STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Authorities said the children of an MTA Bridges and Tunnels police officer and his wife were present as the couple dealt drugs out of their Tottenville residence.
Thomas and Jennifer Bianco’s three sons aren’t home anymore.
View full sizeThe children of Thomas and Jennifer Bianco have been placed in a relative’s custody.
The youngsters, who range in age from 6 to 13, have been placed in a relative’s custody as their parents await trial on felony drug charges, said a law-enforcement source. The city Administration for Children’s Services removed the children last week after their parents’ arrest.
Given the nature of the charges against both parents, it would be “highly unlikely” for Family Court to return the boys to the Biancos, should the defendants make bail, the source opined yesterday.
Bianco and his wife are each being held on Rikers Island in lieu of $200,000 bail, online records show. They pleaded not guilty to felony drug charges at their Feb. 15 arraignments in state Supreme Court, St. George.
Police arrested Bianco, 40, an MTA Bridges and Tunnels police officer, last week while he was in uniform. He was attending a training session in Long Island City.
The couple allegedly sold thousands of dollars in oxycodone, a prescription painkiller, to undercover investigators. In one case, Thomas Bianco dealt drugs at one of his son’s football games, said one law-enforcement source.
District Attorney Daniel Donovan’s office seeks to seize the Biancos’ Lee Avenue home, alleging they peddled oxycodone, cocaine and marijuana in front of their sons.
One of the boys told authorities his parents regularly sold drugs in the home while he and his brothers were there, said a source. During one transaction, the youth and his siblings were ushered out of the kitchen, the source said.
The boy also told authorities he once walked in on his father cutting cocaine in his parent’s bedroom, said a source.
In addition, the youngster informed authorities he knew there was marijuana and prescription pills in his mother’s dresser, the source said.
At one point last year, police responded to a robbery at the house. Mrs. Bianco, 38, told investigators an armed suspect came around while her husband wasn’t home, looking for cash and drugs, law enforcement sources said. She later told investigators she owed her drug suppliers thousands of dollars due to the theft, according to sources.
The Biancos were among 19 suspects rounded up around Staten Island in a drug sweep known as “Operation Pill Crusher.”
The suspects sold drugs on the street, inside cars, and out of homes, peddling everything from oxycodone and Xanax to cocaine and crystal meth, said prosecutors. One suspect allegedly sold the hallucinogen LSD.
