Arsenio Diaz | The Rise and Fall of Washington Heights' Million-Dollar Drug Empire

Arsenio Diaz Washington Heights drug kingpin La Compania 1994 NYC crack epidemic Dominican drug lord The untold story of Arsenio Diaz, who rose from a corner lookout in 1984 to become the biggest drug dealer in upper Manhattan. His organization, La Compania (The Company), generated an estimated $1 million per week in cocaine sales during the height of the crack epidemic. In September 1994, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced the indictment of 64 people connected to the organization in what he called the second-largest drug case his office had ever prosecuted. This deep dive explores how a young Dominican immigrant built one of New York City's most sophisticated drug operations in Washington Heights, a neighborhood devastated by violence and addiction in the 1980s and 1990s. From the crack epidemic that killed over 100 people in a single precinct in 1990, to the community's eventual transformation, this is the forgotten history of NYC's deadliest era. #TrueCrime #NYCHistory #DrugWar