PROVIDENCE — A state welfare caseworker probably wouldn’t have known about the 2004 Porsche Cayenne, the 2004 Cadillac Escalade, or the 2002 BMW 745i and 2000 Lincoln Navigator that the police say were owned by welfare recipients allegedly running a lucrative crack-cocaine organization.

The Providence Police Department is holding this Porsche Cayenne, which they allege has been used by a drug dealer.

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

The state Department of Human Services doesn’t check with the Division of Motor Vehicles to find out what vehicles are registered to people needing assistance, said acting Director Gary Alexander. Instead, the department relies on applicants to disclose what they’re driving — and if they don’t tell Human Services what they own, the caseworkers don’t know, he said.

What Human Services didn’t detect, the Providence police and the Drug Enforcement Agency allegedly did. Their 18-month investigation uncovered what the police are calling the largest street drug-trafficking organization in the city in years — where eight of the top players were welfare recipients reaping thousands in profits and buying luxury vehicles with drug proceeds.

A spokesman for Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said yesterday that the state prosecutors were now investigating welfare fraud. During Wednesday’s news conference on the drug bust, Lynch talked about suspects “dealing poison, claiming welfare and driving expensive vehicles.”

All of the luxury vehicles seized in the drug investigation, worth about $300,000, were owned by the alleged top drug operators and welfare recipients, according to the Providence police. The ring’s alleged chief executive officer is a pregnant mother on welfare — who bought a $45,000 Porsche, a Nissan Maxima, and paid $4,000 cash for a motorcycle, all of which she registered in her name, said Providence Detective Sgt. Patrick McNulty.

In comparison, a single mother of two receives $554 a month in welfare benefits, not including food stamps and medical assistance, according to Human Services.

The prosecutor handling the drug investigation met with Human Services officials yesterday to discuss the case. “It’s just so bad for the system, which relies on people of good will believing that their tax dollars are used properly,” said spokesman Michael J. Healey.

But Alexander said yesterday that his department was investigating whether the people accused in the drug ring were receiving state assistance. He declined comment on the criminal investigation.

The state verifies eligibility for welfare assistance by checking pay stubs and child-support records, payments from the Social Security Administration and records through the Internal Revenue Service, Alexander said. For general eligibility, the state checks an applicant’s identity, birth records, residence, citizenship and family relationships, he said. The department also has a specialized unit that investigates applications that look suspicious. Welfare recipients are allowed two vehicles per household — people need vehicles to find work, Alexander said.

But a Porsche? That could be a red flag, he said. If it were noticed. There aren’t enough resources for home visits, he said, and no one’s watching outside the welfare office to see what people are driving.

Alexander said he’s been considering other methods to verify background, including the DMV. There are 28,000 people on welfare cash assistance, 11,000 getting childcare assistance, 77,000 people on food stamps and 122,000 on RIte Care, he said. The caseworkers handling the welfare assistance have an average caseload of 200 to 250 cases, he said.

The police say those welfare cases include Joanna “Rosa” Gonzalez, a 28-year-old pregnant mother of two, who is accused of running a crack-cocaine operation in the city’s north and west ends. The Providence police and DEA say that Gonzalez employed her sister and their boyfriends, her mother and her aunt, as well as dozens of others in the operation.

McNulty said that Gonzalez’s 26-year-old sister Evelyn and their 40-year-old aunt Virgen M. Chadheen were getting welfare benefits, as were their boyfriends, Michael Taylor, 22, and Henry Grullon, 36, the sisters’ mother, Evelyn “Diamond” Caraballo, 46, the wife of the alleged drug supplier John Delarosa, 33, and alleged associate Tanya Rivera, 28.

“It’s sickening to know these [people] are being subsidized by the state,” said Providence Lt. Thomas Verdi, head of the narcotics unit.

The expensive vehicles seized in the drug investigation were registered to the suspects who are receiving welfare benefits, the police said. Evelyn Gonzalez owned the BMW and the Lincoln Navigator. Chadheen owned the Cadillac Escalade. Grullon owned a Suzuki motorcycle and Chrysler minivan. The most expensive vehicles belonged to Delarosa, a convicted felon who was the alleged drug supplier, the police said. Delarosa owned a house at 15 Newbury St. in Providence and a Honda motorcycle, Mazda minivan, and a Mercedes-Benz S550 — worth about $120,000 — registered in other people’s names, McNulty said.

The drug operation ran like a business, with work schedules, lunch breaks and job descriptions that covered what needed to be done — bringing in the drug supply, cutting and cooking it in kitchens, then packaging and delivering the final product for sale, according to the Providence police and the DEA. The police say that the suspects were also using their children as lookouts and runners.

It was a money-making business, the police say, judging by the $100,000 in drug sales that were logged during the 74 days that investigators ran wiretaps.

Seventeen people were arrested last week and ordered held without bail, including Joanna Gonzalez, of 49 Anchor St. and 78 Clym St. in Wanskuck.

There are warrants for 12 others: 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.

amilkovi@projo.com