The BroadsheetDAILY – 7/26/22 – Federal Agents Seize Drugs Worth More Than $1 Million Outside Downtown Hotel

The Broadsheet – Lower Manhattan’s Local Newspaper

Breaking Bad, Lower Manhattan-Style

Federal Agents Seize Drugs Worth More Than $1 Million Outside Downtown Hotel

The Marriott Hotel at 151 Maiden Lane, where one of the suspects was staying as a guest, and in front of which he was apprehended carrying more than 40 pounds of crystal methamphetamine.

Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducting an undercover surveillance outside at Lower Manhattan hotel nabbed a team of alleged traffickers who are accused of driving across country with a total of 165 pounds of crystal methamphetamine.

The drama began on the morning of July 5, when a team of DEA agents were staked out in front of the Marriott AC New York Hotel by Marriott, at 151 Maiden Lane, near South Street. They were waiting for 19-year-old Luis Estrada, of San Diego, whom they had recently tracked driving across country with an associate in a rented vehicle. When Mr. Estrada exited the hotel and began wheeling a black suitcase along Maiden Lane, they approached the young man, and took him into custody based on an arrest warrant. A search of the suitcase revealed that it contained more than 40 pounds of crystal methamphetamine.

Three days later, the same DEA team caught up with Mr. Estrada’s traveling companion, Carlos Santos, of San Jose, California. Mr. Santos was spotted by the federal agents in a parking lot on West 219 Street, where he was observed removing industrial canisters of compressed air from a white van, and using power tools to cut them open. The DEA agents took Mr. Santos into custody, and then searched the air canisters, which were found to contain an additional 100 pounds of crystal methamphetamine.

One of the industrial compressed air canisters that DEA agents allege was used to conceal an additional 100 pounds of the illegal drug.

The DEA estimates that the street value of the combined cache of drugs is slightly more than $1.2 million.

Mr. Estrada has charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second and third degrees. Mr. Santos is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second, third and seventh degrees.

Under current New York State law, neither defendant could be held on bail, because although methamphetamine is legally categorized as a controlled substance, it is not technically designated as a “narcotic.” This means that even if Mr. Estrada and Mr. Santos had been apprehended in possession of a much larger amount of crystal methamphetamine, the judges presiding at their arraignments were powerless to hold them without bail, or impose bail in any amount as a condition of their release. Instead, both were freed on supervised release, a program that consists of in-person meetings and regular phone call check-ins with social workers.

Frank Tarentino, the special agent in charge of the DEA’s New York Division, said, “methamphetamine is running rampant throughout the country causing addiction, overdoses, and poisonings. DEA has seen methamphetamine seizures in New York increase 1300 percent since 2021, indicating New York is a bullseye for traffickers.”

Matthew Fenton

Remembering a Pillar of the Community

Longtime Resident and Stalwart Protector of His Neighbors Memorialized

Gus Ouranitsas, who lived in Battery Park City from 1986 until his death from a September 11-related cancer last year, was memorialized by friends and neighbors at a tree-planting ceremony and plaque unveiling on July 7.

Unconventional Wharf-fare

Much Derided Security Tent for Statue of Liberty Ferry Slated to Move, and Then Move Back

The City’s Parks Department, the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Project, and the National Park Service are planning to relocate the security screening tent that serves visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, to accommodate construction of flood-control infrastructure.

Letter

To the editor,

[Re: “Unconventional Wharf-fare,” BroadsheetDAILY, July 21, 2022]

This is the most godawful plan I could imagine. The local community will lose the entirety of its access to the water and the park with this logistical plan to accommodate tourists.

Please, please, please reconsider using the Coast Guard parking lot and pier for

temporary access and security screening for Statue of Liberty tours. Decision makers need to rethink how the local community can have substantive access to parks and waterfront during these simultaneous resiliency projects in Lower Manhattan.

We are going to destroy the neighborhood for a few years to implement this work and it’s going to take one to two decades to recover to the beauty we enjoy today.

Bill Bialosky

For Thrifty Epicures

Restaurant Week Includes 45 Downtown Eateries

New York’s annual food celebration, Restaurant Week, started yesterday and wraps up on Sunday, August 21. For those disinclined to venture above Canal Street, the good news is that of all the 659 establishments participating throughout the City this summer, almost four dozen are located in Lower Manhattan. Most restaurants are offering a selection of $30, $45, and $60 two-course lunches and $30, $45, and $60 three-course dinners. In many of these locations, the everyday prices are significantly higher than Restaurant Week offerings, which makes this value proposition a compelling opportunity to try places that might ordinarily be outside your budget. Because seats go fast, please call ahead to confirm availability and make a reservation.

For a list of participating Lower Manhattan restaurants, their addresses and phone number, click here.

Calendar

Monday, July 25

10:30am-11:30am

Governors Island, western promenade

The instructor will lead you in rhythmic movement and aerobics, balance and coordination exercises, as well as strength training. Free.

3pm-3:30pm

Rockefeller Park Basketball Court

Practice the basics of basketball with fun and challenging games on adjustable height hoops with drills for all levels. Closed-toe shoes required. Free.

3:45pm-4:30pm

Rockefeller Park Basketball Court

Practice the basics of basketball with fun and challenging games on adjustable height hoops with drills for all levels. Closed-toe shoes required. Free.

Tuesday, July 26

10:30am-11:30am

6 River Terrace

Join in on the fun featuring easy-to-follow Latin dance choreography while working on your balance, coordination and range of motion. Come prepared for enthusiastic instruction, a little strength training and a lot of fun. Participants are encouraged to bring their own equipment: weights, water bottle, hand towel etc.

12:30pm-1:30pm

Rockefeller Park House

A lunch time program for passersby to play a quick game of chess or backgammon. Using clocks, opponents will play 5 minute games that are fast, furious and fun. An instructor will be on hand to offer pointers and tips to improve your game.

1pm

St. Paul’s Chapel

Hear the JazzHouse@Trinity Student Showcase and Faculty Concert. To watch online live, go to Trinity’s homepage at the time of the performance.

3:30pm-5pm

Rockefeller Park

Play the popular strategy game while getting pointers and advice from an expert. Chess improves concentration, problem solving, and strategic planning — plus it’s fun! For ages 5 and up (adults welcome).

Lower Manhattan Greenmarkets

Tribeca Greenmarket

Greenwich Street & Chambers Street

Wednesdays and Saturdays, 8am-3pm (compost program: Saturdays, 8am-1pm)

Bowling Green Greenmarket

Broadway & Whitehall St

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8am-5pm (compost program: 8am-11am)

World Trade Center Oculus Greenmarket

Tuesdays, 8am-5pm

The Outdoor Fulton Stall Market

91 South Street, between Fulton & John Streets

Indoor market: Monday through Saturday,11:30am-5pm

CSA pick-up: Thursday, 4pm-6pm; Friday, 11:30-5pm

Outdoor market: Saturdays, 11:30am-5pm

CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS

Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found

To place a listing, contact editor@ebroadsheet.com

Today in History: July 25

Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (1871), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Painting by Thomas Eakins, who was born on this day in 1844.

306 – Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops.

315 – The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate Constantine I’s victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge.

864 – The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings.

1261 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.

1609 – The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia, is deliberately driven ashore during a storm at Bermuda to prevent its sinking; the survivors go on to found a new colony there.

1783 – In the American Revolutionary War, the war’s last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, is ended by a preliminary peace agreement.

1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor.

1898 – United States seizes Puerto Rico from Spain.

1946 – In Operation Crossroads, an atomic bomb is detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini Atoll.

1956 – Forty-five miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51.

1965 – Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music.

1978 – Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF.

2010 – WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.

2016 – Verizon announces $4.83 billion purchase of Yahoo

Births

1844 – Thomas Eakins, American painter, sculptor, and photographer (d. 1916)

1905 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-Swiss novelist, playwright, and memoirist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)

1964 – Anne Applebaum, American journalist and author

Deaths

1011 – Ichijō, emperor of Japan (b. 980)

1790 – William Livingston, American soldier and politician, first Governor of New Jersey (b. 1723)

1966 – Frank O’Hara, American poet and critic (b. 1926)

1989 – Steve Rubell, American businessman, co-owner of Studio 54 (b. 1943)

2021 – Robert Parris “Bob” Moses, civil rights activist (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), and educator (The Algebra Project), dies at 86

The Broadsheet Inc. eBroadsheet.com editor @ ebroadsheet.com ©2022 All Rights Reserved All photos © Robert Simko 2022 unless otherwise credited