Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg vows to evict illegal pot shops

By Elizabeth Rosner, Bernadette Hogan, Haley Brown and Kate Sheehy

February 7, 2023 2:06pm Updated

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg warned hundreds of illegal pot joints Tuesday that he’s ready to snuff them out with eviction notices.

The typically soft-on-crime law man said his office sent more than 400 letters to rogue businesses in the borough threatening them with the boot, saying he has the power to launch evictions under civil law.

“This letter is to inform you that the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Office is prepared to use our civil authority … to require owners and landlords to commence eviction proceedings of commercial tenants who are engaged in illegal trade or business, and to take over such eviction proceedings if necessary,” the missive warned.

Bragg said his office sent more than 400 letters to illegal smoke shops Tuesday threatening them with the boot.

“In instances where criminal charges are warranted, including but not limited to tax evasion, money laundering, or the sale of cannabis and other narcotics to minors, my office will work with our law enforcement partners to prosecute those crimes.”

Bragg said at a press conference Tuesday, “It is time for the operation of unlicensed cannabis dispensaries to end.

Mayor Eric Adams — who was at the event on the Upper West Side, where city officials said such illegal businesses have particularly proliferated — added,“You can’t just open a shop and sell marijuana.

“There are rules,” he said. “These products are not tested. In some cases, they could be laced with fentanyl. These are dangerous products.”

Asked whether other city district attorneys would be following suit, Adams only said Big Apple officials will “share” information about Manhattan’s program and its potential success with them.

As part of the crackdown, the NYPD also filed four lawsuits Tuesday against Manhattan shops that were allegedly caught selling weed without a license by undercover cops in December. The suits are seeking to stop the shops from selling and are seeking to impose $1,000 fines per day that they broke the law.

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said it’s clear fines haven’t been working, noting the illegal shops are making so much money that they can afford whatever monetary damages are slapped against them.

The move comes after local Sheriff Anthony Miranda testified that an astounding 1,400 shops were illegally selling cannabis products.

This makes them “magnets for robberies … They have potentially tens of thousands of dollars on hand,” Levine added at the presser.

Workers at two Manhattan shops told The Post on Tuesday that sadly for them, an eviction would do the trick.

“If they did that to us, we would close. No chance [of reopening],” said Sam Ahmmed, 24, toiling out of an illegal pot shop in the West Village.

He said he’s constantly scared of authorities storming the store.

“I live waiting for them, I swear,” said Ahmmed, who asked that the name of his store not be used.

Another worker at a Village shop who asked that neither his name nor the store be ID’d said he lives in fear of the law, too.

“I’m tired of this — It’s too scary for me to be a worker,” the employee said.

“When the cops come and close the stores, anything could happen to me,” he said.

Both men griped that the process of getting a license to legally sell Mary Jane takes too long.

A female worker at an illegal marijuana shop in the Meatpacking District said her boss isn’t bothering to get a license because the process is “too expensive” and “there’s no guarantee” — while scoffing at the threat of eviction.

“Let’s see how things play out,” she said. “I got raided before.”

The move to boot illegal shops comes less than a month after local Sheriff Anthony Miranda testified during a City Council hearing that an astounding 1,400 businesses have popped up in the Big Apple illegally selling cannabis products.

There are “likely tens of thousands of illicit cannabis businesses” currently operating out of smoke shops, and other storefronts in New York City, according to a survey.

A study by industry groups released at the end of last year said the problem was undoubtedly far worse.

There are “likely tens of thousands of illicit cannabis businesses” currently operating out of bodegas, smoke shops and other storefronts in New York City, said the survey conducted by the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association, NJ Cannabis Trade Association and Connecticut Medical Cannabis Council.

Making matters more worrisome, many of the illegal shops have been selling bad or dangerously tainted weed, the study found, after buying and testing cannabis goods from the illicit businesses.

The study said many of the items contained potentially deadly E. coli, salmonella, heavy metals and pesticides.

Manhattan City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, whose district includes the Upper West Side, said she’s seen kids who appear at least as young as 12 buying illicit pot and that illegal businesses are moving “within 500 feet of high schools and [other] schools.”

“Those that are selling illegal cannabis, they have no regard,” Adams said.

Chris Alexander, executive director of the city’s Office of Cannabis Management, which oversees the Big Apple’s ganja program, said the plan was to particularly help minority communities make money through licenses to raise them up.

“This is not what was fought for,” he said at the press conference, referring to the booming underground market.

After buying and testing cannabis goods from illegal shops, a study found that those shops have been selling bad or dangerously tainted weed.

In mid-January, there was just one legal weed shop open in New York City, with a second on the way days later. Three hundred licenses for the shops have been distributed so far.

The proliferation of illegal shops was so bad in 2022 that Adams had to create a cannabis task force — which included the sheriff’s office, NYPD and city Department of Consumer Affairs — to crack down on them.

Bragg said the sheriff’s office issued 566 violations at 53 Manhattan locations between Nov. 14 and Nov. 28 and Nov. 28 and Dec. 3, netting $4.1 million in the operation.

The NYPD also seized 20 illicit pot-peddling trucks and buses, he said.

Just last month, Bragg sat down for a general interview with the local CBS affiliate at the Harlem Tavern — as an unlicensed pot truck was parked outside illegally peddling its weed wares.

“This right here, is this, is this legal?” TV journalist Maurice DuBois asked the DA.

Bragg replied, “Most likely not,’’ prompting DuBois to say, “Here’s the DA right here. Here’s a guy with a truck. What could be done about this?”

Bragg said the sheriff’s office had been impounding some such vehicles.

When DuBois responded, “But in the most practical terms, this guy gets to do business, unchecked, at least for now,’’ Bragg acknowledged, “It’s problematic.”