Hudson Valley Gang Leader, Drug Dealer Named ‘Toto’ Jailed

“There’s no place like home.” Well, for the foreseeable future, a Hudson Valley drug dealer and alleged gang leader nicknamed “Toto,” will call prison home.

On Tuesday in Orange County Court, 36-year-old Damion Jackson, AKA “Toto”, of Newburgh pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Jackson was charged by an Orange County grand jury with 13 counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, 14 counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree, as the result of an investigation by the Orange County Drug Task Force.

Jackson confessed to selling fentanyl on Jan. 4, 2017.

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“Those who peddle these lethal substances, particularly fentanyl, for profit, in the quantities that this defendant was selling, deserve severe prison sentences,” Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said in a press release. “Far too many lives have been lost to opioids to allow large scale narcotics dealers to continue to operate in Orange County.”

Jackson has also been charged by the New York State Organized Crime Task Force as part of their “Operation Yellow Brick Road” enforcement action, which targeted Newburgh’s “600 Gang” and resulted in a 172-count indictment charging 16 members of a large, violent narcotics trafficking ring operating in the Hudson Valley, selling heroin and cocaine in Newburgh and elsewhere in Orange County.

The indictment alleged that Jackson was a “higher-level member” of the “600 Gang.”

The undercover operation was named “Operation Yellow Brick Road,” because of Jackson’s nickname, “Toto,” is the name of Dorthey’s dog in the iconic movie “The Wizard of Oz.”

Under terms of his plea deal, Jackson will be sentenced to 9 years in prison.