This drug ring was toppled like a bunch of dominoes.
A Manhattan cocaine and heroin trafficking gang run by men who played dominoes on the sidewalk as they kept a watchful eye on their turf has been busted, authorities announced today.
The group – known as the “Old Timers” – routinely hung out in Washington Heights on West 160th Street, between Fort Washington Avenue and Broadway, and sold two pounds of drugs a week, according to the city’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.
“They would play dominoes on the sidewalk. Some of them would be sitting on chairs with a table out. Some would be standing,” said Wynieo Almanzar, 14, who grew up on 161st Street, a block from the alleged gang’s sidewalk hangout. “I’m happy they’ve been caught. I’ve been seeing them here for a long time.”
Eight members of the ring were nabbed yesterday following a 10-month wiretap investigation and 14 undercover buys of cocaine by officers with the NYPD’s Manhattan North Narcotics Bureau, authorities said.
One kilo of cocaine was purchased just before the takedown, authorities added.
“There were older guys out there. It didn’t look like they were doing anything bad,” said Tim Clark, 42, who’s been living in the neighborhood for two and half years. “It is surprising but we feel safer knowing police have caught them.”
The drug dealers were also recorded discussing their illegal activities on nine cell phones, authorities said.
The organization allegedly sold bulk quantities of narcotics to distributors in the city and along the eastern seaboard, from Boston to Philadelphia.
The ringleader, Pedro Guzman Damiani, also ran a side business where he was paid by other drug organizations to repackage their loads of cocaine and heroin, authorities claim. He allegedly used presses he stored at his nearby home on Fort Washington Avenue.
Damiani, known as the “engineer,” would mix drug shipments with a diluting substance in order to expand the quantity, authorities allege.
The process is known in the drug circles as “cutting” or “stepping on” the product.
He would then press the drug packages back into their original shape so that it wouldn’t appear as though the shipments had been altered, authorities add.
Cops raided Damiani’s apartment yesterday and seized drug presses, a half pound of cocaine, fingers of heroin and two loaded handguns, authorities said.
Damiani, 41, was arrested, along with Joelvi Canela, 21; Dagoberto Garcia, 46; Gumercindo Mercedes, 42; Jose Rodriguez, 34; Feliz Rojas, 35; Jose Santana, 25 and Gerard Vasquez, 24.
“They didn’t seem suspicious. The block has been like this forever,” said Herculano Federici, 53, a 15-year resident. “Everybody knows there’s drugs in this neighborhood. I’m happy that something it was done about it. You don’t feel safe with those people.”