A narcotics trafficking ring that operated primarily in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn has been broken up. Six people have been indicted in connection with the trafficking ring. Four of the defendants are charged with acting as a major trafficker.
“This indictment reflects our commitment to responding to complaints from concerned neighbors and to take drug dealers off our streets," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. "We allege that these defendants profited from the misery of addiction while upending the sense of safety in the community where they brazenly operated. Thanks to the hard work of my Detective Investigators, the NYPD and prosecutors from my office, we will now seek to hold them accountable for their criminal actions.”
Three of the defendants, Lance Spearman, Herbert Bazemore and Larry Childress have been variously charged with acting as a major trafficker, second- and fourth-degree conspiracy, second- and third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Acting as a major trafficker is an A-I felony. Spearman was ordered held without bail; Childress was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond; Bazemore was ordered held on $1 million cash bail or $1.5 million bond. All of the defendants were ordered to return to court on December 8, 2023.
Three additional defendants, Steve Rich, Jermalee Reese and Travis Davis will be arraigned on a later date. Reese is charged as part of the above-mentioned conspiracy indictment. Steve Rich and Travis Davis are each charged in separate indictments with criminal sale of a controlled substance and other related counts.
Over the course of the investigation, from May 2022 to October 3, 2023, the narcotics dealers operated primarily in the vicinity of Putnam Avenue and Nostrand Avenue in the 79th Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant selling crack cocaine and heroin, which was packaged in distinctive green glassines. The investigation began following detailed community complaints about open-air drug dealing at the specified location.
Detective Investigators from the District Attorney’s office and NYPD detectives from Narcotics Borough Brooklyn North conducted the investigation, which included making a total of 25 undercover narcotics purchases from the six defendants. Following a car stop on September 23, 2023, police allegedly recovered approximately 60 green glassines of heroin from defendant Herbert Bazemore’s pocket. Each glassine sells for approximately $10 and are packaged in bundles of 10. After obtaining a search warrant for his vehicle, 59 bundles consisting of 590 glassines and more than $5,000 were recovered from inside the car.
New York City Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban said, “Drug trafficking is a scourge not tolerated in New York City, neither by law enforcement nor the people we serve. And together with our partners at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, the NYPD will continue working toward a city whose neighborhoods are free of illegal narcotics and those who seek to profit from their proliferation.”
