5 dead in New York City area from apparent overdoses caused by tainted cocaine

Authorities are investigating five apparent overdose deaths in the New York City area that might be connected to the same batch of bad drugs.

Two middle-aged men died over the weekend in Yonkers and investigators are looking into whether the deaths are connected to three other apparent overdoses in the Bronx, according to the Yonkers police. The deaths could be tied to the same batch of tainted cocaine.

The news of the New York overdoses comes just after three people died and four were hospitalized at a weekend after-party in Pittsburgh.

A man named Peter Rene Sanchez Montalvo was charged Monday in connection with the suspected mass overdose in Pennsylvania. Montalvo allegedly sold the victims a white powder laced with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, according to federal prosecutors.

The group had been at a club in Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood Saturday night, before leaving for an after-party at an apartment on the city’s south side where Sanchez Mantalvo was staying, local police said.

Five victims were found in one apartment and another victim was found in an elevator outside the apartment, according to police.

Sanchez Montalvo was charged with with illegal distribution of a controlled substance and faces 20 years to life in prison. It wasn’t immediately clear if he has a lawyer.

No arrest has been made in the five New York deaths.

source: nbcnews.com