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Hipster Artist, Finance Guy Among Those Implicated In Massive Cocaine Bust
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Apr 27, 2013
Modified Apr 28, 2013
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Apr 27, 2013
Modified Apr 28, 2013
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A wise man once said, "Cocaine's a helluva drug," but it's also apparently a great equalizer: a massive cocaine-dealing drug bust has revealed a pretty funky clown car of alleged buyers, including an LES bartender, a managing director at a prominent finance firm and a Brooklyn-based visual artist.
The bust comes two weeks after Manhattan prosecutors brought down a 41-member alleged Lower East Side coke ring, known as the "Bloc/c Boyz," who were caught posting incriminating photos and videos of themselves online. The alleged gang also operated a delivery system using text messages, which made it easier for cops to track down their extensive customer base. The whole system was pretty convenient: "The runner would bring the cocaine to his customers in their apartments or have the customers meet him curbside at the livery cab," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters earlier this month.
Yesterday, a number of alleged buyers were arraigned in front of a Manhattan judge: they included Alicia Elett, a 26-year-old bartender at the Bowery Hotel, 56-year-old VC Independent Advisors investment banker Thomas Vanderslice and Andrew Ohanesian, 32, a visual artist whose much buzzed-about installation The House Party, was on display at a Williamsburg gallery last fall. Prosecutors told the judge that when Ohanesian was arrested, a bag of cocaine fell out of his pants. "He made an attempt to kick that cocaine under the table, but it was recovered," Assistant District Attorney Michelle Warren. And the judge laid some heavy guilt on the defendants: "In the Lower East Side, two police officers were shot at because of drug gangs shooting each other in order to control the selling of drugs to idiots," Judge Edward McLaughlin told Elett when she was arraigned.
Tagged
alicia elett
andrew ohanesian
brooklyn
cocaine bust
Lower East Side
manhattan
thomas vanderslice
Rebecca Fishbein
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