April authorizing wire interceptions.

Over 74 days of daily wiretaps, from 8 to 1 a.m., the police intercepted more than 20,000 phone calls and monitored more than 2,000 drug sales totaling about $100,000, Verdi said. And the investigators learned about how the business was run.

The police say Gonzalez was an organized entrepreneur. She kept ledgers and records, and her “banker” handled the money, Verdi said. Everyone had a job and a shift, and an hourly wage. Some made crack in their homes, and the distributors arranged product deliveries. Her boyfriend, Michael “Ice” Taylor, was the “enforcer,” the police said.

When customers called, the distributors would meet them in public spots along main roads, Verdi said. One popular spot was near a Sunoco gas station on Broadway, where 722 drug deliveries had been made since April, he said.

As the police detectives listened in on the calls, what they heard mirrored the mundane issues within any company. The business ran from 8 a.m. to midnight, with day and night shifts, seven days a week, said Providence police Detective Peter Conley. There were half-hour lunch breaks and time off, he said. Some of the distributors grumbled that they weren’t making enough money (the police said the dealers were making $32 an hour, some as much as $40) — and they were invited to work all the overtime they wanted, he said.

The business closed last Thursday night, when the police moved in.

Gonzalez, of 49 Anchor St. and 78 Clym St., her mother, Evelyn “Diamond” Caraballo, 46, of 102 Berkshire St., her live-in boyfriend, Taylor, 22, her alleged supplier, Delarosa, of 61 Ridgeway Ave., and Chadheen, of 91 Pocasset Ave., are all charged under RICO statutes.

Gonzalez and Taylor are also charged with possession of over one ounce to one kilo of cocaine, possession with intent to deliver, and conspiracy. Delarosa was also charged with unlawful delivery of cocaine and possession of over one ounce to one kilo; he’d previously served time in federal prison for drug trafficking.

Myrna Vazquez, 20, of 26 Bodell Ave., is charged with three counts each of unlawful delivery of cocaine and conspiracy. Grullon, of 135 Terrance Ave., Cranston, is charged with possession with intent to deliver heroin and soliciting another to commit a felony.

Anthony D. Chadheen, 29, of 91 Pocasset Ave., is charged with possession of a stolen firearm. Anthony Brunetti, 41, Xiomara Guitard, 24, Paul Neri, 47, Donna Parsons, 45, Christina Wordell, 22, Thomas Mallozzi, 30, Lori Calderone, 42, and David Romano, 49, all of Providence, are all charged with soliciting another to commit a felony. Angel Lasanta, 42, of Providence, was arrested for unlawful delivery of cocaine and conspiracy.

All 17 have been arraigned and are being held without bail on the drug charges, while some are also probation or bail violators, said Macktaz. Their cases will go to Superior Court for hearings July 20 and 23, she said.

Twelve people are still wanted on drug charges: Estrellita Carabello, 35, of Central Falls, and Providence residents Edward Babbitt, 39, April Burns, 33, Stephanie Bassett, 24, Tanya Rivera, 28, Evelyn Gonzalez, 26, Tamara Chenard, 45, Dennis Delvecchio, 36, Louise Vigeant, 38, Robert Antonelli, 46, Christopher Riccio, 46, and Lisa Rotondo, 42.

CORRECTION: The name of Louise Vigeant was incorrectly spelled in a previous version of this story.

amilkovi@projo.com