A look inside NYC law enforcement raids on illegal Staten Island pot shops

Authorities raided a pair of illegal Staten Island pot shops this week, including one with a secret stairway that led cops right to an illicit basement stash — and The Post was there to witness the takedown.

In the dingy subterranean room at Richmond Discount & Accessories in New Springville, New York City sheriff’s deputies and cops found hundreds of neatly organized packages of cannabis products, including individual wrapped buds, jars of THC concentrate, 1000 milligram Sour Beltz edibles pouches, and Pack Man-branded vape pens.

“This is a machine,” Sgt. Craig McCosker of the city Sheriff’s Office said about the operation, which was slapped with $33,800 in fines following the Wednesday raid, and padlocked.

“They’re selling volume.”

The joint task force, comprising the city sheriff’s office, NYPD and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, also cracked down on the Nitecap Megastore, a sprawling complex stocked with vials containing pre-rolled joints, colorful jars stuffed with cannabis flower, and weed-infused cookies.

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“We have to stay on top of these guys,” said Mayor Adams , who attended the Nitecap raid.

“We are going to stay committed to closing down these illegal shops.”

Following the Nitecap bust, official seized $19,000 in cannabis products, along with unlicensed tobacco products, before padlocking the store and issuing $25,000 in fines, according to the mayor’s office.

The store’s owner, retired NYPD officer Michael Rizzi, 52, was also arrested for criminal weapon possession over dozens of brass knuckles that were uncovered during the raid, an NYPD spokesperson said.

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“We’re finding guns and other drugs and mushrooms and the hallucinogenics,” Sheriff Anthony Miranda said. Rizzi, who sat in the store stone-faced during the raid, declined to speak to The Post.

With just 57 licensed dispensaries operating in the Big Apple, law enforcement have continued their uphill battle to snuff out roughly 3,400 illicit dank dens that have sprouted up since New York legalized recreational marijuana in 2021.

Albany empowered authorities earlier this year with new tools to whack illicit weed sellers, including the ability to padlock illegal smoke shops for up to a year immediately after an inspection.

Since then, the task force has shuttered 535 illicit shops, seizing $17.5 million in illegal cannabis product and doling out over $43 million in civil penalties, the mayor’s office said.

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“Now we have more authority and…the impact’s already been seen citywide,” Miranda said.

“You have locations closing down on their own. You have landlords taking action on their own.”

After inspecting the storefronts, authorities will do more investigations, poring over shipment paperwork or false licenses to uncover potential connections to other illegal shops, Miranda said.

“There’s always a follow up investigation, financial investigations, on who’s behind the locations and how much their involvement is in the cannabis business,” he said.

Locals cheered on this week’s busts, which marked all of the 173 illegal smoke shops on Staten Island as having been inspected by authorities, including 32 padlocked so far, Miranda said.

“People are trying to make a dollar, but they have to do it legally,” retired waitress Ella Cucurillo, 72, told The Post outside of Richmond Discount & Accessories.

On Friday afternoon, Nitecap announced it had been raided on its Instagram page, but vowed it “will re-open soon.”

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