TRENTON -- State authorities say they've dismantled an elaborate internet drug ring run by two New Jersey men already serving federal sentences for drug conspiracy.
In the process, acting Attorney General John Hoffman said Monday, investigators also uncovered a murder plot, seized $1.2 million in illicit cash and brought indictments against 15 men accused of drug distribution, racketeering and other charges.
"Our racketeering indictment alleges that this ring of criminals had a cyber-age approach to distributing multiple kilograms of cocaine as well as designer drugs," Hoffman said. "However, we allege that they were typical drug dealers in their willingness to resort to violence."
Operation Skin Deep, as the investigation was called, started out as a surveillance operation targeting white supremacist groups in Atlantic City. While monitoring the activity of one group, the Atlantic City Skin Heads, detectives identified several individuals who appeared to be selling cocaine, according to Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the attorney general.
The undercover officers arranged purchases with the suspected cocaine dealers, leading to drug distribution charges for three men -- Thomas Bullock, 62, Thomas White, 31, and Benjamin DiPilla, 28 -- according to a criminal indictment filed in state court last week.
Elie Honig, the director of the state Division of Criminal Justice, said detectives then set out on a "far-reaching investigation" into the source of the drugs, which led to two North Jersey nightclub owners and 10 alleged co-conspirators.
Authorities claim Christopher Castelluzzo, 31, and Luke Atwell, 34, ran the operation out of their Passaic club, the Omni Lounge -- right up until they were convicted on separate federal drug conspiracy charges in May of last year.
2 guilty in NJ drug-dealing business
They say the two ran an online retail operation selling cocaine and the designer drug ethylone, allegedly aided by Aldo Lapaix, 28, who oversaw the packaging and shipping of the drugs. Lapaix's attorney, Andrew Butchko, said his client denies the charges. He declined to comment further.
Attorneys for Castelluzzo and Atwell did not return messages seeking comment Monday, and the listed number for the Omni Lounge was not in service.
Castelluzzo and Atwell also face charges of first-degree conspiracy to commit murder after allegedly plotting with two other men -- Eric Rodriguez, 45, and Henry Bracy, 46 -- to kill a former associate and his bodyguard in a dispute over drug money, authorities said.
Police claim the four men "took a number of steps in preparation to kill the targeted victims" but never pulled off the scheme.
The trail of drug money also led investigators to a North Bergen parking lot last April, where they allegedly found Shazad Khan, 32, and a California truck driver, Jose Ruvalcaba, 28, exchanging duct-taped bundles of cash totaling $1.2 million -- "one of the largest cash seizures in state history," according to Hoffman.
All told, 12 men faces charges for their alleged roles in the drug ring between November 2014 and April 2015, which ranged from buying and selling the drugs to delivering and shipping them through the mail. The three alleged Atlantic City cocaine dealers were charged in a separate indictment.
Nine of the men remain in custody, Aseltine said, and Lapaix, associate Jose Garcia-Hernandez and DiPilla are out on bail. Three of the men -- Johnson, 43-year-old Mervin Menier and a man known only as "Dre" -- remain at large.
The defendants will be arraigned at Superior Court in Atlantic County.
S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.