The U.S. attorney for Puerto Rico says authorities have broken up the island’s largest heroin distribution ring with a raid on La Perla, a well-known seaside slum. Rosa Emilia Rodríguez tells reporters the drug gang based in La Perla supplied most of the heroin sold in Puerto Rico along with cocaine and other drugs.

Federal agents and Puerto Rican police officers swept through La Perla early Wednesday after a grand jury indicted 114 people on drug and weapons charges. Among those arrested was Jorge Gómez González, who has long served as an unofficial leader of the mazelike neighborhood that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean.

Photo of La Perla by Peter Padawitz at at http://www.p.padawitz.de/PRFotos3.html

For the original report go to http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2011/06/29/us_agents_police_raid_notorious_puerto_rican_slum/