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Twelve people were arrested as narcotics cops smashed apart a widespread heroin distribution network where traditional back-alley deals were conducted openly and in broad daylight around Park Slope and Windsor Terrace.
The drug dealers, who allegedly peddled smack with street names “Sin City,” “Guilty” and “True Life,” are all facing long prison sentences for selling more than $70,000 worth of China white and cocaine to undercover investigators, special narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan announced last Friday.
The arrests bring an end to a long investigation by Brennan’s office, NYPD narcotics cops and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the prosecutor said.
The main focus of the drug probe was 32-year-old 19th Street resident Edwin Perez, who Brennan said supplied heroin to street level dealers.
Perez would conduct his business with reckless abandon as he resupplied his clients on Park Slope’s tree-lined blocks, which he jokingly referred to as his “office,” according to court papers.
Brennan said that Perez would meet with potential buyers on streets adjacent to Prospect Park as well as Ninth and 10th streets between Fourth and Fifth avenues — rolling up to his clients on a Can-Am Spyder three-wheeled motorcycle.
The exchanges were brief: Perez would toss the drugs into his client’s car, grab the cash and roll off. An associate would often trail behind him in another vehicle, blocking traffic as the deal went down, court papers said.
Perez’s motorcycle was found holding 1,400 glassine envelopes of heroin with the “Sin City” stamp in a front compartment, police said.
Perez also advertised his wears as he sped around the neighborhood on his pimped-out tryke — he was often seen wearing a helmet with the words “Sin City” on it, investigators said.
Police said that Perez led one of four loosely connected drug crews that worked the two neighborhoods.
Investigators also arrested four heroin dealers who operated out of Windsor Terrace, where they allegedly conducted hand-to-hand exchanges in Joe’s Pizza on Prospect Park West and Prospect Avenue as well as the Peking Kitchen down the block.
But that was news to Joe’s Pizza employees, who said they never knew their restaurant had become a smack swap meet.
“I don’t know anything about [the drug deals],” said a pizza shop manager, who only identified himself as Ali. “I just heard about this today.”
Rivera’s attorney, Joseph Corrozzo, did not return a call in time for our up-all-night deadline.
None of the alleged drug dealers resided in Park Slope. Most of the suspects lived in either Windsor Terrace or Sunset Park, police said.
Yet the brownstone neighborhood is slowly getting a reputation as a one-stop shopping destination for drug buyers.
In January, cops arrested a group of prescription medication pushers led by a stripper turned medical student who sold thousands of Adderall pills throughout Park Slope and on Craigslist.