La Marina Manager Sold Drugs Out Of Inwood Bar, Police Say

INWOOD, NY — A long-time employee of Inwood's La Marina is facing charges for using the troubled business as the headquarters for a drug dealing operation, an NYPD spokesman said.

Christian Mendez, 33, was arrested Tuesday and charged with seven counts of the criminal sale of a controlled substance, police said. Mendez worked as a manager at La Marina — a Dyckman street bar and restaurant which was investigated by city and state law enforcement authorities earlier this year — and is accused of making drug sales at the business.

Undercover officers set up deals for large quantities of cocaine, oxycodone and marijuana with Mendez at La Marina, an NYPD spokesman said. The uptown Manhattan resident had 32 ecstasy pills on him when he was arrested, police said.

The arrest was first reported by Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates. A partner at La Marina told Croft that the arrest left him "speechless."

"Christian was with us for years, and until yesterday I would have said he was a great employee. It’s very sad," La Marina partner Jerald Tenenbaum told NYC Park Advocates in an email.

That same month, a crackdown led by the NYPD and State Liquor Authority resulted in 60 violations of the state liquor law and 13 summonses for the business.

La Marina opened in 2012 after its owners struck a deal with the city to open the business on land owned by the city Parks Department. Business owners pay the city to operate on what was once public parkland located where Inwood Hill Park meets Fort Tryon Park along the Hudson River.

Photo by Google Maps street view