XPost: alt.law-enforcement, nyc.politics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   It didn’t take much to smoke these guys out.   
      
   Cops raided an illegal pot shop in Brooklyn Monday – a day after an irate,   
   weed-puffing worker dared authorities to shut down the store and boasted   
   he doesn’t “give a f–k.”   
      
   The sheriff’s office and NYPD swept through Gelato marijuana shop on 86th   
   Street in Bay Ridge, hours after The Post reported on the shop and a   
   citywide epidemic of unlicensed weed sellers.   
      
   “We’re happy to respond to community complaints,” city Sheriff Antony   
   Miranda, who was on the scene, told The Post.   
      
   Authorities took cannabis flowers, edibles, pre-roilled joints, THC vapes   
   and illegal flavored vape products out of the store — slapping them with   
   $25,000 worth of penalties, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said.   
      
   The raid comes after the worker offered a Post reporter a puff of a joint   
   on Sunday, saying promises to padlock the illicit shops was “nothing new.”   
      
   “That’s always been a possibility of getting raided here,” the worker   
   said. “But I’m not going to be put out of a job!   
      
   “I’ll put a table outside and sell in the street. I don’t give a f–k! You   
   can’t mess with a person’s money!”   
      
   The worker promised everyone “will adjust” and added: “They’re housing   
   illegal immigrants and paying their way to get the vote for Biden, and   
   this is what they’re going to do? Come raid pot shops?”   
      
   City Councilman Justin Branna, who represents the area, mocked the store   
   as authorities swept through the shop.   
      
   “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. If you are operating completely   
   illegally, maybe don’t talk trash and taunt the authorities in the NY   
   Post. Just a thought,” Brannan wrote on X.   
      
   Brannan later told The Post that Gelato has been on the community’s   
   “radar” for some time.   
      
   “I support the legalization of recreational marijuana but these new retail   
   licenses from the state will be worthless and tax revenue will be a far   
   cry from what’s anticipated unless we get more licenses out the door and   
   get serious about the illegal weed shops masquerading as legit   
   dispensaries,” Brannan said.   
      
   The Post visited numerous suspected illegal cannabis locations on Sunday,   
   more than week after the mayor and Gov. Kathy Hochul held a victory lap   
   press conference hailing a tougher state law making it easier to padlock   
   unlicensed cannabis shops —  but the change wasn’t immediately followed up   
   with the promised crackdown.   
      
   Many illicit pot shops have immediately reopened after raids and temporary   
   shutdown orders.   
      
   “We have not started enforcement under the new law yet. That’s coming in   
   the next couple weeks,” the mayor’s spokesperson said on Monday.   
      
   “Gelato has been on our radar for a while and it’s been raided several   
   times so everyone is hopeful the new laws they just passed in Albany will   
   finally get this right and give the City of New York the power we should   
   have had all along,” Brannan added.   
      
   The store is just one of more than 100 suspected illegal weed shops that   
   The Post was able to identify in short order by reaching out to a few   
   elected officials, community boards and business groups.   
      
   Community Board 10 in southern Brooklyn — which covers Bay Ridge, Dyker   
   Heights and Fort Hamilton — identified more than 20 illegal pot shops.   
      
   Adams last week claimed there are as many as 2,800 illegal smoke shops in   
   the city while there are only 53 state-licensed dispensaries in the city   
   and just 116 in the entire state.   
      
   https://nypost.com/2024/04/29/us-news/cops-raid-illegal-nyc-pot-shop-just-   
   one-day-after-defiant-worker-dared-cops-to-shut-down-the-store/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)