Feds bust major LI drug dealer

In the latest trend in illegal drug-dealing, some large-scale distributors are starting to supply customers with a gamut of drugs from hallucinogens to amphetamines, federal officials said Wednesday in announcing the arrest of what they said was a major Long Island drug dealer.

"They are trying to become like one-stop illegal pharmacies, where customers can pick and choose," said Erin Mulvey, a federal Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman in New York.

The alleged dealer, Peter Hardie, 32, of 50 Third St., Brentwood, was arrested along with two associates Wednesday morning after raids on two of his stash houses in Suffolk County, according to officials.

DEA agents and Suffolk County narcotics detectives found 13 kilos of cocaine, 10 bundles of heroin, 4 ounces of crystal methamphetamine, and quantities of MDMA, known commonly as ecstasy, and PCP, commonly known as angel dust, Mulvey said. The stash houses were at 53 Commack Rd., North Babylon, and 245 Locust Dr. in Bay Shore.

It has been unusual for individual drug dealers to have a wide variety of drugs for sale, officials said. But now the Colombians and Mexicans who supply much of the illegal bulk cocaine and heroin to local dealers are trying to capture a greater share of the illegal drug market, officials said.

Crystal methamphetamine has usually been associated with biker gangs and more popular in the South and West. Ecstasy is a synthetic drug with action like hallucinogens and amphetamines and Angel Dust is an anesthetic

The law enforcement officials also found 50 empty kilo bags of cocaine, indicating that the alleged Hardie ring had recently cut cocaine into smaller quantities for distribution, said sources familiar with the investigation, ongoing since September.

At Hardie's arraignment in U.S. District Court in Central Islip Wednesday on conspiracy to distribute drugs, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Ott said Hardie boasted to undercover agents during the investigation that he was the biggest drug dealer on Long Island.

Ott also said that when Hardie was arrested he told agents that "if you rated drug dealers on Long Island from one to 10, with ten being the biggest, I'd be number 11."

Mulvey said there were a number of large-scale dealers on Long Island and Hardie " is certainly a significant dealer."

Hardie's attorney, Terrence Buckley, declined to comment.

Hardie was held without bail by U.S. Magistrate E. Thomas Boyle. His two alleged associates in the drug ring, Fritz Pierre-Louis, 34, of 245 Locust Ave., Bay Shore, and Shamel Thompson, 30, of 53 Commack Rd., North Babylon, were also held without bail.

They were also charged with conspiracy for allegedly helping to manage the stash houses and distribute various drugs. The three were not required to enter a plea. Pierre-Louis' attorney, Alan Nelson, and Thompson's attorney, Glenn Obedin, declined to comment.