Narcs Jeopardize Lives In Shopping Center Drug Bust
BY SAM FIELDS
Guest Columnist
Where is Ralph Nader when you need him? Where is the Broward County Office of Consumer Protection? Where is a person to go when he finds out that the $400 an ounce Panama Red turns out to be $1.29 Pantry Pride oregano?
Of course, that is not the real story, although that is what the Sun-Sentinel emphasized. The paper’s article was about how a dealer told narcs he had a kilo of heroin, but the drug turned out to be cheaper cocaine.
Sun-Sentinel writer Sofia Santana missed the real story.
Apparently it was not newsworthy to ask why the DEA is doing kilo drug deals in the middle of a Galleria Mall parking lot where everyone, beginning with the DEA, shows up armed to the teeth. When these transactions go south the remedies involve firms with names like Smith and Wesson.
Just type “drug busts gone bad” into Google and see how much you come up with. It happens all the time, ending in shoot outs and deaths.
Just last November, BSO undercover cops following a suspected drug dealer decided to pull him over in the parking lot of a popular Davie restaurant. The guy resisted and police were forced to chase him and shoot him. Luckily no innocent people were hurt in that incident.
To put customers of Galleria in jeopardy shows an amazing lack of judgement by undercover officers. I would be flabbergasted to find out that Galleria management approved this activity.
It is outrageous that the DEA, with or without Galleria approval, would endanger innocent shoppers so agents can play “Crockett and Tubbs 2011.
March 8th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Pantry Pride? Really? Haven’t seen one of those in 35 years.
FROM BUDDY:
Sam is living in the past.
Pantry Pride, which was formally known as Food Fair, went out of business more than a decade ago. The chain was originally owned by Samuel Friedland, a sometime South Florida resident from Pennsylvania who build the original Diplomat Hotel in the 1950s. His daughter Marg Cowan and her husband, Irv Cowan, managed the hotel in its heyday.
The last Pantry Pride I remember was on East Las Olas Blvd. one block east of the Sun-Sentinel building. Reporters frequently got sandwiches at the store for lunch. As Pantry Pride went through financial difficulties, the store became a Woolley’s and then Hyde Park Market. Now it is an empty lot waiting for a condo development that never got off the ground.
March 8th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
buddy lay off Sam…he just said Pantry Pride so no one would know that the good stuff comes from Publics
March 8th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
Sam, if you have any oregano in your pantry from Pantry Pride, please throw it out. I can guarantee you it is expired. The only Old Spice that is any good is the cologne.
March 8th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
I can’t believe the DEA or other agencies continue to threaten us with this Gung Ho tactics. One more reason to end the so-called war on drugs and admit that it is lost.