Blow your Mind
Police arrested two men in the early hours of Thurs., Jan. 20 and charged them with running a 24-hour cocaine and marijuana business catering to New York University students, patrons of East Village and Lower East Side bars and Tribeca residents.
The arrests were the result of a three-month NYPD investigation and sting operation that was uncovered when a court employee told police he found business cards offering cocaine and marijuana for sale that were tucked in the pages of The Village Voice in a box in front of an N.Y.U. dorm on Third Ave. at E. 10th St.
The drug pushing cards had also been shoved under the apartment doors of Independence Plaza in Tribeca, according to the complaint.
The defendants, Thomas Zenon, 49 and Miguel Guzman, 43 were arraigned on Fri., Jan. 21, and were being held in lieu of $1 million bond or $750,000 cash bail, according to the office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan.
Undercover police had made 12 buys from Zenon and Guzman between October 19 and Jan. 20, including two $1,110 buys of more than a half ounce of cocaine, according to the complaint. Both suspects had previously served time for federal drug convictions, according to sources. Guzman, identified as a former Ohio State football player in a Daily News item, was carrying 16 grams of cocaine, more that $1,600 and four cell phones when he was arrested. Zenon had more than $600 on him and a stash of 20 bags of marijuana inside a coffee thermos in his car when he was arrested, the complaint says.
One N.Y.U. student told the Daily News that one of the suspects offered him cocaine outside the 10th St. dorm and handed him a card with a cell phone number and the words, “Blow your Mind.”
Construction fatality
Police found a man lying on the ground unconscious next to Gouverneur Hospital, 227 Madison St. across from the Alfred E. Smith Houses around 11:26 p.m. Wed. Jan. 19. An Emergency Medical Service team declared the victim, Richard Smith, 46, of Long Island, employed by a roofing contractor working on the hospital, dead at the scene. The victim apparently fell to his death and there was no criminality involved in the incident, police said.
Subway sleepers
A man who got on an E train at Roosevelt Ave. in Queens at 4:30 a.m. Sat. Jan. 15 fell asleep, missed his stop and woke up at Canal St. to discover that his right front pocket had been cut and his iPod stolen. The victim didn’t report the theft to police until he was notified that a suspect carrying his iPod had been arrested at Stillwell Ave. in Brooklyn.
A man who got on a Manhattan bound A train at Beach 60th St. in Far Rockaway around 9:30 a.m. Fri., Jan. 21 fell asleep until he reached his destination at Fulton and Nassau Sts. and discovered that his wallet had been stolen from his rear pocket, police said.
Protests FBI actions
A group calling itself the New York Committee to stop FBI Repression held a demonstration on Tuesday evening Jan. 25 in front of Federal Bureau of Investigation offices in Lower Manhattan protesting a Chicago grand jury’s subpoenas issued to 14 people including Arab-Americans, Palestinian solidarity activists and three Minneapolis women supporting the Muslim targets of the investigation.
The group gathered on Broadway in front of 26 Federal Plaza at 4:30 p.m. and marched to the Justice Department offices at 1 St. Andrew’s Plaza on the east side of Foley Sq. The group said the subpoenas were “an attempt to criminalize solidarity with the Palestinian people” and promised to continue working for an end to U.S. aid to Israel. The subpoenas were issued in December demanding testimony in Chicago on Jan. 25 regarding an FBI criminal investigation. The 14 activists have signed a letter pledging to invoke the Fifth Amendment and refusing to testify before the grand jury.
Soho bar bash
A man visiting from Peoria, Ill., was in Sway, the bar at 305 Spring St. between Greenwich and Hudson Sts. during the early hours of Sun., Jan. 23 when a woman hit him in the face with a drinking glass, police said. The woman, Casey Tatum, 24, was arrested and charged with assault.
Chambers St. bash
A Brooklyn man, 33, got into a argument with a man and a woman in front of 125 Chambers St. around 4:50 p.m. Fri., Jan. 21 when the man threw him to the ground and the woman hit him repeatedly with her aluminum walking cane, police said. Omar Shaheed, 27, and Nafeesah Shaheed, 58, were arrested and charged with assault. Police did not say how the suspects were related.
Arrest in burglary series
Police on Thurs., Jan. 6 arrested a suspect in connection with a series of 13 Lower East Side and Chinatown burglaries and home invasions between Oct. 12 and Nov. 15. But the suspect, Irving Walker, 31, was not the Irving Walker, 41, which police thought they were looking for in November.
The innocent suspect, whose name and former Bronx address was included in the NYPD call for help issued to the media, had moved away a decade ago and was in a doctor’s office in Virginia Beach, Va. during one of the incidents. Although he received a letter from a detective that he was no longer a suspect, he said he is afraid to visit his old Bronx neighborhood where residents might not know that he was cleared in the case.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney said the Irving Walker who was arrested Jan. 6, has admitted being involved in three of the robberies. An accomplice is believed to have been involved in all 13 burglaries on Madison, Catherine, Eldridge, Forsyth, Monroe and Henry Sts. and East Broadway during the four-week period last autumn.
Bag theft at marina
A woman left her bag with a coworker at the marina at 86 South St. in the South St. Seaport Museum at 10:45 a.m. Sun. Jan. 23 and returned a minute later, but the coworker had put it aside and was unable to find it, police said.
Shop thefts
A man and a woman entered the Marc Jacobs boutique at 163 Mercer St., around 2 p.m. Fri., Jan. 21, and walked around for a while until the man grabbed a handbag valued at $1,295 off a manikin and passed it to the woman who put it in her bag. The couple then left, undetected, police said.
A Gap Store employee at the 11 Fulton St. branch spotted a woman on the surveillance camera removing several jeans and shirts with a total value of $1,310 from a display shelf at 3:06 p.m. Sun. Jan. 23 and putting them in her bag. She managed to get past the search scanner, which did not go off, and left before security could challenge her, police said. The whole incident took less than a minute, the employee told police.
Security agents at J & R Music, 23 Park Row, stopped a man who was buying two iPads with a total value of $1,228 using two credit cards at 4:47 p.m. Sun., Jan. 23 when they notice something odd about the cards. The credit cards were registered to someone with an Asian name and the suspect was African-American. The suspect, Kenny Henry, 45, was found to have three other fraudulent credit cards, police said.
Monkeys fire
A fire in the Three Monkeys, a restaurant on the ground floor of 99 Rivington St. brought firefighters to the place at the corner of Ludlow St. at 8:11 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 20, an FDNY spokesperson said. The fire was under control in a half hour and the cause was under investigation.
Drumsticks menace
Police arrested Jessie Sloan, 27, shortly before 4 p.m. Tues., Jan. 4, in front of 853 Broadway between 13th and 14th Sts. and charged him with assault with a weapon, resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. Police said the defendant, a Queens resident, was trying to hit a man with a pair of drumsticks. Officers said Sloan swung his fists at them when they were making the arrest. The suspect, described as drunk and stoned, was in possession of a small bag of marijuana when he was arrested, police said.
Cycle rules
Sixth Precinct police are issuing warnings to bicycle riders to obey the rules. Except for riders under the age of 12 on bikes with wheels less than 26 inches in diameter, cyclists must ride on the street, in the direction of vehicular traffic, and not on sidewalks. Yielding to pedestrians is also the rule. Cyclists must also obey all traffic signals, pavement markings and must use marked bicycle lanes or bike paths when available.
— Albert Amateau
