The Long Branch restauranteur found guilty of 91 drug- and weapon-related charges earlier this year is sentenced to an aggregate 50 years in state prison.

(FotoMaximum, ThinkStock)
(FotoMaximum, ThinkStock)
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Anthony "Nygee" Stevenson was also ordered to serve 26 years before any parole consideration, according to information from the office of acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni.

In Freehold, Monmouth Superior Court Judge John Mullaney ordered the charges merged into eight counts for sentencing purposes, and instructed that the sentences run consecutively.

Stevenson was convicted in May after a two-month trial concerning heroin trafficking at Christabell's American Soul Food Restaurant on Springdale Avenue.

Investigators working undercover during a probe called "Operation Grand Opening" bought drugs and guns from Stevenson, mostly at the eatery, and intercepted more than 9,000 phone exchanges that led to more than 40 arrests between August 1 and August 8, 2011, authorities said. Surveillance began May 25 of that year, the day after the restaurant opened.

Stevenson sold some 1,900 bags of heroin to a plainclothes detective in a string of 22 transactions, directly or through a delivery worker, investigators said. A low-level dealer supplied by Stevenson distributed drugs to another undercover narc.

Stevenson also sold two assault rifles with large-capacity magazines to an undercover detective for $3,000, authorities said. At the time of his arrest, Stevenson and a co-defendant had just obtained 2,500 bags of heroin from a connection in Newark, officials said.

He was sentenced to 20 years, with 10 years of parole ineligibility, for a second-degree count of possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute.

Second-degree charges of heroin distribution, and consppiracy to possess a controlled dangerous substance (cocaine) with intent to distribute, each merited 10 years, with five years of parole ineligibility.

Stevenson was also handed five years, with two-and-a-half of parole ineligibility, for a third-degree charge of heroin distribution, and five years with three-and-a half of parole ineligibility for unlawful sale of an assault weapon.

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