The latest round of illegal smoke shop busts in Manhattan reveal startling and dangerous conditions in the bowels of city storefronts, Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Sheriff say.
According to Mayor Adams, the sheriff’s office has now shut down over 850 illegal cannabis dispensaries across the five boroughs, and on Aug. 7, Hizzoner had amNewYork Metro along for the ride to showcase the process behind the raids where even he was shocked by what authorities found.
On face value, 447 Amsterdam Ave. on the Upper West Side appeared almost inviting thanks to its vast open space, immaculate white walls and neon lights. However, when the sheriff’s office, in tandem with the NYPD, burst into the business, they found a disturbing underbelly.
In the backroom, behind a stack of shelves, just out of view of customers, law enforcement found a trap door leading into the building’s recesses. Through this door, members of the sheriff’s department say illegal products are being kept.
“You have pre-rolled joints which are actually being processed and manufactured here in a basement,” Deputy Fred Diaz said. “This is a trap door, which is concealed. What’s through it is the legitimate stock room with regular items that any store might have. One employee sits here, he waits for a notification to open the door and hands-off the product to the employee inside the store.”
Inside, authorities say they not only found the trap door but also a slum in which migrants lived and worked for meager pay in squalid conditions. In the basement, recent rain had left the floor flooded with brown water amidst floating trash and other debris, all where employees made the outlawed product in filthy conditions.
“The conditions we found downstairs are not the best, not the safest, and not the healthiest. If there were a worker down there, it would not be a safe place for them to be,” Sheriff Anthony Miranda told amNewYork Metro. “To access all those bad areas in order to sell their product through a compartment that they have in the wall, these are things that people who open these businesses are obviously taking advantage of the workers and putting them in a dangerous situation.”
In addition to the grimy conditions and alleged abuse of workers’ rights—which Miranda says he will hold those responsible for— officials also say they found illegal products with packaging that is aimed at appealing to children. This, the mayor charges, is one of the main reasons he continues to place such a focus on shutting down illegal smoke shops.
“I was proud to join Sheriff Miranda and community leaders on a major inspection as a part of ‘Operation Padlock to Protect’ that seized $39,000 in illegal products and issued $59,000 in civil penalties. One location was even utilizing a trap door and had numerous safety violations — underscoring how illegal cannabis shops continue to be magnets for crime and safety concerns across our city,” Mayor Adams said.
“In total, we have now shut down over 850 illegal cannabis shops and seized more than $45 million in illegal products in the last three months, once again demonstrating how our successful enforcement operation is so critical to protecting New Yorkers’ safety.”
