Drug bust at Far Rockaway complex

Thirty one individuals have been indicted and 11 others charged as a result of a four-month undercover investigation at the Hammels Houses, a New York City Housing Authority complex in Far Rockaway.
The defendants – who range in age from 15 to 62 and include five alleged Bloods gang members and nine GIB (“Get It In Bricks”) gang members – are charged with selling crack and powdered cocaine, heroin, oxycodone and marijuana to undercover police officers on more than 140 separate occasions over a four-month period in and around the Hammels Houses.
Sixteen of the defendants are charged with at least one count of selling drugs within a drug-free school zone. Several of the indicted individuals are presently being sought.
The investigation began in October 2006 following a series of meetings between residents of the Hammels Houses and the District Attorney’s office and the NYPD. In response, police officers from the NYPD’s Queens Narcotics Division, backed up by agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency, were able to make a number of undercover narcotics buys and to conduct extensive physical surveillance which enabled Brown’s Narcotics Investigations Bureau to obtain court authorization for six search warrants of known drug trafficking and stash locations. The undercover officers are alleged to have made 147 separate purchases of crack and powdered cocaine, heroin, oxycodone and marijuana from the defendants – many of which were made in close proximity to private and public school facilities – St. Rose of Lima, on Beach 84th Street, Christian Academy, on Beach 86th Street, and Hammels Child Care Center, on Rockaway Beach Boulevard – which adjoin the development.
In addition to the arrests, officers executed seven court-authorized search warrants and recovered two loaded semi-automatic pistols, ammunition and a bullet proof vest, as well as additional quantities of crack cocaine, heroin and marijuana.
The Hammels Houses consist of 14 buildings, six- and seven-stories tall, in which nearly 2,000 people reside in 712 apartments.
The defendants are variously charged with numerous counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third, fourth and fifth degrees and criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds, criminal sale of marijuana in the fourth degree and petit larceny.