© NY PostDrug dealers brazenly peddle drugs on Broadway.
Things have gotten so bad in New York City that drug dealers are brazenly selling what appears to be cocaine — sometimes neatly assembled on sidewalk tables — on Broadway in trendy NoMad and farther north in Times Square.
Some of the drug-slingers openly solicit, saying, "Weed, coke. Weed, coke" as pedestrians walk by, a disgusted local restaurateur said.
The Post observed two different buyers approach dealers on the corner of West 27th Street and Broadway earlier this month and hand over cash in exchange for plastic baggies containing a mysterious white substance.
And in Times Square, a Post journalist spotted a makeshift table with what appeared to be pre-rolled joints on West 41st Street — and was told by the dealer that they could get cocaine there too.
In NoMad, one man wearing an Amazon vest did not even bother hopping off his bike before riding off with the goods on Oct. 7. A few minutes later, another man approached the dealers and walked away with a white substance in a baggie.
© NY PostSome dealers neatly assemble their haul on sidewalk tables.
The transactions took place less than 24 hours after three police cars sat near the location the night before.
As of Thursday, the 13th Precinct this year had received 41 narcotics-related 911 calls and another 311 drug-related complaint covering two square blocks flanking Broadway, from West. 27th Street north to West 28th Street and from 5th Avenue west to Sixth Avenue, police said.
The stretch of Broadway has long attracted drug dealers, observers say, but they've become especially bold in the last year, laying their goods out on coffee and folding tables as if they're selling fake Rolex watches or Coach bags.
One cluster of dealers on the northwest corner of West 27th Street and Broadway relax in chairs in front of one of the empty storefronts, directly across from a matcha tea shop and a popular Sweetgreen eatery.
The Post on Tuesday observed three people sitting outside the storefront and going into a backpack — which said "I Can Do Anything" — to get their merchandise. A small folding table displayed bags of what looked like weed and pre-rolled joints.
© NY PostThe stretch of Broadway has long attracted drug dealers, observers say, but they’ve become especially bold in the last year.
"It's like so brazen, I couldn't believe it," said one NoMad resident.
The resident said he felt like he was watching an episode of "The Wire" — the award-winning drama series about Baltimore's out-of-control drug dealers.
One alleged dealer was "sitting up against the store, has a huge plate of loose marijuana and is packaging it into individual baggies," the resident said, noting he saw the activity late on a Saturday afternoon.
That evening, when the resident saw that the group hadn't dispersed, he approached a police officer sitting in a patrol car nearby. He said he pointed out the drug dealing and said the cop "just shrugged his shoulders and said 'What do you want me to do?' "
"It doesn't seem like there's anybody holding anybody accountable. It's just lawless," the resident said.
The manager of a nearby upscale restaurant said fights sometimes break out on the corner.
"There are altercations. The cops will show up, usually because someone will call them, and then they'll make themselves scarce," the manager said.
James Mettham, head of the Flatiron NoMad Partnership, said the new sidewalk displays are disturbing.
"It's one thing to be kind of covertly trying to sell marijuana," Mettham said. "Just flopping down and selling on a table is a step too far for us."
He said the organization was working with the 13th Precinct but despite NYPD enforcement efforts the drug dealing "kind of creeps back in on a day to day basis."
The group has been working to bring new shops and restaurants to the area. Broadway is now a pedestrian plaza for two blocks south of 27th Street and there is a new Ritz Carlton hotel on 28th Street where rooms start at about $1,500 a night.
A jewelry store owner near 28th Street said the dealers were hurting his sales.
"Obviously it affects our business," the shop owner said. "Sales are going down, right now we are 40 percent down."
He said he's seen people getting aggressive and arguing and that he closes his door and tells the peddlers not to smoke.
"They made it legal. What can you do?" he said.
New York legalized the personal use of pot in March 2021 but it has yet to issue state licenses to sell weed legally for recreational use. Cocaine remains illegal and having the drug with the intent sell it is a felony.
Michael Alcazar, a former NYPD detective and adjunct professor at John Jay College, said the legalization along with a decline in undercover officers and criminal justice reform measures have emboldened dealers.
"I think the street dealers are trying to push the envelope as far as they can see how much they can get away with before NYPD starts enforcing these drug laws," Alcazar said.
He said if dealers are arrested "with all the bail reform, again, they're not afraid of being prosecuted. ... There's just no equating the punishment with the crime anymore. And I think that's what's giving life to this underground economy with the drug sales."
Busts for felony drug sales fell by 28% in the Big Apple from 2019 to 2021, with convictions dropping 52% during the same span, The Post has reported.
Meanwhile, major crime in the 13th Precinct, which includes NoMad and Gramercy Park, is up 25% through Oct. 9 compared to the same period in 2021 with a 29% rise in burglaries and a 9% increase in felony assaults.
As of Thursday, the NYPD had issued 41 criminal summonses this year — including 12 for selling marijuana and five for unlicensed vending — along the two-square blocks bordering West. 27th Street, West 28th Street, Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. Cops say they have also made 10 drug-related arrests on the same turf and other 21 that included burglary and assault.
An NYPD spokesperson said the precinct's commanding officer is "aware of the condition at the location and has been working with precinct personnel to address it."
Additional reporting by Rich Calder
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