Six people arrested in upstate drug sweep

Rochester police say Alexander Deleon was part of a criminal network that sold drugs to dealers in Syracuse. "I wouldn't put kingpin on there, but I would say he was one of the main dealers and he had a number of associates that would work in concert with him. Sometimes they would do things together and sometimes they were actually competing too," said Rochester Lt. Joe Morabito.

Five others were arrested along with Deleon. State Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo says it was all part of "Operation Thunder and Lightning", a crackdown on upstate drug trafficking. "It's not a problem of Syracuse, Rochester, Elmira, or Albany it is a web of interconnections," said Cuomo at a news conference from Albany.

87 people were arrested statewide during raids in Elmira, Syracuse, and Rochester. Monroe County District Attorney Mike Green applauds the effort. "In this case the task force working with local law enforcement really scored a major victory in our fight against a significant drug network," said Green.

But in Rochester, not everyone is convinced. "Maybe in the short term but I don't think it'll make a difference. In the long term I mean people come back, it'll be the same thing it was in a year or two," said Owen Arthur.

But some say it can make a difference. "Our kids in the city are paying for what what those people are doing, so it's nice to see that they're doing something about it," said Jerome Givens.

While police admit it's an ongoing war, they hope the sweep sends a strong message to other dealers. "We hear that someone in their network is getting involved in drug dealing again, we can hopefully squash them before they get to the level that these guys were," said Lt. Morabito.

More than 400 hundred law enforcement officers were involved in the operation.