Ashley Jamie said Major Mark Park in Queens is no longer the same place she knew growing up.

“I used to go with my bicycle and there used to be a lot of kids. It used to be more community,“ Jamie said.

To someone not from the neighborhood, it may seem unassuming, a wide-open park next to Hillside Avenue, but Jaime said residents avoid it.

“You’d see a lot of needles on the ground, stuff like that. People just drugged out, passed out,” Jamie said.

That’s why she said she’s not surprised by the announcement of a major drug trafficking ring operating out of the park.

On Thursday, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s office announced the arraignment of 11 defendants on drug and gun charges following a 15-month investigation.

“We are dedicating resources, time, energy and whatever we need to get narcotics off the streets,” Katz said.

Katz said the street value of the seized drugs is estimated to be in the millions. Heroin laced with fentanyl and cocaine were some of the drugs collected.

Katz said fentanyl is responsible for 72% of the overdose deaths in Queens.

“We probably saved so many lives by taking this heroin, fentanyl and cocaine off the street and that we could never quantify,” Katz said.

The DA’s office said the drug trafficking ring was a family operation of siblings, a wife and a girlfriend.

The office said operations spanned from Queens to Suffolk and Westchester Counties.

In the span of the investigation, undercover police made more than a couple dozen purchases of heroin and cocaine from four of the defendants.

“It feels good to know that there’s been justice. Not just for us, the community, but for all the schools in the area,” said resident Karen Amaya.

NY1 spoke with attorney David Cohen who represents Yemi Blair, a Queens small business owner arraigned in the drug trafficking ring.

“We will vigorously defend against these cases and will take vigorous action against the city for the damage they have done to his reputation and property,” Cohen said.