Results tagged “bust”

A Bensonhurst man was arrested on Wednesday for selling a dark green liquid mixture of alcohol and marijuana. Yes, liquid marijuana! It's news to us, and Capt. Gerard Dowling of the Manhattan South narcotics division says "it has not been seen around here before." The suspect, 32-year-old Anthony Briordy, told cops a four-ounce dose of it was stronger than one "marijuana cigarette," as the Times daintily puts it.

Much of the primo, hydroponically-grown herb you'll find in New York comes from Canada, where an untold quantity passes across the border at the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation, which stretches five miles along the banks of the St. Lawrence River. Naturally, the authorities would like to pull the plug on this source, so six weeks ago Joseph Resnick, the head of the NYPD's narcotics division, took a trip up there to see what could be done. The good news for tokers is that the Mohawk smugglers have this down to a science, and Resnik is "astounded at how lenient the border is."

After a two year investigation, the Manhattan DA has indicted 29 people accused of connections with the Lucchese crime family, and six of them worked as inspectors for the city Department of Buildings. Asked how the mobsters were able to rise to the level of supervisory positions in the department, DA Robert Morgenthau told reporters, "I’ll leave that for you to figure out...They had developed a small beachfront into this agency... This two-year joint investigation reminds us that the threat of traditional organized crime is not a thing of the past."

Two right-wing filmmakers have teamed up with Fox News to conduct a juicy hidden-camera exposé on the community advocacy group ACORN, a group conservatives hate because it receives government funding to help the indigent. According to Fox, filmmaker James O'Keefe, 25, dressed as a cliche pimp and sought housing advice at ACORN offices in New York. Joined by his partner Hannah Giles, 20, who posed as a prostitute, O'Keefe claims to have told employees he needed a house to run a brothel and help Giles escape an abusive pimp.

48-year-old Calixta Guerrero was in her underwear in her Washington Heights apartment around 6 a.m. yesterday when police started pounding on the door. She told them she needed a moment to cover up, but cops shouted, "Open the f-----g door, right now!" So Guerrero complied, and was promptly forced to the floor and handcuffed. Good morning!

Nancy Reagan was right about pot making you dumb or whatever; three geniuses on Staten Island were busted Sunday afternoon when police discovered a large marijuana plant on their table in the living room and 15 more on a rear deck. How were police alerted to the stash? One of the roommates, 53-year-old Scott Ortega, summoned them there! Apparently the three were involved with some sort of landlord-tenant dispute, and Ortega called 911 to report a possible burglary. According to court papers obtained by the Staten Island Advance, police confiscated the plants and returned Monday with a warrant, finding three Xanax pills on a bedroom dresser, 11 joints a drawer, 15 partially-smoked joints on a TV stand, and several smaller bags of reefer. According to the Post, Ortega allegedly told cops the marijuana was just for his personal use, so it's all good, right? All three men face charges of criminal possession of marijuana, criminal possession of a controlled substance and "criminally using drug paraphernalia." Previously on stupid stoner tricks: Personally escorting cops to your pot house, and smoking herb while speeding in a car full of "bales" of marijuana.

A Long Island guy is in major trouble after a perfectly innocent evening spent hanging with his 5-year-old son in a parking lot went terribly wrong, all thanks to some nosy cops. Christopher Grossman, 37, was spotted Tuesday night just chilling with the little man around 11:30 in a parking lot in Seaford, standing next to a car with the music "blasting." A Nassau County police officer decided to see what was up, and noticed that the car's interior was a disgusting mess, overflowing with trash, clothing, golf clubs, and bottles of anti-freeze and laundry detergent surrounding the child's car seat.

A Mister Softee ice cream truck driver on Long Island was arrested Saturday after undercover narcotics officers saw him park his truck outside a drug dealer's house they had under surveillance. Police say Kenneth Leiton, 22, rolled up to the home around 4 p.m. and entered the house to conduct a drug deal. He then returned to the truck, turned the music back on, and continued along his route. According to the Post, the cops soon "stopped him cold" and found several small bags of coke and a bag of pot hidden in the sprinkles. He's charged with numerous counts of possession of a controlled substance and with endangering the welfare of a child. Also arrested was Randall Surmanek, 23, who was riding in the truck with Leiton, and two individuals at the drug house. Police tell Newsday Leiton was not the truck owner, but it's still another black eye for Mister Softee—earlier this summer a Softee franchisee was accused of threatening to beat a Kool Man driver for invading "his" turf in Queens. And don't even get us started on the jingle wars.

A couple of things to keep in mind while taking part in a drug caravan running a hundred pounds of grass cross-country: One, driving at excessive speeds may attract the attention of law enforcement officers—these are the people you generally want to avoid. Number two: while tempting, it's probably ill-advised to keep some of that sweet herb next to you in the front seat. Such was the discovery made by a Nebraska state trooper who pulled over 42-year-old Long Islander Victoria Gregory for speeding on Interstate 80 Tuesday. The driver of a second car, 27-year-old Lonnie Walker, of Florida, was also pulled over, and according to Newsday the trooper became suspicious when he smelled marijuana in the second vehicle and saw a small amount of it on the front seat. A canine unit was called to the scene, and police say three "bales" of marijuana weighing 116 pounds were found in Gregory's trunk. Police believe the weed was headed from Phoenix to New York; now it's just going to that great gravity bong in the sky.

This week NY Mag takes a harrowing look at the Williamsburg condo implosion—harrowing, that is, if you're a developer who's losing your shirt because nobody's buying the luxury units you started building before the economic collapse. The in-depth article highlights how the city's requirement that all new buildings, no matter how small, devote 20 percent of their units to affordable housing, backfired.

DEA agents seized $3 million in marijuana and $500,000 cash in a raid on a Staten Island home last week, arresting Odede Kariti, 27, and his wife, Yotvat Kariti, 24, along with a third man, Brian Guariglia. According to court papers obtained by the Staten Island Advance, the trio are part of a drug ring that's smuggled millions of dollars of high-grade marijuana from Canada. Authorities have been investigating the ring for two years, and finally took action on May 11th after getting a tip that Guariglia was delivering a 300-pound shipment that day. The weed was stashed in "large hockey bags" in Guariglia's truck, and federal agents arrested him as he made the drop at the Karitis' house. Once inside, they also found "numerous" hockey bags containing another 250-300 pounds of marijuana. Now the Karitis and Guariglia face up to 40 years in prison for trying to distribute a mostly harmless plant whose worst side-effect is patch pants. This is the second major marijuana bust on Staten Island in the past few months; in April three men were nailed for moving "large quantities" of herb in a mobile-home.

At least two concertgoers had their vibe severely harshed by the Man on Friday before Phish's sick show at Jones Beach ("My Friend, My Friend" melted faces!). The total arrest stats for the band's three night stand at the venue haven't been released yet, though it's doubtful they'll rival the 194 arrested and $1.2 million seized at their reunion concerts in Hampton, Virginia in March. But according to Newsday, police did arrest one Lawrence Collins, who had 2 1/2 ounces of cocaine, 6.7 ounces of hallucinogenic mushrooms and 10 grams of ecstasy. State Troopers, who were patrolling the venue lots because it's in a state park, spotted Collins selling drugs to one unlucky 23-year-old from Toronto named Erik Schwarz, who was arrested on a felony charge of fifth-degree drug possession. As for Collins, he's still in jail because he hasn't yet posted bail set at $200,000 bond or $100,000 cash. Police say he faces six felony—or phelony, if you prefer—drug sales and possession charges. But when will cops at Jones Beach go after the real criminals inside the venue? Vendors charge $6.50 for a small bottle of water!

In dog-bites-man news, police say a Baruch College finance major who moonlighted as a party promoter made a little extra money by selling Ecstasy! Michail Shimonov, 23, (pictured here with E written all over his face) and his alleged partner in crime Albert Kim are accused of working with an eight-man drug crew that sold E, Ketamine (Special K) and GHB to clubgoers. Investigators say undercover cops bought the drugs during an eight-month narcotics investigation at Pacha and Rebel, and wire taps caught crew members talking on the phone about dealing drugs at Roseland Ballroom and Mansion, now known as M2 Ultra Lounge. Shimonov had 88 Ecstasy pills, each marked with a green gun, when police arrested him; he was allegedly selling them to Kim for $8 a pill, and Kim would then unload them in clubs for $25 each. Shimonov, who worked for the party promotion company Entourage, liked to tell people he was "getting my promotion career in motion." And his poor mother tells the Daily News, "I can only say good things about my son. They can say whatever they want, he's no drug ring leader. Of course not."

Damn brah, the feds are hell bent on harshing the vibe this summer. On April 9th, three men were nailed on Staten Island for moving "large quantities" of marijuana from as far away as Mexico using a mobile-home. Now that's what we call a Wide Bong Load. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tailing the mobile home observed it pull over around 9:30 a.m. on a service road to the Goethals Bridge. They say suspects Joseph Pousa and Anthony Orfanos, both from Queens, then unloaded 13 parcels filled with marijuana from the mobile home to a rental van. Investigators then tailed the duo, who were still shamefully oblivious to the surveillance, to a warehouse where a third suspect, Joseph Wiseman, rolled up in a totally inconspicuous gold S.U.V. And after reading this account in the Staten Island Advance, we've gone from the usual surge of outrage over the government's draconian drug laws to thinking New Yorkers really deserve more circumspect drug smugglers than these alleged clowns. They were charged in Brooklyn federal court for their failed attempt to distribute marijuana.

Hi everybody, who wants to look younger? Yesterday a 42-year-old Staten Island man named Eduard Belfer turned himself over to police, who accuse him of posing as a doctor while working at the appropriately-named "Staten Island Pain Associates." Last month the state Education Department received a tip that Belfer was performing cosmetic treatments there without a medical license, so they set up a sting and busted him offering to inject an undercover investigator with Ristalin, which is similar to Botox.

This morning, federal agents and members of the NYPD busted dozens of members of the Trinitarios gang in Washington Heights and the Bronx early this morning. MyFoxNY reports, "The Trinitarios are accused of being a Dominican gang that operated and controlled drug trafficking on at least four city blocks in the area of West 171st Street through West 174th Streets in the Washington Heights neighborhood." Also: 200 law enforcement officers were involved with the raid. The Trinitarios are believed to be the city's fastest growing gang—and they are not afraid to use violence (their weapon of choice is the machete).

Two undercover cops are being formally indicted today on charges that they framed two brothers and their friends in a drug bust at Club Delicioso in Elmhurst. Last January Officer Henry Tavarez and Detective Stephen Anderson were part of a team performing a “buy-and-bust” operation at the nightclub, resulting in six arrests. But prosecutors say Tavarez did not actually buy any blow, and instead used some of the cocaine bought by Anderson as evidence against four men who had simply been hanging out outside the club. Luckily for them, the defendants were able to obtain a copy of the surveillance video proving they never had any contact with the officers, and the charges against them were ultimately dropped. Both officers are now accused of conspiracy, official misconduct, and according to the Queens D.A., "knowingly engaging in criminal activity that could have resulted in lengthy prison terms for four innocent men."

Despite a record-breaking month for advertising revenues, The Sun published its last edition today. Started in 2002, the neoconservative daily lasted just long enough to publish on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, surviving into year 5769 of the Jewish calendar. Editor Seth Lipsky addressed the staff in the paper's Lower Manhattan newsroom yesterday; excerpts from his remarks were published in today's edition:

This was always a risk, and all the greater is the heroism of our financial backers. Even at the end they were offering millions of dollars if we could find the partners we needed. I don't mind saying to you, as I have to them, that I very much regret — I will always regret — that we were not able to return to them the capital that they invested in us.

Continue reading "The Sun Hits Nadir, Burns Out and Sets, Eclipsed by Money Woes"

The city has arrested six sanitation workers and suspended over fifty others after busting them for using department trucks to collect and sell scrap metal on the side. The Sun reports that after a worker was seen using his sanitation truck compactor to “break open an air-conditioner, giving him access to a metal part and in the process releasing ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon into the air,” investigators strategically placed CFC-free air-conditioners along collection routes in Queens, with nine employees taking the bait. "These DSNY employees took keeping discarded items on their routes to a whole new level," said the DOI commissioner.

If your actions helped lead to what many called the biggest mob bust in two decades, would you be showing your face in the five boroughs for the Five Families to see? Well, Joseph Vollaro, who is supposed to be in witness protection, seems to live life to its very edge, as the Post reports he "brashly strolled into a Staten Island sushi restaurant Saturday night," picking up take-out.

Sixty-two men associated with the Gambino, Genovese and Bonanno crime families were arrested yesterday in a federal, state and local coordinated sweep in the New York region. A number of Gambino-related arrests were also made in Italy, and authorities have described this as the biggest mob bust in decades. Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell said, "Our goal is and always has been simple: to dismantle the Gambino organized-crime family in a coordinated and consistent fashion."