BRIDGEPORT, CT — A 42-year-old man was arrested on drug trafficking and weapons charges following a multi-agency investigation into narcotics distribution on the city’s west side.
Ralph Cora, of Naugatuck, was taken into custody Nov. 25 in the 500 block of Park Avenue and charged with criminal possession of a firearm and possession of narcotics with intent to sell.
The Bridgeport Police Task Force, working with the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, began investigating Cora in November after obtaining evidence he was trafficking narcotics from a residence in Naugatuck and distributing them in Bridgeport while possessing an illegal firearm.
The investigation led to search and seizure warrants for a residence at 28 Tolles Square in Naugatuck, Cora’s person and his primary vehicle, a 2010 dark blue BMW X3.
Officers from the Bridgeport Police Task Force, FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Connecticut State Police Gang Unit and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed the warrants Nov. 25 with assistance from the Naugatuck Police Department.
The searches yielded approximately 80 suspected ecstasy pills, several grams of crack cocaine packaged for street-level sales, quantities of marijuana, one illegal firearm equipped with a high-capacity magazine, numerous rounds of illegal ammunition, an additional firearm, high-capacity magazines and U.S. currency believed to be proceeds from narcotics trafficking.
High-capacity magazines are illegal in Connecticut.
Detective Carlos Vazquez directed the investigation that led to Cora’s arrest.
