The men would lurk in the lobby of the East Harlem housing project at all hours, holding crack cocaine and fentanyl in fanny packs as they waited for buyers, the authorities said.
For three and a half years, the dozen men, between 19 and 35, treated the Johnson Houses, a public housing complex, as an “open drug market,” prosecutors said. They sold the drugs in front of children waiting for the elevator or right next to the jungle gym in the playground outside, according to a federal filing.
The arrests followed an investigation that began around March 2022, when undercover officers from the New York Police Department began buying drugs from the men, using video and audio equipment to secretly record the deals.
Late Tuesday night and early Wednesday, eight of the men were arrested on charges of conspiring to distribute narcotics and using firearms as part of the drug trafficking. One defendant, Bryan Cowan, 31, is serving a five-year sentence for attempted murder. Three men remain at large, according to a document filed in Manhattan’s U.S. District Court.
Jose Perez, an F.B.I. official, said the arrests in East Harlem were part of an effort called Operation Coast to Coast that targeted violent gangs and drug rings across the country.
The arrests came less than two months after federal prosecutors in New York announced the taking down of two other drug rings — one that sold narcotics in Washington Square Park and another that sold pills through TikTok, Snapchat and Telegram.
Fentanyl Overdoses: What to Know
Card 1 of 6
Devastating losses. Drug overdose deaths, largely caused by the synthetic opioid drug fentanyl, reached record highs in the United States in 2021. Here’s what you should know to keep your loved ones safe:
Understand fentanyl’s effects. Fentanyl is a potent and fast-acting drug, two qualities that also make it highly addictive. A small quantity goes a long way, so it’s easy to suffer an overdose. With fentanyl, there is only a short window of time to intervene and save a person’s life during an overdose.
Stick to licensed pharmacies. Prescription drugs sold online or by unlicensed dealers marketed as OxyContin, Vicodin and Xanax are often laced with fentanyl. Only take pills that were prescribed by your doctor and came from a licensed pharmacy.
Talk to your loved ones. The best way to prevent fentanyl use is to educate your loved ones, including teens, about it. Explain what fentanyl is and that it can be found in pills bought online or from friends. Aim to establish an ongoing dialogue in short spurts rather than one long, formal conversation.
Learn how to spot an overdose. When someone overdoses from fentanyl, breathing slows and their skin often turns a bluish hue. If you think someone is overdosing, call 911 right away.
Buy naloxone. If you’re concerned that a loved one could be exposed to fentanyl, you may want to buy naloxone. The medicine can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose and is often available at pharmacies without a prescription. Narcan, the nasal spray version of naloxone, has received F.D.A. approval to be sold over the counter.
The arrests in East Harlem were announced in a news conference at Federal Plaza, where Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, gathered with other federal officials and Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives for the New York Police Department.
Sitting among the reporters was Jason Miller, an adviser to President Trump, who took photos of Mr. Clayton that he later posted on social media.
“One less open-air drug market network thanks to @POTUS @realDonaldTrump’s man in New York,” Mr. Miller wrote, referring to Mr. Clayton, a Trump ally and a corporate lawyer who had not been a prosecutor before he took over the Manhattan office in April.
Mr. Clayton said that the men had used empty apartments in the complex — named for James Weldon Johnson, a civil rights activist and writer during the Harlem Renaissance — to store drugs and guns. The authorities found six firearms, including two long guns, ammunition and small bags of what appeared to be narcotics.
Mr. Cowan fired at rivals from the Jefferson Houses in April 2023, according to a memo Mr. Clayton filed in federal court on Wednesday. In June of that year, another member of the group exchanged gunfire with enemies, the bullets whizzing past a busy street corner in the middle of the day, the memo said. No one was struck.
Officials declined to say if anyone had died from an overdose of the drugs. But according to the memo, one man who was seen in the lobby where the men pushed the narcotics died this year of a suspected overdose.
“The conduct of this 12-man crew created an environment of fear,” Mr. Clayton said. “No New Yorker should have to live with drug dealers at their doorstep. No child going to school should have to navigate the streets where drugs and guns are ever present.”
Michael Horgan, a spokesman for the New York City Housing Authority, said in a statement that the agency works closely with federal, state and local authorities “to address crime and residents’ safety concerns.”
He did not answer questions about complaints made about drug trafficking in East Harlem or other Housing Authority projects and deferred those questions to the prosecutors, the F.B.I. and the police.
In East Harlem on Wednesday, outside the sprawling buildings, the word “Joy” had been strung up in holiday lights above a statue of two children. Parents walked their children from school, and residents walked their dogs in the courtyard.
The Opioid Crisis
-
Overdose Deaths Drop: After years of relentless rises in overdose deaths, the United States has seen a remarkable reversal. The Trump administration is proposing to cut funding for many programs believed to have contributed to the improvement.
-
What to Know About Fentanyl: Tariffs intended to thwart the flow of fentanyl into the United States and dampen life-threatening overdoses tied to the drug have put fentanyl in the spotlight. Here’s what to know about the opioid.
-
Purdue Pharma Opioids Case: Fifteen states reached a tentative deal that would require them to set aside as much as $800 million from the settlement for a legal-defense fund for the Sackler family.
-
Fraud and Fakery: Methadone clinics run by Acadia Healthcare falsify records and enroll patients who aren’t addicted to opioids, a Times investigation found.
Meyer Morris, 73, who cuts through the Johnson Houses to get to her home in the Taft Houses, another Housing Authority complex one block away, said she had seen drug dealing around both buildings. Her neighbors have installed cameras, and residents know that it is better to hurry through the lobby rather than linger, she said.
“Everybody’s scared, you know,” Ms. Morris said. “We take care of one another.”
Maria Rose Dietcher, 67, who was walking her dog Coco early Wednesday afternoon, said she had lived at the Johnson Houses for 10 years and had often seen drug activity in the open.
“I have the police on speed dial,” she said.
Ms. Dietcher said she had talked to the drug dealers she has seen in the lobby.
Once, she brought one of them a box of clothes.
“I went downstairs,” Ms. Dietcher said, “and I told the guy: ‘Listen, I don’t like you. I don’t like that you guys do business here.’”
But she told him to give the garments to others.
“I don’t like throwing stuff away,” Ms. Dietcher said.
Anusha Bayya contributed reporting.
Maria Cramer is a Times reporter covering the New York Police Department and crime in the city and surrounding areas.
The post Twelve Men Saturated East Harlem Housing Project With Drugs, U.S. Says appeared first on New York Times.
