Heat sends three in the cooler

The recent warm weather may have led to a major pot bust in an area of Queens so secluded, it is called the “Lost Community.”
According to the New York City Police Department (NYPD), officers of the 105th Precinct Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit were on “routine patrol” on the evening of Tuesday, October 16 and “did discover the existence of a residence apparently being used as a marijuana growing facility.”
In fact, according to a police source, narcotics cops were doing a “follow up” on an old complaint of a “trafficking location” nearby, and just happened to be driving down 269th Street, just north of Union Turnpike, when one officer got a whiff of the unmistakable, overpowering aroma of high-end, designer marijuana.
“With the warm weather and all the high-intensity lighting, I guess it was too hot, so they opened a (window),” the source, who is close to the investigation, said.
Cops secured the house, at 77-12 269th Street, in the New Hyde Park section of Queens, and the following day executed a search warrant.
They discovered nearly 300 marijuana plants under cultivation, and as many as 10 “lawn leaf” bags containing harvested marijuana. The basement of the house had been converted into a high-tech plantation, with growing lights, fertilizing and watering equipment.
Arrested were Ramon Monzon, 43; Jose Morales, 23; and Augusto Bethacourt, 28. All three gave their address as the house where they were found. They are charged with felony possession and face up to seven years if convicted.
A spokesperson for the owner of the home said, “Of course, we’re a little upset. We got the tenant through an agent in March of 2006. They were credit checked and everything. They always paid the rent on time.”
A relative of the owner, who picked up the rent, said the tenants always paid in cash. “I smelled something, like an animal smell, but I didn’t think about it” she said.
Next-door neighbor Ed Arzooman, 41, was more than a little upset. “Con Edison showed up and said they had to get into my basement. They found wires attached to my box, leading to the other house,” he said.
Arzooman wonders how much he’s been ripped off for. “The bills got a lot higher about a year ago, but I thought it was a rate hike, plus we were using the air conditioner a lot.” He figures he may have subsidized the illegal operation $3,000 or more.
His son Eddie, 11, is astounded. “Sometimes my basketball went into the back yard there and I’d go get it. Then they put up a fence. It smelled sort of like something cooking, but I didn’t know what it was.”
Marvin Galeas, 24, lives across the street from the house. He wasn’t surprised at the existence of the pot, just the amount. “Sure I smelled it, but I just thought it was one of the neighbors smoking it,” he said.
According to another neighbor, a fourth man claiming to be in the “dry wall business” seemed to be the renter of the house. He told her he “bought a place somewhere around Liberty or Middletown [New York] and was fixing it up to move there.”
Michael P. Castellano, first vice president of the Lost Community Civic Association, surveyed the scene as cops loaded plant after plant onto a NYPD truck. “I’m not surprised they picked this area. We were in the 111th Precinct, but the line was moved and now we’re just inside the 105th.”
Castellano explained that the area is in a sort of limbo. “We’re New Hyde Park, and share the zip code with people in Nassau. But it’s Queens - we’re in the 718 area code.”
He feels his neighborhood was selected for the criminal enterprise because the isolation is more than geographic. “People just don’t know their neighbors, and aren’t involved. We used to have 150 people at our meetings - now we’re lucky to get 25, and they tend to be older.” Castellano said.