Brothers David and Bryce Amin, of Coram, plead guilty to running a sex trafficking and narcotics operation, federal prosecutors say

Two Long Island brothers who are members of the Bloods street gang have pleaded guilty to charges that they ran a sex trafficking and narcotics trafficking enterprise, that included recruiting drug-addicted women to perform sex work, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

David M. Amin, 31, who had addresses in Coram, Freeport and Wyandanch, and Bryce K. Amin, 25, of Coram, "engaged in acts of violence against multiple female victims, and provided drugs to them including fentanyl to cause those victims to engage in commercial sex acts for the defendants’ financial benefit," federal prosecutors said in a news release announcing the guilty pleas.

One of the brothers called a victim "my little puppet," in a recorded call from jail, prosecutors said.

The sex trafficking occurred at hotels on Long Island, prosecutors said, including locations in Bohemia, Islandia, Patchogue, Bayport and Sayville. The women were also forced to operate out of cars and homes.

 A Newsday investigation into s ex trafficking on Long Island recently uncovered that paid sexual encounters have occurred at nearly 60 hotels or motels across Long Island, including an encounter with a victim as young as 11 years old.

The Amin brothers pleaded guilty to sex trafficking conspiracy and substantive sex trafficking at separate proceedings, prosecutors said. They face a mandatory minimum of 15 years to life in prison at sentencing.

Co-defendant Patricia A. Peralta, the wife of David Amin, pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy in connection with the case last year. Prosecutors said Peralta, 32, of Freeport and Wyandanch, helped the brothers launder the proceeds of the trafficking operations.

Peralta faces up to 20 years in prison.

As part of the plea agreements, prosecutors said that David Amin and Peralta have agreed to forfeit more than $390,000, a 2021 Mercedes-Benz AMG SUV and a 2021 BMW M550i — all of which were seized from a Suffolk storage facility. Prosecutor said the two cars, and a third vehicle, were purchased using money from the criminal activity.

Attorneys for the defendants could not be reached for comment.

"The Amin brothers took advantage of vulnerable women battling addiction to coerce them into prostitution by making them beholden to illegal narcotics supplied by the defendants,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement. "These guilty pleas hold the defendants accountable for profiting from the sexual exploitation of others while subjecting their victims to harm and degradation. It is my hope that these prosecutions will also serve to vindicate the civil rights and dignity of survivors of this evil scourge."

The trafficking took place between October 2018 and May 2023, when prosecutors said the Amin brothers used "violence and the threats of violence" to force the women to engage in sex work, the proceeds of which went to the brothers, prosecutors said.

The brothers were arrested on a 15-count indictment. The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security and Suffolk and Nassau police.

The Amin brothers "recruited drug addicted women for their sex trafficking operation on Long Island, and controlled the proceeds derived from the scheme," prosecutors said, adding that they "also manipulated their victims into believing that they were in debt to the defendants."

David Amin also forced the victims to have sex with him and choked and struck his victims, prosecutors said. He also engaged in other cruel treatment, leaving the women stranded without money, phones or identification and withheld drugs they were addicted to in order to force them to go into withdrawal, prosecutors said.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15, according to online records.

Bryce Amin also "subjected the victims to violence and drug-related manipulation," prosecutors said, and boasted about controlling one of his victims in a recorded jailhouse phone call in 2021.

“You can groom a person to do something they’re not used to doing . . . .... tell her sit, she listens, she does whatever I tell her to do," he said. "She’s my little puppet.”

There is no sentencing date scheduled yet for him, according to online records.

The drug trafficking included the sale of large quantities of cocaine and fentanyl, prosecutors said.

The Amin brothers sold drugs through the women they trafficked, prosecutors said, calling them add-on services that were advertised as "party favors."

David Amin has several aliases, according to prosecutors, including “Sonny B,” “Rico,” “Tone,” “Anthony,” and “Jonathan Santos."

Bryce Amin goes by "Busy B," prosecutors said.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.