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NYPD raids counterfeit market on Canal
I sat on this, but still wanted to add it to the collection of posts on this never-ending topic. Read on, but know that it did nothing. The sellers — and buyers, I will add! — are as dense as ever along Broadway, Canal and Lispenard.
The NYPD pulled off a raid on the Canal Street counterfeit market in late June, seizing an estimated $151 million worth of goods — that is if that merchandise was real. (Obviously a truck load of the fakes are worth a lot less.) Officers gathered up goods on the street and loaded them bag-by-bag onto a flatbed truck. According to The Post, 17 people were arrested and charged with trademark counterfeiting – a felony — and the NYPD also seized $145,000 in cash.
There were simultaneous raids in Soho and Chelsea the same day.
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I wonder how many millions of dollar NYC spends to have the police do these raids and daily sweeps with basically no results.
I have personally spoken with the police and they are doing everything they can, and I see their daily sweeps, but the laws basically are a revolving door allowing the sellers to get their goods back and sell the next day – even after the sweeps.
For those that are more knowledgeable, is there any chance NYC actually changes the laws so that the police can do more?
Fat chance of any pro-policing laws changing under the current clown of a mayor and city council. They’re anti law enforcement.
Is it true they get the goods back? I thought the goods are to be destroyed.
Yes. They only destroy the goods when they do those big raids that make the news. On daily sweeps if police take their goods the vendors can get their goods back.
This is in itself is absurd. It’s just law enforcement theatre.
I’ve spoken to numerous police officers about this. They say the arrests have no effect. The sellers know they will be right back out. The recurring story I get from the police: Change will only happen if it comes from the top; there is no will to prosecute or punish in any way strong enough to act as deterrent.
I heard this line since years ago. (This whole thing started 2020, same time as Covid.)
Yes, exactly. The problem of the counterfeit sellers has been going on for decades, but as I recall before COVID it was more localised and discreet: annoying people pushing those laminated photo papers of counterfeit junk at you near the subways, someone whispering “Rolex” (or slang names of drugs) as you walked past. Easier to avoid and ignore. It was mostly on Canal and clustered around the subway stations.
Then it started with laying out blankets of stuff, initially just around those subway stations and blocks of Canal.
In the last couple years, it has proliferated like a cancer. Now they all have those huge wheel carts. Every day when they get a scare (sometimes multiple times a day), they are racing down Lispenard, Broadway, Walker, with those carts, ready to run down any unfortunate pedestrians. They are laughing while doing this. They act like they own the neighborhood. It’s a disgrace.
They have even been using the post-office as their hangout and sometimes conducing sales within it. A federal building, no less.
They also block up the streets with their parked vehicles all day long, even in no parking areas like Walker Street. Why aren’t they towed? By the way some of them drive quite nice cars, evidence that apparently crime does pay in NYC these days.
As of this morning, the entire west side of Canal and Broadway is full swamped with illegal vendors, so that raid last month didn’t appear to do anything.
Nothing is going to change here unless the city gets serious about prosecuting these vendors and instructs the cops to shut this illegal market down *every day.* Just doing sweeps a few times a year is nothing more than a minor inconvenience to them. The vendors get released the same day and are right back the following morning.
This is what the police told me:
By shear randomness of borders, the west side of Broadway is the 1st precinct police department and the east side of Broadway is the 5th precinct police department So when the 1st precinct does do a sweep, the sellers scatter for a bit from the west side of Broadway only. Same things happen with the 5th precinct for the east side of Broadway.
This is why you sometimes see vendors only on one side of Broadway or the other.
With that, from what I see the police do try and do a sweep (not a raid) once or twice a day. Sometimes it’s one police car – and sometimes it is several officers. The vendors see the police and will pack up their stuff and flee. I believe the vendors have a lookout as they usually are fleeing before the police start patrolling. The police will monitor the area for a bit and then the police leave the vendors simply come back.
The police say to actually make an arrest they have to watch see the sale in process. So if a vendor just has their goods out – there really is nothing the police could do. In a scenario where a police do see a sale of a counterfeit item, even if they do arrest the individual, the person will be released the next day. Further, I believe any of the stuff taken by the police can be reclaimed by the vendor the next day unless there it is one of the big raids (I assume there is a warrant involved then).
The police claim they are doing everything in their power, but the laws are the biggest bottleneck and are what need to change. You would think people selling counterfeit merchandise without sidewalk vending permits would be easy to stop – but it’s actually the opposite.
The 1st and 5th Precincts both report to the Patrol Borough Manhattan South commander. There is no good excuse for a lack of coordinated efforts between the two precincts.
Since late June, the PBMS commander is Assistant Chief Melissa Eger (melissa.eger@nypd.org)
The former PBMS commander was drummed out of the job and has since retired in disgrace.
“NY Daily News: NYPD Manhattan chief swept up in federal bribery probe puts in retirement papers
“Rocco Parascandola, Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News
Sat, June 27, 2026 at 12:08 PM EDT
“NYPD Assistant Chief James McCarthy, who was stripped of his gun and shield after his home was searched during an ongoing federal bribery probe on Wednesday has put in his retirement papers, the Daily News has learned.
“McCarthy, 62, the once powerful head of Patrol Borough Manhattan South — where he led scores of cops covering the borough south of Central Park — filed for retirement late Friday, just two days after the NYPD and the FBI executed a search warrant at his home, the NYPD confirmed. […]”
Even if no sale is witnessed, can’t they arrest them for repeatedly obstructing the sidewalks? It’s impossible to get through, even worse if one needs a wheelchair, has a baby carriage, or is carrying anything like groceries. We end up having to walk out in the street – *** into insane Canal Street traffic *** – risking our lives because we can’t get through the sidewalks.
I blame the buyers as much as the sellers. They are funding organized crime. They are bringing this chaos, crime, littering, urination, etc. into our neighborhood where we live and work.
This post explains a bit about how many agencies are involved here, and the limitations on what they can do.
https://tribecacitizen.com/2025/10/24/illegal-vending-on-canal-street-its-a-constant-churn/
The precinct divide is no excuse. As far as I know, police are allowed to make arrests outside their own precinct. After all, if police officer witnesses a shooting on the other side of the street, won’t they act to intervene and arrest? So that should go for all crimes.
Yes I call it the ‘show raid’. Really pathetic. Why don’t they toss the seized goods into a garbage truck?
These counterfeit sellers park their inventory cars/vans along Broadway, Walker, and White Streets. Maybe NYPD can tackle on the vehicles storing their inventories.
Yes. If they are violating the parking rules of the block, report it to 311.
But I bet these sellers just ignore the tickets they get.
It’s easy to identify their cars. Home rigged license plates mostly of some southern states ( Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia etc.) and often beat up dented and duck taped. And the plates mostly on the back only.
Please keep reporting to 311, every day if necessary, any time you witness the sellers out.
It only takes a minute to submit a report on 311 online (phone call takes much longer).
Also write the mayor and city council, repeatedly. If enough of us do this maybe the powers that be will wake up.
All of this hilarious, because there’s one easy solution: arrest the customers. Do it regularly, even if to just dismiss all their cases after they spend a day or more being booked or arraigned. The market will dry up in weeks, at least in that location.
That was going to be my comment as well. Social media should alert future tourists they might spend the night in jail if they are so inclined to purchase counterfeit goods purchased from someone with no street vending license.
Right? It works with prostitution, or drugs, or any vice. It’s simple economics, at least location-wise: no demand, no supply.
Plus, there’s another esay solution: the vendors mostly set up where the storefronts are vacant. The city could do as they do with city-supported store pop-ups and just put a mobile police post in one of the vacants.
As far as I know, purchasing counterfeit items (even knowingly) is not a crime in the USA. This is part of the problem.
In many other countries, buying counterfeit is illegal. It’s time to make that the law in the USA also. Buying counterfeit is not a “victimless” activity; it supports organized crime, and even terrorism, damages legitimate businesses, even proliferates the spread of counterfeiting. There is now counterfeit tech (often of inferior quality, sometimes dangerously so), counterfeit medicines (which surely sound dangerous), etc. It’s a massive leech of an industry. Please do not support it.
This is a question- Curious why ICE is arresting people and families everywhere yet they are blocks away from the bazaar and never go there. Why?
I ask that question everyday when I have to squeeze past the ever growing crowds on Broadway.
I don’t know the vendors’ immigration status but counterfeit is counterfeit no matter where you sell it. Are they being protected by the higher ups? What’s stopping Christopher Marte from making a public statement about this? His office never responded our letters on this matter.
They did once at least, and things actually quieted down for a few days. No sellers for a few days, and the areas around Canal and Broadway were shockingly clear of litter, which supports the claim that most of the trash covering these streets and sidewalks comes from the sellers.
But ICE tried it again and were met with protesters blocking them. I wonder how many of these protesters actually live in the neighborhood. If they are from elsewhere, how would they like having this counterfeit bazaar, trashfest, public toilet, etc. on their doorsteps? [This is not to justify the excesses and abuses of ICE in its current incarnation, but some kind of law enforcement is required here. The problem is the failure of local law enforcement and justice system.]
Legitimately could not exit the downtown 6-train at Canal St yesterday due to vendors setting up at the top of the stairs, blocking the exit entirely. Every day is a physical gauntlet just to get down the sidewalk, but being trapped inside a subway exit is a new low.
The solutions are complicated, as detailed in the article TC linked to above, but that doesn’t mean we have to accept the status quo.
The 1st Precinct and DSNY have both said publicly that 311 data and photos directly drive where they allocate enforcement resources. Every report matters…file them daily if you’re passing through. The ICE tip line at ice.gov is also available for those who believe federal enforcement is warranted. The sellers are fearful of being photo-documented as they know it’s what leads to enforcement, but don’t be bullied out of doing so.
I also encourage everyone to inform buyers and sellers of the counterfeit goods what they are doing is illegal. You can choose your own level of politeness.
Yes, file daily please!
I do this as well every time I see the sellers. Sometimes I file multiple reports for different streets or intersections even on the same day.
Supposedly law enforcement and funding is allocated based on amount of complaints. The squeaky well gets the oil and all that.
So if you care about this issue, raise your voice. That is, repeatedly and regularly file with 311. I also recommend writing city council and the mayor regularly about this.
The 311 website now directs you to call 911 to report street vendors selling counterfeit goods.
You can still report vendors:
https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-02152
I select either “In a prohibited area” or “unlicensed”. You could also select “Other Complaints” or even “Unsanitary” (due to the litter, public urination, and even cooking of food on open flames on the street!)
What can be done about this???