A New York City Burger King is being sued for $15 million over the location allegedly turning into an "open-air drug bazaar" and destroying the neighborhood.
The restaurant in question is at 106 Fulton St., near City Hall.
The lawsuit, brought on by neighbor Kevin Kaufman, 69, claims that eight to 10 “professional drug dealers” have been freely operating within the fast food chain. Totally agree the city is a mess and Fulton St in NYC has now full gangs that have taken over the streets. Open drug dealing and harassment of community members. @BurgerKing is housing the gangs and getting cut. pic.twitter.com/VBg86DVmie
— Fulton St Coalition (@Fultonstcoalit) January 5, 2024
Kaufman says the drug dealers are using the Burger King as a “base of operation, selling illegal drugs either at the entrance . . . or during inclement weather, selling illegal drugs within the Burger King restaurant itself.”
“We’ve reached out to every direction we can and the only ones that seem to be responsive and listening are the cops,” Kaufman told the New York Post. “Cops are doing everything they can to get rid of these people, but they’re handcuffed. It’s this idiotic bail reform. They have arrested a couple of people, but they are back within 24 hours.”
According to the report, "There have been two arrests and 143 calls to 911 related to the Burger King’s address since Jan. 1, 2023, according to the NYPD, which would not provide a detailed breakdown of the emergency calls."
The Post observed the location for several days and reported seeing the following:
A group of eight men and a woman posted up outside the door on Tuesday, as roughly a dozen civilians sat inside eating burgers and fries. The crew blocked the restaurant’s entry for hours, with one man acting as a doorman with a cup seeking change, while others glared from atop Citi Bikes and along the restaurant’s glass exterior. The crowding forced several pedestrians to swerve off the sidewalk and into the street.
One of the group members, in a black puffer jacket, grabbed and pocketed cash from a haggard-looking man in a blue shirt before quickly handing off to him what may have been drugs.
Two of the men, one dressed in a neon yellow vest and Air Jordan hat, sat on the Citi Bikes and knocked back Smirnoff vodka from plastic 200 ml. bottles. Another man, wearing a brown hoodie, smoked a series of fat joints and peddled loose cigarettes to Burger King customers leaving the restaurant, passersby and his associates.
Members of the group repeatedly entered and exited the restaurant, never ordering food, and used the desolate space as their office. The apparent leader of the group sat at a table while sipping coffee from a Dunkin’ cup and holding meetings with associates. Another member plopped down at a window seat to monitor the traffic outdoors while rolling joints.
On Thursday, seven rowdy members of the group again milled for hours in front of the restaurant, passing the time by shadow boxing, play fighting and yelling at one another. One hot-head wearing a white T-shirt tore up a summons before shouting at a pair of cops, “They work for Biden. Get the f–k out of here.”
The lawsuit asks the court to order Burger King to “stop terrorizing his neighborhood and turning Fulton Street into an open-air drug bazaar.”
