WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Thirty-five people from two Uptown drug rings were indicted last week after an 18-month investigation that included wiretaps and undercover buys, according to police and the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
One of the groups operated an open-air drug market in the vicinity of West 177th Street between Audubon and St. Nicholas Avenues, while the other ran a cocaine delivery service throughout Washington Heights, authorities said.
The first group made dozens of crack-cocaine sales each day, ranging in value from $10 to $400. They also gave free samples of heroin to customers to increase demand for the drug, the district attorney’s office said.
Many of the sales are alleged to have taken place in the lobbies or stairwells of residential buildings on West 177th Street near Audubon Avenue, a street that houses two elementary schools, the DA's office added.
Twenty-one people, many of whom are believed to be members of the Trinitario gang, were charged in the indictment. Charges include conspiracy, drug possession and drug sales, the DA said.
“The amount of criminal activity alleged in this indictment — centered on just a few city blocks — is staggering. For months, young children and their parents were forced to take detours on their way to school to avoid the activity detailed in these indictments,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement. “We will work with our partners in the NYPD to ensure that these arrests are not merely a temporary fix, but one of many steps taken to build a safer, healthier community.”
Eleven people were charged in the second indictment for selling more than $75,000 of cocaine during a six-month period through a delivery service, the district attorney’s office said. Buyers placed orders over the phone and waited for delivery people outside of local businesses, which were not part of the criminal activity, the district attorney’s office said.
The operation was run out of an apartment on St. Nicholas Avenue between West 178th and 179th Streets, the DA said. Two of the eleven people indicted have been charged with operating as major drug traffickers.
The investigation was a joint operation of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Unit, which was formed to prosecute violent organized street crime, and the NYPD’s Manhattan North and Gang Divisions.
“The scourge of drugs is real, look no further than the arrests made yesterday in Washington Heights,” NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said in a statement. "And the drugs the defendants are alleged to have distributed, like cocaine and heroin, can destroy the fabric of our city…We remain deeply committed to combating the sale of drugs wherever they may be.”
