How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries

#1

Post by mukyu » Thu, Aug 13, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries
thedailybeast.com

Re: How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries

#2

Post by stephengillie » Thu, Aug 13, 2015, 4:44 PM UTC

But the bees didn't reveal the cannabis farm. The Brooklyn DA used the bee incident as a pretext to search the farm and plant twice, while accompanying another agency, and used a third-hand 6-year-old tip to find where a hidden staircase was.

And the rest of this story is so tragic.

Re: How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries

#3

Post by j_m_b » Thu, Aug 13, 2015, 8:35 PM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #2

But the bees didn't reveal the cannabis farm. The Brooklyn DA used the bee incident as a pretext to search the farm and plant twice, while accompanying another agency, and used a third-hand 6-year-old tip to find where a hidden staircase was. And the rest of this story is so tragic.

Exactly. The bees were just a ruse for them to raid the factory. Tragic ending indeed.

Re: How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries

#4

Post by DarkTree » Thu, Aug 13, 2015, 8:51 PM UTC

Every time an event like this happens, or kidnapped victims are revealed being hidden in a house for the past 15 years, or a previously unknown serial-killer is finally caught, it makes me wonder how many of these events are still carrying on unnoticed.

Re: How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries

#5

Post by mc32 » Thu, Aug 13, 2015, 8:51 PM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #2

But the bees didn't reveal the cannabis farm. The Brooklyn DA used the bee incident as a pretext to search the farm and plant twice, while accompanying another agency, and used a third-hand 6-year-old tip to find where a hidden staircase was. And the rest of this story is so tragic.

What I don't get is he had a very successful cocktail cherry business. So he didn't need to run a million dollar illegal business which was a tiny fraction of the legal business.

Re: How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries

#6

Post by rwmj » Thu, Aug 13, 2015, 8:56 PM UTC

How close to being legalized is pot in New York?

Re: How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries

#7

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Aug 13, 2015, 8:59 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #5

stephengillie wrote: post #2

But the bees didn't reveal the cannabis farm. The Brooklyn DA used the bee incident as a pretext to search the farm and plant twice, while accompanying another agency, and used a third-hand 6-year-old tip to find where a hidden staircase was. And the rest of this story is so tragic.

What I don't get is he had a very successful cocktail cherry business. So he didn't need to run a million dollar illegal business which was a tiny fraction of the legal business.

[deleted]

Re: How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries

#8

Post by ics » Thu, Aug 13, 2015, 9:01 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #5

stephengillie wrote: post #2

But the bees didn't reveal the cannabis farm. The Brooklyn DA used the bee incident as a pretext to search the farm and plant twice, while accompanying another agency, and used a third-hand 6-year-old tip to find where a hidden staircase was. And the rest of this story is so tragic.

What I don't get is he had a very successful cocktail cherry business. So he didn't need to run a million dollar illegal business which was a tiny fraction of the legal business.

$20 million cherry business, $XX million cannabis business according to the article.

Re: How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries

#9

Post by logfromblammo » Thu, Aug 13, 2015, 9:08 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #5

stephengillie wrote: post #2

But the bees didn't reveal the cannabis farm. The Brooklyn DA used the bee incident as a pretext to search the farm and plant twice, while accompanying another agency, and used a third-hand 6-year-old tip to find where a hidden staircase was. And the rest of this story is so tragic.

What I don't get is he had a very successful cocktail cherry business. So he didn't need to run a million dollar illegal business which was a tiny fraction of the legal business.

Some of the profits from the cherry business may have actually been laundered money from the cannabis business. The cherry business might not have been "very successful" on its own.

Besides that, the larger legit business provided a great cover for the smaller illegal business. He didn't need to run the grow op to run the cherry factory, but he did need the cherry factory to run the grow op more easily. There's no way he could have run it undetected for at least six years in the heart of NYC without the cherries on top.

I suspect that the cops had access to illegally obtained evidence, and the bee thing was the only way they had to legitimize what they already knew.

Re: How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries

#10

Post by hlfw0rd » Thu, Aug 13, 2015, 9:13 PM UTC

DarkTree wrote: post #4

Every time an event like this happens, or kidnapped victims are revealed being hidden in a house for the past 15 years, or a previously unknown serial-killer is finally caught, it makes me wonder how many of these events are still carrying on unnoticed.

How do you relate cannabis plants with serial killers?