The three high-achieving New Yorkers texted the same DoorDash-style cocaine delivery service on a late winter Wednesday. They all died that night from illicit fentanyl that had been mixed into it.⁠ ⁠ In the East Village, first-year lawyer Julia Ghahramani, 26, had just started her career. For much of the pandemic, Ms. Ghahramani retreated to her family’s home to work remotely and spend time with her parents and younger twin siblings.⁠ ⁠ Her final week, Ms. Ghahramani headed back to her Avenue B apartment, saying she had work to do before a family trip the next weekend to celebrate the Persian new year. ⁠ ⁠ On Wednesday, Ms. Ghahramani sent a text to a phone that prosecutors said belonged to the alleged dispatcher for the drug delivery service, Billy Ortega.⁠ ⁠ Social worker Amanda Scher, 38, did the same. She died in the Greenwich Village apartment she shared with her rescue dog. ⁠ ⁠ Through the pandemic, she commuted by subway to work with cancer patients at a Bronx hospital network, Montefiore Health System.⁠ ⁠ On that March day, Ms. Scher texted a number stored in her phone as “Jason Melissa.” Prosecutors said Mr. Ortega sometimes used the name Jason.⁠ ⁠ Ms. Scher’s dog walker found her dead on the sofa the next day.⁠ ⁠ Ross Mtangi, a trading executive at Credit Suisse Group AG, left his Manhattan penthouse with his laptop and told his pregnant partner he was going to work.⁠ ⁠ He checked into a nearby hotel and tuned in to work calls. Later, he texted for cocaine from a drug delivery service. A man wearing a baseball cap, cross-body bag and face mask appeared on hotel surveillance.⁠ ⁠ Mr. Mtangi missed a follow up meeting. His sister and her partner found him dead at the hotel the next day. Police found on a table translucent black baggies that contained lethal fentanyl mixed in with the cocaine.⁠ ⁠ Traffickers have found fentanyl is easy and inexpensive to make. The illicit form has spread throughout the illegal drug market, turning up in heroin as well as pills stamped out to look like oxycodone or Adderall and other drugs. Read more at the link in our bio. Photos by @nataliekeyssar for @wsj.