Marijuana kingpin Jonathan Braun ran major drug ring from Staten Island home: feds
BY EDGAR SANDOVAL , JOHN MARZULLI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Thursday, June 3, 2010, 12:40 AM A A A

From a quiet block on Staten Island, a marijuana kingpin ran an international pot-smuggling operation - bringing 100,000 kilos across the Canadian border, the feds say.

The feds raided the modest Buchanan Ave. house where Jonathan Braun, 27, lived with his Orthodox Jewish parents while consorting with biker gangs, court papers say.

"He's the real deal," a law enforcement source said of Braun, who has a bail hearing in Brooklyn Federal Court today. "He's huge."

Braun employed a small army of boatmen and drivers who used vehicles with hidden compartments to transport pot from Canada through the Akwesasne Native American reservations to New York, court papers say.

Proceeds from street-level dealers went back across the border - to Braun's Canadian bosses, sources said.

Braun, who has ties to the Hells Angels and Canada's West End gangs, was in charge of the organization's U.S. operation, sources said.

His weed is peddled throughout New York City and Long Island and he virtually locked up the marijuana market on Staten Island, sources said.

Before Braun was charged last week, nearly 60 members of the organization were arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

Inside his home, agents seized $30,000 in cash, at least 16 cell phones and BlackBerry devices, packaging materials and drug records that reference "hundreds of separate marijuana shipments totaling tens of thousands of kilograms," Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Tiscione said in court papers.

Braun allegedly fled to Israel last year after DEA agents raided one of his stash houses in Staten Island.

"While abroad, Braun continued to direct the operations of his drug organization by using encrypted BlackBerry devices to communicate with his underlings and drug customers," Tiscione said.

After $100,000 in marijuana was stolen from a stash house in California, Braun allegedly flew out to the West Coast and whipped a worker with a belt for failing to watch the location.

The feds also intercepted text messages indicating Braun had made enemies.

"You deserve to get locked in a cage like the animal you are...[your] family will be proud of [their] son...your money is not going to be worth d---," a criminal associate warned Braun.

Neighbors on tree-lined Buchanan Ave. were floored by the allegations.

"His father is a very hard worker," said Thomas Eapen, 65. "He [Jonathan] seemed like a nice young man. I would have never imagined."

Braun's high-powered defense lawyer Gerald Shargel declined comment last night.