Sin City in the Slope: Neighborhood Heroin Ring Busted
Authorities arrested 12 dealers for sales of heroin and cocaine after an undercover investigation.
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The serene, tree-lined streets of Park Slope were apparently the perfect backdrop for a Brownstone Brooklyn drug ring dealing in heroin and cocaine.
Officials have arrested 12 local residents after the four loosely-linked drug rings sold undercover officers over $70,000 worth of heroin and cocaine.
Over 60 sales took place in broad daylight, on high-traffic streets like Seventh and Second streets right off of Prospect Park West, according to officials.
Dealers frequently sold the junk in translucent envelopes stamped with the brand name “Sin City.”
Edwin Perez, the alleged ringleader and main target of the investigation, is a 19th Street resident. He supplied heroin to street-level dealers in the area, instructing his drug-dealing cronies to meet him at various locations off Prospect Park that he referred to as “the office.” He conducted the sales from his three-wheeled motorcycle, or luxury vehicles.
Perez, 32, would pull up alongside a customer’s vehicle, toss the drugs through the window, and speed off in less than a minute – sometimes conducting sales in the middle of traffic, authorities said.
In the largest sale to an undercover NYPD officer, Perez arrived on his motorcycle to deliver a Sephora bag containing 2,000 glassines of heroin in exchange for $10,000.
Officials said that in yet another sale, Perez’s young child sat in the passenger seat of the car as he conducted the sale.
The arrests were the result of a long-term investigation by the NYPD’s Borough Brooklyn South Narcotics Squad and New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan’s office.
Perez was apprehended on Tuesday along with his two closest drug-dealing companions – his brother, Francisco Perez, 33, and Jose Trinidad, 42. They are together charged with approximately two dozen sales of heroin and cocaine to undercover officers.
Upon the arrest, officers seized approximately 1,400 glassines of heroin from a front compartment on the motorcycle, as well as a helmet painted with the words “Sin City.”
Police made one final arrest Friday afternoon, bringing the total to 12 arrests.
On Friday, locals strolling down Prospect Park West were shocked by the news.
"I wouldn't think that something like that would happen here. Maybe something like that could happenin the park, but not on the streets. This is a family neighborhood," said Natasha Borisova, 29, who lives just blocks away from where the deals went down on Prospect Park West and 12th Street.
"This is generally preceived as one of the safest places in New York City," said Tony Edelstein, 47, another Prospect Park West resident. "There's not a whole lot of unsavory elements in Park Slope."
One local, who declined to give her name, was so shocked upon hearing the news that her jaw literally dropped as she exclaimed, "Oh my god! In this neighborhood?"
Among the group of dealers arrested, another ring is charged with conducting about a dozen sales in Windsor Terrace spots such as Joe’s Pizza. Another eight drug dealers, not affiliated with the drug rings, were additionally arrested for selling heroin and cocaine in the neighborhood.
Edwin Perez and Francisco Perez were remanded from Manhattan Supreme Court today, while Jose Trinidad is being held on $500,000 bail.
An attorney for Perez did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
Janet
9:44 am on Saturday, April 30, 2011
I'm shocked that people are shocked.
Bruni Baez-Ayala
9:45 am on Saturday, April 30, 2011
Shocking!!!
Anne Smith
12:06 pm on Saturday, April 30, 2011
But how Park Slope for it to be branded.
NiBBLerWatch
4:15 pm on Saturday, April 30, 2011
"He conducted the sales from his three-wheeled motorcycle."
Aha -- there go the "bikers" again ruining Prospect Park West.
Jo Grossman
4:17 pm on Saturday, April 30, 2011
How great that these people were found and taken off the streets. Now, less lives will be ruined!
Jo Grossman
Mel G
1:51 am on Sunday, May 1, 2011
I've lived in Park Slope for 31yrs and it's drastically changed with all these strange white folks moving in the neighborhood thinking they own it but this news doesn't shock me at all things like this happen all over it's just some neighborhoods make it more known than others.
polly
6:05 pm on Sunday, May 1, 2011
Guess what? They do own it.
MILLIE
10:04 pm on Sunday, May 1, 2011
ONLY IF THEY ARE HOME OWNER LIKE ME BORRIQUAL
cat
9:30 am on Monday, May 2, 2011
Bikers have nothing to do with it and also I know it's not right under any circumstances but at the same time the economy is bad and everyone is just trying to survive the best way they know how to that does not make them bad people I personally know them and it brakes my heart that they had to result to this type of lifestyle to survive..drugs has been around forever and drug addicts have been around before these guys where born so we can not blame them for the choices people make in there life's not everyone will agree with me but personally I don't care I am entitled to my opinion and if you must know I am also from parkslope property owner for over 20 years ....
Parksloper
12:41 pm on Monday, May 2, 2011
Who in their right mind would excuse people selling heroin as an excuse for the economy. Selling kids or anyone heroin is despicable and they should rot in jail for life. Guess who will rob you or kill you to get money for their habit.
polly
2:59 pm on Monday, May 2, 2011
I'm black and a homeowner in the central slope since 1980. Doesn't change the fact that white folks own most of the slope. Deal with it.
millie
5:41 pm on Monday, May 2, 2011
Polly, you are one of the lucky black i and lucky too because now 2011 with the prices around here is crazy.
polly
6:03 pm on Monday, May 2, 2011
And getting crazier all the time, Millie. I guess we are lucky, Millie. I don't like some of the changes but I guess we are lucky.
COCK
9:40 pm on Monday, May 2, 2011
MAYBE SOME OF THIS STUFF IS LIES AND THE PEOPLE ARRRESTED FOR CERTAIN THINGS DIDNT DO THEM. MAYBE THEY WERE JUST SELLING A BIT OF POT AND GOT SCREWED IN THIS WHOLE THING.....DONT TRUST EVERYTHING YOU READ!!!!
Ladydi69126
3:11 pm on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
UH Pot is Illegal also !
Stephen Smith
11:51 am on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Sad to say,but the drug business is like any other Business in America. People will engage in
crime because Crime DOES PAY! Think of America's past there were Rum runner's,Bootleggers, and Drug
Dealers way before 2011, it just happens to be illegal. Like Verzion,Directv,Citi Bank, Apple Computers,
etc. it's a Business. I just wish we could stop it! But Economics 101 Supply and Demand fuels any business.
So we need to teach all of our childred the Dangers of drug use.
Louis H
10:18 pm on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
This is old hat. Park slope has been the most notorious of White neighborhoods for heroin since the late 1950's. Webster Place & Prospect Ave is still bad. I can't believe people are so naive, or blind. John Jay HS was the regional school, when I graduated in 1974, I believe 2/3 of my classmates were playing with dope. These people still live in the area, so there is a demand for the drug. There is also quite a few methadone maintenance programs in the area due to this epidemic: Caton &Coney Island Ave, Gowanus Pathmark building, and 21 St & 3 Ave. Most old junkies take the B61 bus down to the Van Dyke St. clinic , in Red Hook, to get their methadone and make a play for some Xanax, to simulate heroin.
Dee
4:05 pm on Saturday, May 7, 2011
Like with everthing else cops always exagerate what's going on and fabricate information so they could look good. People do what they have to do to eat and support there family. If most people had the opportunity to sell drugs and make the type of money they were making they would probably do it also. Lets also not mistaken just because they took him and his team off the streets there are people still out there doing the same thing, and even more people out there trying to fill in those empty slots. these people might be selling drugs to survive, but think about it, who is the one bringing in the drugs into this country? Those are the real crooks that need to be taken off the streets and brought to justice. Drugs are still going to be sold in Park Slope. Look at the satistics. The game doesn't change only the players!!!!