Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
This afternoon, around 2, officers from the NYPD and the Sheriff's Office — including members of the Criminal Investigation Division — arrived to "inspect" Green Line at 42 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street.
This unlicensed smoke shop has been the subject of repeated enforcement visits — this was the third since April. (Here and here.) And Green Line always reopens.
According to the posted notices, officials seized cannabis flower, pre-rolls, vapes, flavored vapes, carts, THC edibles, untaxed/unlicensed cigarettes, and "other tobacco products."
The summons cites the sale of unlicensed and untested/not-lawfully labeled cannabis, along with the shop's proximity to a school, house of worship or youth facility.
One ticket was issued to a worker — an unusual step, as summonses typically go to the business owner — for the criminal sale of untaxed cigarettes.
"The cop was real mad and said I lied to him, and so he gave me a ticket," the worker told me. "I told him I don't have the [business] keys, and he made me empty my pockets and took the keys from me. He wrote me a ticket and I'mma fight it in court."
The same worker said he was present during at least one of the previous busts. When asked whether he'd be back if they reopened tomorrow, he said: "They may reopen, but I won't be there tomorrow. This same thing happened at the last few shops I worked at. It's not fair, I need to support and feed my family."
As for whether this closure will stick, one officer on the scene said, "We don't know, sometimes they open right back up again." Another added: "We'll be back if they do."
4 comments:
This seems to be happening all over the LES/EV as the legalization of marijuana and regulations concerning these smoke shops has been handled so dysfunctionally by the NYS government in Albany.
Why are the owners of this shop allowed to keep breaking the same law over and over again? At this point, they should be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and guilty of multiple class A misdemeanors, per the law. What will it take for these drug dealers to start receiving serious penalties? If they have been subjected to these fines, how are they able to keep paying them and reopening? I can only assume some kind of organized crime.
I don't understand how the owner(s), the landlord and/or the workers don't get tossed in the can after three closures? If you or I tried to open an unlicensed liquor store and got caught selling bootleg, stolen or untaxed liquor; you can bet your ass you'd be fined heavily the very first time as well as all your stock getting confiscated. Do it again, you'd probably get jailed for a night in addition to more massive fines. Do it a third time, hello Rikers!
There must be some REALLY BIG cash behind these shady places if they can afford to lose so much each time.
This is such a perfect example of a lackluster and mixed enforcement of laws. Start pressing charges on the business owner and landlord and I’m sure these things stop reopening. Relatedly, why are the places on B between 2nd and 3rd and A between 3rd and 4th not getting targeted too? Kids are always in the one on B especially.
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