A Manhattan homeless shelter has quietly been a hotbed of drug busts, with police making at least four arrests in the last week, the Daily News has learned.
The revelation comes as the NYPD plans a major announcement about shelter security on Friday.
Cops busted four residents of the Bellevue Men’s Shelter for drug possession on Tuesday and Wednesday, police sources said.
An undercover sting at the E. 30th St. facility also led to the arrest of a 63-year-old man for possession with intent to sell last month, authorities said.
Gilberto Sosa had 39 bags of heroin and 67 bags of crack cocaine when narcotics investigators executed a search warrant there on Dec. 1, sources said.
Though officials wouldn’t reveal what they’re announcing, sources said the NYPD is expected to take a larger official role in shelter security.
In March, Mayor de Blasio ordered the NYPD to begin retraining security staffers at the city’s shelters, as part of art of a broader city plan to reduce violence in a system that houses nearly 58,000 residents every night.
De Blasio’s order came as the News revealed the contents of hundreds of internal reports detailing horrific violence in the city’s shelters.
Deven Black, 62, a homeless former teacher, was nearly decapitated in a grisly slaying at an East Harlem shelter last January.
Weeks later, Rebecca Cutler, 26, and her three children were viciously attacked in a Staten Island hotel turned homeless shelter by her jealous boyfriend. Cutler, 1-year-old Ziana and 4-month old Maliyah died. Miracle, 2, survived.
In April, police found 55-year-old Marcus Guerreiro strangled and slashed to death in a room at the Bellevue Men’s Shelter. Police charged ex-con William Smith, 53, with his slaying.
