Photo

Kenneth P. Thompson, the Brooklyn district attorney, held a news conference on Thursday to announce the arrests. The heroin ring, Mr. Thompson said, was “truly a family-run business.”Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times

In South Williamsburg, not far from the popular restaurants and gleaming new condominiums that dot the fast-changing stretch of Brooklyn, the authorities said a disheveled apartment on Driggs Avenue was the hub for a heroin-trafficking operation that served the neighborhood and beyond.

Law enforcement officials said the demand for heroin — cheap and highly addictive — has been increasing, and the ring helped meet that demand. In a month, the authorities said, the ring — described by the authorities as a family-run business — would sell 25,000 packets marked with brands names like “Knockout,” “Killing Time,” “Gucci” and “Scorpion,” a particularly potent strain known for its “bite.”

On Thursday, prosecutors in Brooklyn announced the ring had effectively been shut down, after an investigation led to charges against 25 people.

They include a man described by the authorities as the leader of the ring, Josie Tavera, 24, as well as street dealers, suppliers, distributors and even Mr. Tavera’s mother, who is charged with laundering drug proceeds, officials said.

“There is a growing heroin epidemic in New York and other parts of the country that’s literally killing many of our young people,” Kenneth P. Thompson, the Brooklyn district attorney, said at a news conference.

A packet, which sells for $10 or less, contains such a small amount that it cannot be measured in grams but in grains, of which it contains just a few. (Just over 15 grains make a gram.) The dependency it causes means an addict can go through several packets in a day. These factors, Mr. Thompson said, have created “a silent but deadly drug plague.”

The investigation into the ring began last year after a tip from an informer, and it grew to include wiretaps and video and physical surveillance.

Most of the sales took place near the apartment on Driggs Avenue, where Mr. Tavera lived, but the group had also sold heroin in other parts of Brooklyn, including Prospect Heights; in Astoria and Ridgewood in Queens; and on Staten Island, which has been hit especially hard by heroin.

Mr. Tavera’s sister, Sheila Taveras, 26, packaged, delivered and distributed the drug, prosecutors said. His brother, Jose Taveras, 26, and two of his cousins are accused of supplying the heroin. The authorities said that Mr. Tavera’s name was spelled differently from his relatives’ but did not know why.

And his mother, Haydee Cordero, 46, offered “significant assistance,” Mr. Thompson said, including laundering money by depositing the proceeds from the drug sales into her bank account. The lawyer for Ms. Cordero, Calvin Simons, declined to comment.

But the ring extended beyond the family, the authorities said. One of those arrested, Jason Collazo, 36, accused of being a distributor for the group, works in Midtown Community Court in Manhattan as a community service supervisor. Prosecutors said he had used his phone at the court to coordinate heroin transactions.

And Michael Mineo, 37, who is accused of being a dealer on Staten Island, had trained to be a drug counselor and has an application pending with the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Mr. Thompson said.

Mr. Mineo’s lawyer, Greg Zenon, declined to comment on the allegations. But Peter Guadagnino, the lawyer for Mr. Collazo, disputed the charges. The allegations, he said, are “way out of character for him,” and prosecutors lacked the evidence to support their claims.

“Right now, there’s nothing,” Mr. Guadagnino said of the evidence, “and he maintains his innocence.”

All 25 people named in the 368-count indictment have been arrested. Mr. Tavera, Jose Taveras, Mr. Collazo and Mr. Mineo have been arraigned and were held in jail. Ms. Cordero has also been arraigned and was also being held, prosecutors said. Lawyers for the others either could not be reached or did not respond to messages requesting comment.

Neighbors on Driggs Avenue said Josie Tavera and his family had been in the apartment for years, and they had not been a source of trouble. But early Wednesday morning, police officers smashed down the door and raided the sixth-floor apartment, the building’s manager, Iris Minaya, said.

“What can I say?” Ernesto Torres, a porter, said. “I’m surprised, I’m very surprised.”

Prosecutors said that taking down the ring would not be enough to thwart the pervasive problem of heroin. “I can’t tell you how many other folks out there are selling heroin in Brooklyn,” Mr. Thompson said. “But I can tell you, we’re determined to chase them all down and put them in prison, where they belong.”

During the news conference, prosecutors played a recording of a phone conversation between Mr. Mineo and Mr. Collazo, captured by a wiretap. Mr. Mineo recounted the effects the heroin branded as Scorpion was having on users.

“His face blew up,” Mr. Mineo said. “His lips blew up. He was in hives from head to toe.”

Mr. Collazo laughed on the other end of the line.

“I couldn’t stop laughing at him, bro,” said Mr. Mineo, who added that another user had told him, “I feel like I got bit by a scorpion.”

Mr. Thompson said the men had felt “comfortable enough” to speak candidly about the drug, unaware that the authorities were listening.

“It shows you the reckless disregard that they had for the people they were peddling the poison to,” he said. But Mr. Thompson added, “I don’t think they’re laughing now.”