Police Bust Upper West Side Drug Ring
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Police arrested 28 people Tuesday in connection with a drug ring they say operated just steps from Lincoln Center on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Investigators say the suspects were selling cocaine, crack, marijuana and heroin at the Amsterdam Houses.
The investigation began after residents complained about heavy traffic in the hallways and discarded drug paraphernalia on the floors.
Three high schoolers were among those arrested.
Prosecutors say the dealers were using the teens as part of their operation.
"During some of the undercover operations, the dealers would be instructing the high school students how to take money, how to hold money how to hold the crack vials so they wouldn't drop them, so they were actually conducting a how-to course during the course of their drug negotiations so that was one aspect that was very troubling to us," said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan.
The nine month investigation was dubbed "Operation Opera House" because the housing project is located between 61st and 65th streets, right next door to Lincoln Center.