Man Charged with Manslaughter 1 in Cos Cob Heroin Overdose Death

This article has been updated to reflect that the deceased person in Cos Cob who died from a heroin overdose was Michael Turzilli, 24, who was a comedian, musician and writer.

Greenwich Police were summoned to a residence in Cos Cob on a report of an unresponsive person back on October 27, 2017.

Upon arrival officers found a deceased man in one of the bathrooms of the home. The man was later identified as Michael Turzilli who was a 2011 graduate of Greenwich High School and student at Fordham University.

Initial on scene investigation by detectives led to the belief that the man died from an overdose of narcotics. The CT Office of the Chief Medical Examiner subsequently confirmed that the victim died from a heroin overdose.

Investigators from the Narcotics Section were able to obtain information leading to a suspect who had sold the narcotics to the victim.

An arrest warrant was obtained from the Stamford Superior Court charging Henderison A Vargas, 21, of 160 Havemeyer Street  #34 in Brooklyn, NY with Manslaughter 1st degree.

On Feb 7, 2019, a NYPD Fugitive Task force and members of the Brooklyn North Narcotics Unit arrested Mr. Vargas pursuant to this CT arrest warrant.

Vargas was extradited from custody of NYPD to Greenwich Police on Feb 20, 2019 and he was arraigned in Stamford Superior Court on Feb 21, 2019.

The arrest of Vargas is an example of Greenwich Police Dept’s efforts to address the epidemic of opioids impacting the community.

In addition to focused enforcement efforts on those who deal, sell or distribute illegal drugs, the Department also collaborates with other community stakeholders,such as the Greenwich Together initiative (formerly Greenwich Prevention Council) in order to provide life-saving efforts in the field, connections to service providers for those facing addiction, and education.

These collaborations include professionals in the medical, educational and counseling fields.