NEW YORK — Eight people were hit with charges Monday for allegedly operating an “around-the-clock” crack cocaine distribution ring in Times Square.
An indictment unsealed Tuesday details the alleged efforts, saying the ring ran from at least December 2019 through August 2021 in the vicinity of West 43rd Street and 8th Avenue.
Court documents say the “open-air bazaar” ran in shifts — with one working from the late morning through the early afternoon, and another working from the evening through night.
“This crew gave new meaning to the slogan for New York City as the ‘city that never sleeps,’” says HSI Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh. “They preyed on the addictions and vulnerabilities of others.”
The Department of Justice’s Southern District of New York says surveillance video shows hundreds of “hand-to-hand” sales of crack cocaine. They say over an 11-day period earlier this year, more than 650 transactions occurred.
“We recall the bad old days of a much seedier Times Square that was unwelcoming, and we are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that those days remain just a memory,” says Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss.
One of those charged — Aaron “Duke” Starks, 36 from the Bronx — was arrested in January 2020. Starks had 312 capsules of crack cocaine and 52 twists of crack cocaine seized from him, authorities say.
Starks, Johnny “Ghost” Perez, Sekou “Tre” Simpson, Fred “Trinny” Johnson, Davon “Smooth” Mial and Donnell “Mac” Bruns were due before a judge Tuesday, while Fravon “Harlem” Young and Robert Mason remain at large.
The group — all of whom hail from either the Bronx, Brooklyn or Manhattan, are charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 280 grams and more of mixtures and substances containing a detectable amount of crack cocaine.
They face a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.