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[GK86]

The Mob of NYC. Full article at the link. Well worth the (long) read.

An undercover NYPD officer entered the spotless Super Laundromat & Dry Cleaners in Inwood, a largely Dominican neighborhood at the northernmost tip of Manhattan. He made his rounds through the store, hawking what he said were stolen gadgets — an iPhone, iPad Mini and iPad.

One man took the bait, agreeing to shell out $200 for all three. He was arrested during the May 2013 sting, and the trouble seemed to end there.

But seven months later — the week before Christmas — cops arrived at the laundromat again. This time, they slapped a neon sticker on the front door declaring in block letters: “RESTRAINING ORDER.”

They presented the store’s owner, Sung Cho, with a daunting slew of legal papers, threatening to shutter the laundromat for a year and auction off everything inside. Their justification, the cops said: The store was being “used to facilitate criminal possession of stolen property.”

Cho was shocked. The 54-year-old Korean immigrant said he had operated his shop for six years without a problem. He says he had even helped cops solve neighborhood crimes, giving them video footage of the sidewalk outside his store.

To build its case, the NYPD cited the May 2013 arrest, along with one other undercover sale of an iPad months earlier for $100 and tips that people inside the laundromat were buying stolen property. Cho said police never told him about the iPad sale or the tips.

Cho was facing a nuisance abatement action, civil lawsuits intended to uproot persistent illegal activities by targeting the locations they stem from. Nuisance abatement became city law in the 1970s as a tool to clean up the sex industry in Times Square.

But today it’s being used quite differently — often ensnaring legal mom-and-pop shops that are almost exclusively located in minority neighborhoods, a Daily News and ProPublica investigation found.

Owners interviewed for this story, all first- and second-generation immigrants, say they felt entrapped and then strong-armed into signing settlements with steep fines and onerous conditions. The stipulations often allow for sweeping surveillance, such as warrantless searches and unbridled police access to video cameras. They also permit the NYPD to automatically fine and padlock a store should another allegation arise — all without giving merchants the opportunity to defend themselves in court.

An examination by the Daily News and ProPublica of 646 cases filed by the NYPD against businesses over an 18-month period beginning in 2013 found:

• Nine out of 10 nuisance abatement actions were against businesses located in neighborhoods where most of the residents are minorities.
  
• The majority of the cases, 58 percent, involve alcohol violations, often against bodegas or liquor stores accused of selling to underage buyers working for the police. A large share of the alcohol cases were concentrated in just a few police precincts. Other precincts in the city with equal or more underage alcohol sales were rarely hit.
  
• Merchants often endure a kind of double jeopardy. By law, the NYPD forwards every arrest or summons for alcohol violations to the State Liquor Authority, which can issue thousands of dollars in fines and revoke a business’ license to sell alcohol. The NYPD can then also bring nuisance abatement actions based on the same allegations, but only does so against some businesses.
  
• The police begin nearly every case with a secret application to a judge requesting an order closing the business while the case is being decided, and before the owner has had the opportunity to appear in court. Judges approved the closure requests 70% of the time.
  
• By law, the first court date must come within three business days after the order has been served. But the NYPD frequently files its closure requests on Thursdays or Fridays, forcing shops to stay closed through the weekend and causing a greater loss of income.
  
• NYPD lawyers justify these emergency orders by claiming the illegal activity at the location is ongoing and poses an immediate threat to the community. But the Daily News and ProPublica found the NYPD didn’t get around to filing cases until, on average, five months after the last offense cited.
  
• Most cases resulted in settlements, 333 of which allow the NYPD to conduct warrantless searches. In 102 cases, the owner agreed to install cameras that the NYPD can access upon request. Another 127 settlements require storeowners to use electronic card readers that store customers’ ID information, also available to the NYPD upon request.

Once served with nuisance abatement actions, business owners are faced with a choice. They can fight the case and remain shut down until it’s resolved, earning no income. Or they can agree to the NYPD’s demands, sign a settlement, and reopen. As a result, cases tend to get resolved very quickly.

A judge denied the cops’ request to close Cho’s laundromat, but Cho was still left with an ominous-sounding restraining order.

“They say that I facilitate these activities, prove me so. How did I facilitate these things?” Cho told the Daily News. “In my view it was total entrapment.”

Perhaps most damaging of all, the terms continue in perpetuity, even if the business changes hands.

“My business is essentially worthless,” Cho said. “What did I do to deserve it?”

Two neighborhoods. Same problem, but different treatment.

The NYPD forwards every arrest or summons for alcohol violations at a business to the State Liquor Authority, which can issue thousands of dollars in fines and revoke alcohol licenses. The police can also file a nuisance abatement action against businesses over the same alleged offenses. From 2013 through the first half of 2014, East Harlem and the East Village had similar numbers of referrals to the state liquor authority: 54 and 59 respectively. But in East Harlem, a heavily Hispanic residential precinct, the NYPD filed 32 alcohol-related nuisance abatements. While, in East Village, a primarily white precinct dominated by bars and college students, the NYPD filed only five of them.

At the 47th Precinct in the Bronx, which is 91% black and Hispanic, storeowners described similar tactics. Police brought 69 nuisance abatement actions over the 18-month period examined by the Daily News and ProPublica, nearly all of which cite alcohol violations.

Jose Castillo, who owned Castillo Grocery, said the undercover auxiliary police officer who came into his store was wearing a hoodie and a hat so you could barely see his face. He said the man grabbed a beer, threw money on the counter, and left before he even had a chance to speak to him.

“It was always the same guy, and you’ll never find out if the guy was a really a minor. They never prove it,” Castillo said.

Many of the workers at these places told a similar tale — that somebody who looked of age came in when the store was busy, often hiding what they were buying, quickly tossing money at the cashier, then walking out.

“It was like 3 o’clock, three schools had let out. It was crowded, it was crazy,” said Rosemary Fermin, 31, who was arrested in 2012 while working at her dad’s store, Tu Casa Deli Grocery. “He looked very old. I didn’t have time to ask for nothing. He just put the money on the counter and walked out.”

In a video from another undercover buy in 2015, a lanky man approached the counter at Maria Luna’s deli on Lexington Avenue during the afternoon rush. He quickly handed her a dollar while palming a can to obscure it, and walked out. Fermin was arrested minutes later.

 

[Piecake]

entrapment and extortion. Sounds like the mob to me

 

[Johndoey]

entrapment and extortion. Sounds like the mob to me

Yup, won't change and it sure isn't new. Three cheers for the NYPD yaaay. It's a masterful example of exerting pressure.

 

[diaspora]

this should be surprise me yet...

 

[Slayven]

NYPD always innovating on the systematic racism front. LAPD you been slipping

 

[Infinite]

I love this city

 

[atr0cious]

Wooosahhh. Fuck the police.

 

[EdibleKnife]

Hopefully the people being so roundly fucked here don't annoy anyone by protesting.

 

[bobbychalkers]

Sounds like something the NYPD would do.

 

[Jake2by4]

That's my city, ugh.

 

[entremet]

Perverse incentives.

When you need to justify your budget by arrests this happens. You make up crimes. Literally.

 

[Funky Papa]

An undercover NYPD officer entered the spotless Super Laundromat & Dry Cleaners in Inwood, a largely Dominican neighborhood at the northernmost tip of Manhattan. He made his rounds through the store, hawking what he said were stolen gadgets — an iPhone, iPad Mini and iPad.

One man took the bait, agreeing to shell out $200 for all three. He was arrested during the May 2013 sting, and the trouble seemed to end there.

But seven months later — the week before Christmas — cops arrived at the laundromat again. This time, they slapped a neon sticker on the front door declaring in block letters: “RESTRAINING ORDER.”

They presented the store’s owner, Sung Cho, with a daunting slew of legal papers, threatening to shutter the laundromat for a year and auction off everything inside. Their justification, the cops said: The store was being “used to facilitate criminal possession of stolen property.”

In a video from another undercover buy in 2015, a lanky man approached the counter at Maria Luna’s deli on Lexington Avenue during the afternoon rush. He quickly handed her a dollar while palming a can to obscure it, and walked out. Fermin was arrested minutes later.

Going by the description, this sounds like a massive heap of crap. And a legally actuable one at that.

 

[zero_suit]

NYPD always innovating on the systematic racism front. LAPD you been slipping

LAPD used to be the leader. What happened?

 

[King Tubby]

Brilliant, NYPD, just brilliant. Keep finding new ways to fuck with people.

 

[entremet]

LAPD used to be the leader. What happened?

Couldn't settle for second place haha.

Fun fact: The current NYPD commish was the LAPD commish. He was also the former NYPD commish before that!

 

[SlimySnake]

Nothing NYPD does surprises me anymore. These people are animals.

 

[Wickerbasket]

One or two bad apples, my ass. Sounds like the whole orchards gone rotten.

They get away with it though, because nobody who has power gives a shit.

 

[RK9039]

Land of the free strikes again.

 

[darscot]

This seems like complete entrapment and even if the phones are hot since when is it a crime to buy something from a dude on the street, or pawn shop or anywhere else that there is a chance it might be stolen.

 

[Vicetrailia]

No more good cops in NY.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Correct me if I'm wrong but if a guy comes in and says he has I pads and such and offer to you to buy, and you do, that shouldn't make you part of the crime, right?

 

[Gattsu25]

Going by the description, this sounds like a massive heap of crap. And a legally actuable one at that.

Yeah, that is some grade A scary bullshit.

To think that they can ruin your livelihood AND force you to become a legit spy on your community all for the crime of being a minority that sells to minorities.

 

[hwalker84]

Did that to my old barbershop in downtown Pittsburgh.

 

[darscot]

Correct me if I'm wrong but if a guy comes in and says he has I pads and such and offer to you to buy, and you do, that shouldn't make you part of the crime, right?

It would make it basically impossible to buy anything other than new at retail so I can't imagine it's a crime. I'm a canuck thought so I haven't a clue about little details like this in the US.

 

[Parch]

How much more acceptable and widespread would this become under a Republican government.

 

[phaonaut]

Correct me if I'm wrong but if a guy comes in and says he has I pads and such and offer to you to buy, and you do, that shouldn't make you part of the crime, right?

I think you're ok, as long as you aren't aware they are stolen goods.

 

[ryan13ts]

NYPD is the fucking scum of the earth, they're worse than the majority of people they should really be out arresting.

 

[BobTheFork]

If being used to facilitate criminal activity is the criteria, then I'll give $100 to any Gaffer willing to slap that same sign on a police station.

 

[NumberTwo]

The State sponsored gang that is the NYPD.

 

[Plinko]

So this is just basically turning into Gotham City at this point, right?

 

[Puck Beaverton]

Honestly thought they did this for awhile.

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

I think you're ok, as long as you aren't aware they are stolen goods.

No, you're guilty until proven innocent

 

[GK86]

Yeah, that is some grade A scary bullshit.

To think that they can ruin your livelihood AND force you to become a legit spy on your community all for the crime of being a minority that sells to minorities.

Beyond bullshit. They are setting people up for no fucking reason, just to screw with the community.

Nearly all of the nuisance abatement cases filed against businesses in East Harlem’s 23rd precinct were based on the work of Officer David Ross. He would go from storefront to storefront with an undercover minor, sometimes citing violations against more than 10 stores in a single day, court filings show.

The nuisance abatement law only requires one allegation of an alcohol violation, but the NYPD’s guide for officers states that three violations are necessary for a judge to “entertain the possibility of a closing order.”

So when Ross built his cases, he had the underage auxiliary officer purchase alcohol at each location on three separate occasions. But he only made an arrest after the third purchase.

A retired lieutenant who spoke to the Daily News said he’d never heard of a buy operation that didn’t immediately lead to an arrest or summons.

“That would mean the purpose of those buys was to get a nuisance abatement,” he said.

The NYPD is always looking for a way to fuck over minorities in this city.

 

[Brinbe]

It's a gang free to do what it wants without oversight or any real consequences for its actions..

 

[SimleuqiR]

Gotta make room for gentrification.

Make sure the minority business owners are kicked out of the neighborhood one way or another so big corps and high end development take over.

 

[jmood88]

Hopefully the people being so roundly fucked here don't annoy anyone by protesting.

#NeverForgetRuth

 

[timetokill]

It's an interesting ecosystem, the most corrupt police mobs are running rampant in America's most liberal cities, often the most populous with minorities.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

Now think about how much we don't know about what they do everyday.

 

[Filth]

They do it in every neihborhoood not just minorities. They tell the people the items are stolen and need to get rid of them quick. They get the information of which stores to do this in by debriefing prisoners who burglarize people's houses and then ask them where they sell the stolen property. It's not just random.

 

[AJLma]

Fun fact: The current NYPD commish was the LAPD commish. He was also the former NYPD commish before that!

A man with a vision.

 

[GK86]

They do it in every neihborhoood not just minorities. They tell the people the items are stolen and need to get rid of them quick. They get the information of which stores to do this in by debriefing prisoners who burglarize people's houses and then ask them where they sell the stolen property. It's not just random.

Funny how that works out:

Nine out of 10 nuisance abatement actions were against businesses located in neighborhoods where most of the residents are minorities.

 

[jmood88]

They do it in every neihborhoood not just minorities. They tell the people the items are stolen and need to get rid of them quick. They get the information of which stores to do this in by debriefing prisoners who burglarize people's houses and then ask them where they sell the stolen property. It's not just random.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, it's somehow not about race.

 

[Filth]

Funny how that works out:

The businesses that buy the stolen items are usually bodegas and jewelry stores.


And it's never a " let's just go test this store " it's from stores known to buy stolen property.

 

[GK86]

Despite all evidence to the contrary, it's somehow not about race.

Why do you guys always gotta make things about race?

/s

 

[Kenstar]

They do it in every neighborhood not just minorities. They tell the people the items are stolen and need to get rid of them quick. They get the information of which stores to do this in by debriefing prisoners who burglarize people's houses and then ask them where they sell the stolen property. It's not just random.

Its still bullshit, imagine if you threw a houseparty open to your neighbors and friends and some random undercover plant covertly sold a hot iphone to some nitwit there, and YOUR ASS is charged with aiding and abetting stolen property sales and your home threatened to be seized unless you install police cameras in and around your property and pay homeowners fines.

And you find that they're doing it mostly to the minorities that managed to save up and were lucky enough to have a house in a nice neighborhood.

bullllshit they're not being targeted

 

[GK86]

The businesses that buy the stolen items are usually bodegas and jewelry stores.


And it's never a " let's just go test this store " it's from stores known to buy stolen property.

Have you even read the article? The article lists examples of their bullshit tactics. Lists an example in the difference in treatment between a store in a white neighborhood vs one in a minority neighborhood.

There has always gotta be one to defend them.

 

[Cidd]

So this is just basically turning into Gotham City at this point, right?

Where do you think Gotham was based off of?

 

[Filth]

Its still bullshit, imagine if you threw a houseparty open to your neighbors and friends and some random undercover plant covertly sold a hot iphone to some nitwit there, and YOUR ASS is charged with aiding and abetting stolen property sales and your home threatened to be seized unless you install police cameras in and around your property and pay homeowners fines.

And you find that they're doing it mostly to the minorities that managed to save up and were lucky enough to have a house in a nice neighborhood.

bullllshit they're not being targeted

What you just described isn't how it's done at all.

 

[GK86]

What you just described isn't how it's done at all.

Literally the first paragraph in the OP:

An undercover NYPD officer entered the spotless Super Laundromat & Dry Cleaners in Inwood, a largely Dominican neighborhood at the northernmost tip of Manhattan. He made his rounds through the store, hawking what he said were stolen gadgets — an iPhone, iPad Mini and iPad.

One man took the bait, agreeing to shell out $200 for all three. He was arrested during the May 2013 sting, and the trouble seemed to end there.

But seven months later — the week before Christmas — cops arrived at the laundromat again. This time, they slapped a neon sticker on the front door declaring in block letters: “RESTRAINING ORDER.”

They presented the store’s owner, Sung Cho, with a daunting slew of legal papers, threatening to shutter the laundromat for a year and auction off everything inside. Their justification, the cops said: The store was being “used to facilitate criminal possession of stolen property.”

 

[Filth]

Have you even read the article? The article lists examples of their bullshit tactics. Lists an example in the difference in treatment between a store in a white neighborhood vs one in a minority neighborhood.

There has always gotta be one to defend them.

I'm not defending. I'm describing to you my example from first hand experience. I'm not sugar coating any of my facts. I'm describing exactly what we do. And the article isn't describing things correctly. I'm not here to change your opinion I'm just trying to describe to you what's exactly done.