A 100-count indictment charging 38 dealers with conspiracy and top narcotics counts ended a drug gang’s decade-long hold over four buildings in Upper Manhattan. Each night, ring members wearing ski masks and hoods took over entryways, hallways, rooftops and apartments at 545, 546, 550 and 552 West 146th Street to sell $10 tinfoils of crack to a never-ending stream of buyers. The ring sold an estimated 90 kilograms of crack-cocaine per year netting approximately $3 million annually. Daily, law-abiding tenants had to push past lines of buyers and wait to be allowed to enter their own buildings by dealers posted at the entryways. The ring controlled numerous apartments in the buildings where they stored and packaged the drugs. Ring leaders posted lookouts to protect street sellers, set up escape routes and “safe houses,” and constantly moved stash locations.
