LOWER EAST SIDE — A massive drug trafficking ring operating out of Lower East Side and East Village public housing projects was busted Friday for selling millions of dollars worth of cocaine across the city, using car services to deliver the illicit goods, officials said.
Thirty-three members of the "Blocc Boyz" street gang, based in Lower East Side’s Baruch Houses, and eight members of the “Money Boyz," who lived and worked out of the Campos Houses at 633 E. 13 St., in the East Village, were charged with a slew of drug-trafficking-related crimes for selling the coke at a price of $120 a gram for years, authorities said.
The brazen suspects, who allegedly spent their drug money on BMWs, jewelry and other expensive trinkets, took to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to boast about their high-roller lifestyle, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
The accused gangsters posted videos and pictures of themselves partying at places like their favorite strip joint, Queens' Perfection club, and waving around their gang signs and cash, according to officials.
Police caught the accused criminals, five of whom are women, through a series of undercover operations, Kelly said.
Just within the past 24 hours, detectives seized Rolex watches, a Mercedes-Benz sedan, large sums of cash, heroin and methamphetamine from the suspected gangsters, many of whom had violent histories, Kelly said.
“As this indictment reveals, residents of Manhattan today can get nearly everything delivered to their doorstep — from dinner, to dry cleaning, and even cocaine,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said at a press conference announcing the major takedown Friday.
“Members of the Blocc Boyz are accused of charging a premium price to deliver narcotics to customers throughout Manhattan. Unbelievably, they made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from this service at the same time they were living in city-subsidized housing as NYCHA residents. Hardworking families should not have to live side-by-side with drug dealers poisoning their communities."
Four of the leaders of the operation were charged as "Drug Kingpins," a felony that carries a potential life sentence, officials said.
The others were charged with a variety of felony offenses, including criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy. Top charges carry a maximum of 20 years in prison.
