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4 Suspect Heroin Dealers Arrested As Cops Probe Philip Seymour Hoffman's Death
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 5, 2014
Modified Feb 5, 2014
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 5, 2014
Modified Feb 5, 2014
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In the wake of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman's apparent overdose, four suspected heroin dealers were arrested last night in Manhattan. Police raided an apartment at 302 Mott Street, taking three men and one woman into custody as well as 300-350 glassines of heroin.
Hoffman, who had been battling his addiction and who appeared 'high' and 'out of it' in recent days, was found dead in his West Village apartment with a syringe in his arm on Sunday morning. Police found 23 empty bags of heroin, plus around 50 bags full of heroin, inside the 35 Bethune Street home. Police started tracing the origins of the heroin, some with the packaging 'Ace of Spades.'
Law enforcement sources said that Hoffman withdrew $1200, in six installment, from the ATM at the D'Agostino grocery store at Greenwich and Bethune Streets, to buy heroin and cocaine. A witness told police that he was accompanied by two men, but there's no surveillance camera near the ATM. The authorities are looking at additional cameras in the area.
The suspects arrested at 302 Mott are Robert Vineberg, 57, Thomas Kushman, 48, Max Rosenblum, 22, and Juliana Luchkiw, 22. However, the Post notes while it's believed Hoffman went there to buy drugs, "Cops could not confirm that any of the suspects actually sold to Hoffman, and the bags found in the apartment did not have the 'Ace of Spades' stamp, which were on the bags found in Hoffman’s place." Also, "the heroin found there tested at 59 percent pure, nearly the highest level cops ever see, law-enforcement sources said." It also did not contain fentanyl, a synthetic that is mixed with heroin and has been blamed in recent overdoses.
Hoffman's estranged partner and the mother of his three children, Mimi O'Donnell, was spotted yesterday at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home. (O'Donnell had reportedly thrown Hoffman out their home out of tough love, because of his addiction; she remained at their apartment three blocks away from his place.) A wake is planned for tomorrow night and a funeral will be on Friday at St. Ignatius Loyola Roman Catholic Church.
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302 mott street
arrests
heroin
overdose
philip seymour hoffman
west village
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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