Operation Grand Slam Nabs 11 in Clinton Hill
[nggallery id=”38884″ template=galleryview] 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…
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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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
* you’re
fsrq,
I didn’t see your post when I posted but your on point.
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….