It didn’t take much to smoke these guys out.
Cops raided an illegal pot shop in Brooklyn Monday – a day after an irate, weed-puffing worker dared authorities to shut down the store and boasted he doesn’t “give a f–k.”
The sheriff’s office and NYPD swept through Gelato marijuana shop on 86th Street in Bay Ridge and confiscated huge amounts of cannabis edibles from the shop, hours after The Post reported on the shop and a citywide epidemic of unlicensed weed sellers.
“We’re happy to respond to community complaints,” city Sheriff Antony Miranda, who was on the scene, told The Post.
The raid comes after the worker offered a Post reporter a puff of a joint on Sunday, saying promises to padlock the illicit shops was “nothing new.”
“That’s always been a possibility of getting raided here,” the worker said. “But I’m not going to be put out of a job!
“I’ll put a table outside and sell in the street. I don’t give a f–k! You can’t mess with a person’s money!”
The worker promised everyone “will adjust” and added: “They’re housing illegal immigrants and paying their way to get the vote for Biden, and this is what they’re going to do? Come raid pot shops?”
City Councilman Justin Branna, who represents the area, mocked the store as authorities swept through the shop.
“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. If you are operating completely illegally, maybe don’t talk trash and taunt the authorities in the NY Post. Just a thought,” Brannan wrote on X.
Brannan later told The Post that Gelato has been on the community’s “radar” for some time.
“I support the legalization of recreational marijuana but these new retail licenses from the state will be worthless and tax revenue will be a far cry from what’s anticipated unless we get more licenses out the door and get serious about the illegal weed shops masquerading as legit dispensaries,” Brannan said.
The Post visited numerous suspected illegal cannabis locations on Sunday, more than week after Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul held a victory lap press conference hailing a tougher state law making it easier to padlock unlicensed cannabis shops — but the change wasn’t immediately followed up with the promised crackdown.
Many illicit pot shops have immediately reopened after raids and temporary shutdown orders.
“Gelato has been on our radar for a while and it’s been raided several times so everyone is hopeful the new laws they just passed in Albany will finally get this right and give the City of New York the power we should have had all along,” Brannan added.
The store is just one of more than 100 suspected illegal weed shops that The Post was able to identify in short order by reaching out to a few elected officials, community boards and business groups.
Community Board 10 in southern Brooklyn — which covers Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton — identified more than 20 illegal pot shops.
Mayor Eric Adams last week claimed there are as many as 2,800 illegal smoke shops in the city while there are only 53 state-licensed dispensaries in the city and just 116 in the entire state.
