The recent wave of raids on illegal tobacco shops in Manhattan reveals appalling and dangerous conditions in the depths of the city’s stores, say Mayor Eric Adams and the New York Sheriff.

Mayor Adams says the Sheriff’s Office has now shut down over 850 illegal cannabis dispensaries across the five boroughs, and on August 7, he joined a New York Metro employee to explain the operations behind the raids. Even he was shocked by what authorities found.

At first glance, 447 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side seemed inviting, thanks to its large open space, pristine white walls and neon lights. But when the Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the New York Police Department, raided the business, they discovered a disturbing underbelly.

In the back room, behind a stack of shelves just out of sight of customers, officers found a trapdoor leading to the rear of the building. Members of the sheriff’s office say this door is used to store illegal products.

“They have pre-rolled joints that are processed and manufactured in a basement here,” said Deputy Fred Diaz. “That’s a hidden trap door. Behind that is the actual storage room with the usual items any store might have. An employee sits here, waits for a notification to open the door and hands the product over to the employee in the store.”

Inside, authorities say they found not only the trapdoor, but also a shanty town where migrants lived and worked in squalid conditions for meager wages. In the basement, the floor was flooded with brown water after recent rains, among floating garbage and other debris. There, workers manufactured the banned product in filthy conditions.

“The conditions we found down there are not the best, not the safest, not the healthiest. If a worker was down there, it would not be a safe place for them to be,” Sheriff Anthony Miranda told the New York Metro. “By gaining access to all these dangerous areas through a compartment in the wall to sell their products, the people who are opening these stores are obviously taking advantage of the workers and putting them in a dangerous situation.”

In addition to the filthy conditions and alleged violations of workers’ rights – for which Miranda wants to hold those responsible accountable – officials have also found illegal products with packaging designed to appeal to children. This, the mayor said, is one of the main reasons why he continues to place such emphasis on shutting down illegal tobacco shops.

“I was proud to accompany Sheriff Miranda and community leaders on a major inspection as part of Operation Padlock to Protect, which resulted in $39,000 worth of illegal products being seized and $59,000 in civil penalties being assessed. One location even used a trap door and there were numerous safety violations – underscoring that illegal cannabis shops continue to be magnets for crime and safety concerns throughout our city,” said Mayor Adams.

“Overall, we have shut down over 850 illegal cannabis shops and seized over $45 million worth of illegal products in the last three months, demonstrating once again how important our successful enforcement action is to protecting the safety of New Yorkers.”