At about 5 a.m. Thursday, a tactical team of federal and city law enforcement officers raided a house tucked behind Summer Street in the Elmwood Village as a helicopter hovered overhead. The officers were executing a search warrant for drugs.
Inside they found Joseph Bella, 47, of Buffalo, who was charged with possessing with intent to distribute cocaine; maintaining a drug involved premises; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; and being both a felon and an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm.
Investigators say they believe Bella has been involved in distributing illegal drugs in the Buffalo area for at least the past four years.
After members of Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Buffalo Police entered his house at 224 Summer St., Bella asked an agent what they were looking for, according to the criminal complaint filed Thursday in federal court.
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HSI Special Agent Curtis E. Ryan told him they were looking for "drugs, documents and other items of evidence," the complaint said. Then Bella said there was a "package of gummies" in the kitchen. They later turned out to contain THC, which is derived from marijuana.
As Bella sat with the agent at his dining room table, a Border Patrol agent's K-9 "alerted and indicated to [a] small metal lockbox in a bedroom," the complaint said. The box was locked and agents asked him if he could open it. The complaint said Bella denied owning it but said there may be a key on top of the fireplace. Using that key, agents opened the box and found 63.2 grams of a white powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine.
Also in a wardrobe in the bedroom where the cocaine was allegedly located, authorities found a 12-gauge shotgun, along with shotgun shells, and other ammunition, the complaint said.
Bella was convicted in a Florida court in 2011 on felony counts of cocaine possession and destruction of evidence and was sentenced to 18 months of probation, making him a convicted felon, which means he cannot legally own a firearm.
During the search, authorities said they also found: lollipops and other THC edibles; marijuana cigarettes and loose marijuana; THC vape cartridges; suspected psilocybin mushrooms; a bag of cocaine in the tank of a toilet; a "small quantity of MDMA," also known as ecstasy or molly; pills and THC resin.
