Politics & Government

Sin City in the Slope: Neighborhood Heroin Ring Busted

Authorities arrested 12 dealers for sales of heroin and cocaine after an undercover investigation.

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.

Find out what's happening in Park Slopewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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.

Find out what's happening in Park Slopewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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.  


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