Barry Warren conspired with other drug dealers to sell cocaine in order to raise money to post the bail for their supplier

Barry Warren, 39, of Mary Street was among 19 suspected drug dealers snared in the police probe dubbed "Operation Old School," so named because those taken into custody had been selling drugs in Elizabeth for years. Warren pleaded guilty to racketeering charges earlier this year and was sentenced on Friday, said Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow. Warren must serve four years in state prison before he is eligible for parole under the terms of the sen tence imposed by Superior Court Judge Douglas M. Fasciale, said Assistant Prosecutor Julie Peter man, who prosecuted the case. She said Officer Vincent Napoli of the Elizabeth Police Department conducted surveillance on Warren before executing a search warrant at his house in March 2007, at which time Napoli saw the defendant stuff what later was found to be 17 vials of cocaine into a fence post in front of his home, Peterman said. Warren was then arrested. Warren posted bail four days later and was released.
He was then arrested following a wiretap investigation and charged with violating the state's racketeering statute between October 2007 and January 2008, Peter man said. She said it was during this period that Warren "conspired with other drug dealers to sell cocaine in order to raise money to post the bail for their supplier who had been previously arrested as part of the same wiretap investigation."
Elizabeth Detective John Sheridan was the lead investigator in the racketeering case that also involved investigators from the DEA's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force and the prosecutor's office. Warren, who has eight prior drug convictions and twenty ar rests, has been in the Union County Jail in Elizabeth since his arrest on Jan. 24 on the racketeering allegations.