Video/photos: Staten Island barbershop was go-to place to buy pills, guns, D.A. says


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Jan Somma-Hammel
Print By John M. Annese/Staten Island Advance
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on October 17, 2013 at 2:16 PM, updated October 18, 2013 at 1:25 AM


STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- At this Great Kills barbershop, you could come in for a buzz cut, and leave with a pocket full of pills, or maybe an uzi, prosecutors allege.
The NYPD and Drug Enforcement Administration say they've broken up a drug-and-gun trafficking ring, run by the son of a police officer, that operated out of the Beyond Styles Barber Shop at 12 Giffords Lane -- just around the corner from a bagel store shut down for selling oxycodone over the counter two years ago.

Undercovers bought pills, and later, three handguns and a fully automatic uzi, from members of the conspiracy during their 10-month investigation, authorities said.

Those arrested included Anthony Lagala, 27, of Dierauf Street in Annadale, who authorities describe as the ringleader of the operation and the owner of Beyond Styles; Adam Paone, 29, of Knox Street in Prince's Bay, Lagala's brother-in-law; and Marat Ayzenberg, 30, of Hillbrook Court in Rosebank.

Lagala's father, also Anthony, works as a police officer in the NYPD's 17th Precinct, law enforcement sources said.

Authorities announced the arrests Thursday afternoon during a press conference at District Attorney Daniel Donovan's St. George headquarters.

As authorities tell it, Lagala and company would sell about 200 or 300 pills every few days -- he would bring the drugs into the barbershop, stashing them in a safe inside, then take them home when he left.

He'd get the pills through a supplier whose identity remains under investigation, authorities said.

Would-be buyers learned through word-of-mouth that Beyond Styles was the go-to place for oxycodone, and once undercovers started making buys there, the members of the conspiracy offered to sell them guns as well, authorities said.

The conspiracy sold one handgun for $1,500 at the barbershop itself, authorities said. The undercovers allegedly bought the other firearms at Paone's house -- they included a fully automatic Israeli uzi for $2,500 and two more handguns, for $1,600 each.

Investigators are still looking into where the weapons came from, though Paone seemed to handle that part of the operation, according to authorities.

This week, the NYPD and DEA executed seven search warrants at various locations -- the barbershop, the suspects' homes and a number of vehicles, authorities said.

Lagala was carrying 263 oxycodone pills when police arrested him, authorities said.

Police made two other arrests this week -- Lagala's 23-year-old brother, Sal, who had oxycodone in his room when investigators searched it, and Paone's brother, Thomas, 25, who tried to prevent DEA agents from entering their Knox Street home, authorities allege.

"The operation was set up at Beyond Styles barbershop and what took place there was beyond the pale," said Donovan.

Donovan said the transactions took place at the shop in seclusion from the daily activities.

"It was an active barbershop where they cut hair," he said. "Children went there to get their hair cut."

Anthony Lagala, who's being held without bail, faces up to 88 years in prison if convicted of the charges against him, Donovan said. Paone, who's also locked up without bail, could face up to 47 years in prison, while Ayzenberg, who's held on $500,000 bail, could face 21 years.

"These cases are a priority for us. It's what's killing the most people, certainly in New York City and especially in Staten Island," said Brian R. Crowell, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA's New York Division.

According to authorities, the drug-selling operation was undeterred by a high-profile bust at the former Nel-Boy Bagels at 3988 Amboy Rd. in Aug. 2011.

In that case, police arrested 25 people loosely connected to an oxycodone-dealing ring operating from the bagel store. The store's owner, Syed Rashid, 51, of Annadale, was sentenced last Thursday to six years in state prison.

Back in 2011, the barbershop showed up on law enforcement's radar as well, said Sal Sottile -- whose firm, Sottile Security, patrolled the area at the behest of the South Shore Merchants Association, and through a grant provided by Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore).

His employees, many of whom are retired officers, noticed suspicious activity around the barbershop -- "A lot of traffic, a lot of people going in and not getting any type of haircuts" -- and conveyed what they learned to police, he said.

"That's the same thing we saw at Nel-Boy, a lot of people going in and out, and coming out empty-handed," Sottile said. "We just monitor the unusual, and on the list of things, that was one of the unusuals."

Magdy (Mike) Monsour, the owner of Famous Falafel, next door to the barbershop, said he wasn't surprised about the pill-dealing allegations, since he'd always see teens lurking around the front of his store at odd hours.

As for the arrests, he said, "Good idea. Clean up the street. Clean up Great Kills."

Donovan called community involvement a "big help" in breaking the case, and noted that the residents of Great Kills knew the barbershop as a drug hub.

On Wednesday night, he said, he spoke at a meeting at Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C. Church in Huguenot, "and I announced that today they would see that we took down that barbershop. And people applauded. They were all aware of it, 100 people last night."