West Harlem drug operation hired teens to sell heroin, crack, says Manhattan DA — 48 suspects charged in 78-count indictment
West Harlem drug dealers employed local teenagers to sell heroin and crack cocaine, prosecutors said in a 78-count indictment handed up Thursday in Manhattan.
During a full day of arraignments in Manhattan Supreme Court, Assistant District Attorney Kaitrin Roberts told the court of how the well-oiled organization, code-named “Main Event,” pumped narcotics into the streets of Harlem for more than a year while under the watchful eye of the NYPD and investigators from the Manhattan DA’s office.
“Countless 16- and 17-year-olds” were used to deliver the drugs, shielding higher-ups from police exposure, Roberts said in court.
Main Event workers “operated individual geographic sets virtually 24 hours a day selling narcotics,” the prosecutor said.
The enterprise sold drugs on W. 135th St. and W. 136th St. in an area west of City College between Amsterdam Avenue and Riverside Drive, said Roberts.
“Just a single block of their operating territory, W. 135th Street between Broadway and Riverside Drive, was recently classified by the NYPD as the most violent in Manhattan, fueled in no small part by this highly-structured criminal organization,” Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr. said in a statement.
“The wiretaps showed that the defendants were prolifically selling 24 hours a day,” Roberts said.
“Based on information we gathered during the case, we learned at times they were selling $10,000 worth of drugs in a couple of hours, so this is an extremely prolific narcotics organization that is extremely profitable as well.”
Andrew McFaline, the group’s ringleader, divided the operation into six locations, the indictment says.
At each, street-level dealers, cooks, drivers, security guards, and other employees vital to upholding the business worked morning, noon, and night. The indictment charges 48 people in all.
Other suspects including Patrick Pizzini, Miguel Cotto, Jerell Dunn, Daniel Marquis Velazquez, and Jordan Torres were the managers of McFaline’s assigned locations, Roberts said.
Wads of cash totaling more than $100,000 were seized during search warrants on their apartments as recently as Wednesday morning.
The charges outlined in the indictment run the gamut from fourth-degree conspiracy to attempted murder and operating as a major drug trafficker. The bail sums Judge Ruth Pickholz imposed Thursday ranged from zero to $1 million.
Dunn’s lawyer griped that the charges against his client were excessive — and that prosecutors’ request for $1 million bail in Dunn’s case was in line with what might be imposed on a Mafia don.
“When you look at the indictment, there’s not much meat to it,” lawyer James Phillips said. He added of the bail request: “That’s John Gotti bail.”
“Your honor, this organization was utilizing force in the way John Gotti would do,” Roberts responded.
The indictment names 23 suspects involved in around 50 sales to undercover detectives.
Two people fatally overdosed on drugs sold by Main Event dealers in 2019, according to prosecutors.
