San Ramon Man Arrested in Major Quaalude Ring Bust

San Ramon resident Kevin Yan, 54, is among the 22 people arrested in what federal officials say was a major Quaalude trafficking ring.

Authorities said yesterday that members of a criminal organization, which extended from California to New York, were charged with conspiring to distribute the sedative-hypnotic drug methaqualone as pills, commonly called "Quaaludes."

The arrest, which involved more than 100 federal and local law enforcement officers, capped a three-year investigation dubbed "Operation Lude Behavior."

Yan is suspected of assisting Dennis Patrick Fairley, 65, a New York chemist, with manufacturing the Quaaludes at an Emeryville laboratory called CalCoast Labs, raided by DEA agents on Wednesday.

The narcotics trafficking ring is suspected of distributing more than 100,000 Quaaludes worth more than $3.5 million in Manhattan and Long Island, New York.

"Dennis Patrick Fairley's alleged drug racket stretched literally from California to the New York Island," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "Instead of applying his training as a chemist to advance science, he allegedly used it to concoct dangerous poisons and advance his personal wealth. Today's coast-to-coast takedown ends Fairley's toxic experiment and nips in the bud any apparent re-emergence of Quaaludes in our communities."

Patch will update this story as more information becomes available.