West Village 'Poker House' Helped Fund Huge Drug Ring: Officials

WEST VILLAGE, NY — More than 30 people were arrested Friday for allegedly running a massive New York City-based drug ring partly funded by a West Village gambling hall catering to the city's professional class, officials said.

David Diaz of the Lower East Side was the kingpin of both operations, which were finally busted after a months-long investigation by local and federal law enforcement agencies, according to the city's Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.

Diaz and his co-conspirators ran high-stakes games at an unassuming Sixth Avenue building known as the "Poker House" that gamblers could get into through the online service Meetup, the prosecutor's office said.

Proceeds from the two-hour poker games helped support the cocaine and heroin operation that used an East Village apartment as its "stash" location, the prosecutor's office said. Authorities seized a total of $125,000 in cash, thousands of poker chips, guns, heroin, marijuana, Xanax pills and a kilogram of suspected cocaine, among other things, in a series of Friday morning searches related to the bust, officials said.

"Both the gambling operation and the narcotics enterprise charged in the indictment unsealed today preyed on human vulnerabilities and demonstrated utter disregard for life," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said in a statement. "These are not victimless crimes."

Authorities started probing the drug operation in November 2017, officials said. An NYPD surveillance team spotted two alleged members of the ring, Anthony Delea and Lewis Castro, leave the gambling house with drugs before selling them to an undercover cop on several occasions, the prosecutor's office said.

Nine people involved in the scheme are accused of making 25 drug sales to undercover cops, including some near the gambling hall and the East Fifth Street stash spot, officials said.

The NYPD and the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office launched a four-month wiretap probe that eventually unearthed the gambling operation and its link to the drug ring, officials said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office also assisted in the probe, the prosecutor's office said.

Geeta Singh managed the Poker House from her home in Atlanta, drawing in gamblers through Meetup listings who had to show a text message from Singh to get in, the prosecutor's office said.

Low-stakes gamblers playing on the first floor had to buy at least $200 in chips, while the high-stakes games upstairs had a minimum $500 buy-in, officials said. Tens of thousands of dollars could be exchanged in a single night, with proceeds of the operation funding narcotics trafficking, the prosecutor's office said.

Diaz oversaw the Poker House while Benjamin Guerrero, who maintained the East Village stash apartment, acted as his "pit boss" several days a week, officials said. Guerrero's brother, Alberto Guerrero of Amherst, Massachusetts, also allegedly received income from the gambling operation.

The 32 people charged in the intertwined schemes were arrested in four states starting early Friday morning, the prosecutor's office said. They face a range of charges including money laundering, promoting gambling, conspiracy and criminal possession of a controlled substance, officials said.

Extradition proceedings for the three people arrested outside New York State are pending, the prosecutor's office said.

(Lead image: New York City and federal authorities busted a massive East Village-based drug ring funded in part by a West Village gambling house. Photo courtesy of the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor)