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November 24, 2009

Operation Grand Slam Nabs 11 in Clinton Hill

DA Hynes leading the press conference

As residents of Clinton Hill and longtime readers of this blog know, the drug dealing and related violence at the corner of Grand and Putnam avenues has long been a scourge on the neighborhood. A couple of weeks ago, a coordinated effort between the Brooklyn DA's office and the Brooklyn North division of the NYPD (which included 18 purchases by undercover officers) culminated in a raid of several buildings and businesses, resulting in the arrest of 24 suspects and the indictment of 11. Top charges against some of them include Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, which can result in up to 15 years in prison. The map in the slide show shows the locations of the alleged activity. At the press conference given by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, we were shown a video showing undercover buys on Grand along the side of the bodega and inside in the hallway of 435 Grand Avenue across the street; we were also told of some footage showing a buy go down with a young girl sitting on the stairs in the background doing her homework. In addition, three guns and two pounds of marijuana were seized from the two t-shirt stores at 13 and 13-R Putnam Avenue while 75 grams of crack were found at the barber shop at 14 Putnam Avenue. The big question now will be what happens in the wake of the power vaccuum: Will dealers decide it's easier to find a new place of business now that this is a certified hot-spot or will there be a violent struggle to assume control of the corner?

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Comments

Jeez, everyone wants a piece of that, huh?

Posted by: denton at November 24, 2009 12:28 PM

"while 75 grams of crack were found at the barber shop at 14 Putnam Avenue. The big question now will be what happens "

The big question is where will I get my hair cut?

Posted by: denton at November 24, 2009 12:29 PM

Based on those mugshots, perhaps a few of them need to learn to not "get high on your own supply."

Posted by: Brokedeveloper at November 24, 2009 12:30 PM

I thought Operation Grand Slam was Goldfinger's plan to rob Fort Knox.

Posted by: ProfRobert at November 24, 2009 12:32 PM

Will this put those stores out of business opening up some nice retail space????

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 24, 2009 12:34 PM

"I thought Operation Grand Slam was Goldfinger's plan to rob Fort Knox."

It was actually a trip to Denny's I planned for my anniversary.

Posted by: Brokedeveloper at November 24, 2009 12:34 PM

This is a big story for us in this corner of the neighborhood. it has been apparent for some time that real pressure would have to be brought to bear to substantially change that corner but it is gratifying to see that the political will has been found. I hope that they see this through as opposed to making a splash and then dropping the whole thing.

Posted by: wasder at November 24, 2009 12:45 PM

Someone will move into the vaccuum. That corner has been hot since before Christopher Smalls became the Notorious B.I.G. It's important to remember that if there wasn't a demand there would be any traffic. Drug buyers know that location. Drug sellers will prove that they are not easily evicted.

Posted by: BrooklynIsHome at November 24, 2009 12:47 PM

That bodega is sketchy as hell - I used pass it on my lunchtime walk when I worked three blocks from here, and passing it each day would get tons of attention. Even a clueless person like me could sense the crime.

Posted by: infinitejester at November 24, 2009 12:51 PM

"since before Christopher Smalls became the Notorious B.I.G."

Christopher Wallace? Or am I missing a joke?

Posted by: etson at November 24, 2009 12:57 PM

Etson:

Wrong name. Right time line.

Posted by: BrooklynIsHome at November 24, 2009 1:01 PM

Is that a Glock? Kudos gents on the choice of quality versus the Saturday Night Specials.

Posted by: BSD at November 24, 2009 1:12 PM

"Will dealers decide it's easier to find a new place of business now that this is a certified hot-spot or will there be a violent struggle to assume control of the corner?"

Doesn't anyone here watch The Wire? Okay, it's Baltimore, but same story...

Posted by: supergirl at November 24, 2009 1:56 PM

That's great news! I recognize so many of those faces and they have openly engaged in dealing all around that area. The woman (you'd have to know her to know she's a woman) in the top row is always on her bike and making little drops into the little gardens around trees. she's been doing it for years and it's always astounded me that noone can bust her.
I agree with wasder that now the real trick is staying on top of it. the deli is a big problem. not surprised at all by the other locations. I think some of the cops shoud just move into the neighborhood and they'll see it all unfolding blatantly on a daily basis.

Posted by: miss priss at November 24, 2009 2:17 PM

Top right is the one who is a woman priss?

And agreed, the buildings in question are the most obvious spots in the neighborhood. Never saw the garden drops myself but that sounds pretty blatant.

Mr B, any thoughts about steps us locals can take to keep the pressure up via the police?

Posted by: wasder at November 24, 2009 2:46 PM

Yeah, looks like a Glock 19 on the left, .38 revolver with a 3" barrel on the right. Great move getting after the 'Saturday Night Specials', now all the criminals have first class hardware.

Posted by: denton at November 24, 2009 2:48 PM

you guys are beginning to scare me a little.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at November 24, 2009 3:41 PM

You all realize that this means nothing.....its easy to make a 'buy and bust' - the issue is if the charges result in jail time and forfeiture of the business.
Find out if any of those arrested got bail (a sure sign they wont be going to jail - ever) and follow the cases to see what they are indicted for and then what they are pled out too (you dont think they are going to trial do you)

1/2 these guys were probably the lookouts and steerers - and even the guys who actually did the "deal", if they werent caught with the buy money and/or stash, they'll likely be let go (or sent to some program). the mopes you get in B&Bs are all replaceable. The only way this "works" is if the police keep making arrests, get cooperators, use forfeiture and get cooperators to move up the chain. Thereby making the are too "hot" to work.

Unless you keep pressure on the DA and the precinct, this is just a photoshoot and in 2mo (if not sooner) it will be back to normal

Posted by: fsrg at November 24, 2009 3:48 PM

Maybe I missed something but where did it state that the corner store was complicit in drug distribution? It said the video showed a sale occuring on the side of the store.

Brooklynishome, very true statement...11 indictements and thousands of fiends(old and new) to go...Most of the people in those pictures are home already(half of them are no more than users)..."The game stays the same, only the players change"

lol at violent struggle to assume control, someone watches too many movie! NONE of the shootings on this stretch have been drug related. Please point to evidence.

Posted by: clintonhillchill at November 24, 2009 3:53 PM

fsrq--while I don't doubt the brutal realities behind your analysis I do wonder why the DA and police do this at all if it is just a photo shoot. I mean if that is the case they are only bringing more attention to their lack of success in fundamentally changing the dynamics of that corner. Why would they want to do that? I can only hope that the long term problems there are finally receiving the attention they have been in need of. But that's just optimistic ole me....

Posted by: wasder at November 24, 2009 3:54 PM

fsrq,

I didn't see your post when I posted but your on point.

Posted by: clintonhillchill at November 24, 2009 3:55 PM

* you're

Posted by: clintonhillchill at November 24, 2009 3:56 PM

bknesto--good to see you. Sorry to hear about your pop.

Are you going to pick up with the blog soon?

Also, agreed that the deli on the corner, while the scene of much loitering, does not seem to have anything to do with the actual distribution of drugs. though I have no special knowledge of this.

Posted by: wasder at November 24, 2009 4:01 PM

wasder,

The corner dynamics has changed, ask anyone who's lived over there for ten years or better. But as long as people have long-term drug addictions, there will be people who provide their fix. As long as there's lack of jobs providing living wages, there will be people who take their chances trying to make fast money regardless of consequences.

Posted by: clintonhillchill at November 24, 2009 4:02 PM

Hard to argue with any of that logic. Drug addiction is a sad reality that no amount of policing can eradicate. However it would be nice if there were a way to keep children away from it and keep guns out of it.

Posted by: wasder at November 24, 2009 4:07 PM

wasder - I am not going to give you the liberal spin of CHC - there are drug addicts and unemployed people in Brooklyn Heights too, and they dont sell drugs at the bodegas.....

It is simple - the DA and the police do it because ITS THERE JOB....but like everything priorities, attention and motivation shift (bet it does at your job)

So they got a lot of chatter about shootings and drug dealings, and so resources are dedicated (the DA is elected you know) and an operation takes place. And certainly they hope that the operation will take care of it...but it wont....in the meantime the cases will weed there way through the system - and getting convictions wont be easy, evidence is amorphous and the jury pool is liberal and often anti-police. At the same time on a macro levelother problems, issues and crisis are taking place all over Brooklyn.

Slowly the perps will get out (assuming no replacements are recruited) and dealing activity will pick up and the police and DA will likely have moved on to other things.

Its just reality....

the squeeky wheel gets the oil...if the community wants to end the problem, they should look at this operation as a beginning, not an end.

Posted by: fsrg at November 24, 2009 4:23 PM

Thank you wasder. I will probably start back sometime in after the new year. I kind of keep going back and forth with it, as far as shutting it down for good, but many ppl have inquired or shown interest in me starting it up again so I just might.

If the deli had any evidence against it then they would've gotten caught up in the sweep. Although, they have been targeted by police before( I happened to be in the store and wasn't allowed to leave like the customer preceding me until they finished their search, then searched me. All the while my girls are upstairs nervously wondering why, what is usually a 10 minute trip to get heros for lunch took 45 minutes. I had to explain to them the courtesy and professionalism of NY's finest), the police never find anything. This day I think the police were looking for illegal cigarettes or evidence of illegal number running.

fsrq,
This is all I will address from your statement. I'm someone who used to got to school in Brooklyn Heights at the pinnacle of crack, I have many friends who grew up there and still reside. The problem of unemployment and drug addiction was never an epidemic like in this area which is borderline Bed-Stuy. I mean you can the same thing about the upper east side and Harlem.

Posted by: clintonhillchill at November 24, 2009 4:40 PM

CHC - All I am saying is that criminality is a personal choice IMHO, and I will not excuse people for selling drugs, shooting each other and otherwise making a neighborhood a scary place - simply because they are "unemployed" or "addicted".

And in truth, if the community puts enough pressure on the situation, the drug dealing (at least the visible and dangerous kind) will cease - but unfortunately unemployment and addiction likely will never.

Posted by: fsrg at November 24, 2009 4:48 PM

there will always be drugs. however, the police can force the dealers to be subtle and not affect the neighborhood.

As a corollary, there has been and will always be prostitution. however, the city only really cares about streetwalkers and large-scale operations. Nonetheless, prostitution continues in the shadows of craigslist and elsewhere.

Posted by: slick at November 25, 2009 2:18 AM

Well Charlie Guess, Pee Wee, Bay Bay, and of course "I'm the Man" Darneil Jones. You are not above the law remember the old saying you are only passing through!!!!! You were killing your own people with your poision. And the rest of you on Grand and Putnam can not hide at 1049 Fulton Street Reniessiance clothing store.

Posted by: Charlie123 at November 30, 2009 4:59 PM

Agree with fsrq and chill. This is a cat & mouse game and it will go on and on. As someone blessed to live next to another notorious spot, raids mean nothing. These operations are set up to sustain arrests. None of the real generals were in the arrests, I'm sure. Generally its users and youngsters that need to earn their stripes. I have to say things have mellowed on my block over the last few years. While they used to operate on the sidewalk and someone was working the stoop 24/7, now they seem to have moved inside and mostly quieted down. I started calling 311 more often about 3 years ago and have talked to several neighbors who say they have been calling 311/police more often, too. So maybe there was just more and more police harassment and they didn't feel it was worth it to stay so obvious anymore. It doesn't ever make it go away- hot spots are pretty stable, but I guess lots of calls over a few years can bring it down a notch.

Posted by: alilamos at December 15, 2009 4:54 PM

The bail for Eugene AKA Charlie Guess is A Buck Fifty Yo! the rest is being held under the same bond conditions. The rest of you will get the same fate!!!

Posted by: Charlie123 at January 1, 2010 10:28 PM

Woody you can not hide as well 104 Lefferts Place Apt 1A.

Posted by: Charlie123 at January 7, 2010 10:37 PM

Woody you can not hide as well 104 Lefferts Place Apt 1A.

Posted by: Charlie123 at January 7, 2010 10:37 PM