Sssstay away from our sssstash.
Cops took down a drug dealing operation that worked out of a Harlem apartment across from Marcus Garvey Park where neighbors regularly saw the thugs cruising the block with a unique security detail – an eight-foot python hanging from their necks and two pit bulls.
“A series of prior arrests and search warrants at the location did not deter the operation – instead it branched out into gun sales,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan. “Dealers felt the potential for violence was great enough that two pit bulls, an eight foot long python and a loaded gun were kept with the stash.”
Undercover cops bought two firearms and made ten bulk pot purchases from dealers Mark Hansen,35, and Manuel Bey, 26, – who often sat on the stoop with the massive python.
“He had it from when it was a baby,” said neighbor Susan Singh. “He would take it to the park and the kids would play with it. He would have it wrapped around his neck. They wanted to touch it.”
The pet and pot loving men were busted Wednesday in their Bronx apartments where cops seized two guns, more than 20 pounds of pot and more than $20,000.
The pot pushers conducted sales out of the basement of 1 East 124th Street and cops discovered the two pit bulls and the massive protective python curled up in an aquarium during the search. The animals were turned over to the ASPCA.
The drug peddlers ran a bustling business that drew numerous complaints from neighbors who were sick of buyers lined up in the first floor hallway during business hours, prosecutors said.
Bey and Hansen exchanged weed for cash through a slot in a steel door that led to the building’s basement.
Residents complained about having to walk by the long line of junkies every time they came in or out of the building.
A bike shop next door was also dealing small quantities of weed but abruptly shut down when cops started investigating, a law enforcement source said.
Bey and Hansen are charged with multiple felonies for criminal sale of firearms and pot stemming from the eight-month investigation that began last April.
They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Friday before Justice Robert Stolz in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Bey’s brother Christopher and Hansen’s wife were also arrested in connection with the sting.