Proof positive that newspaper advertising works.
Two Manhattan dope peddlers promoted their 24-hour pot and cocaine delivery service by strategically placing their business cards — one with the Coca-Cola logo and another with the words “Purple Rain/Up in Smoke” — inside copies of the Village Voice.
“I have seen loads of Craigslist cases,” said an incredulous Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Laura Ward. “But I’ve never seen something as inventive as this. So this is actually something a little different for me.”
Convicted drug felons Thomas “Biggie” Zenon, 40, and Miguel “G” Guzman, 43, supplied as many as 200 customers with high-quality, low-priced drugs delivered right to their doors, prosecutors charged.
They allegedly removed stacks of the free paper from distribution sites, inserted their cards and returned them.
Over four months, the dealers allegedly made numerous sales to undercover cops. The two pleaded not guilty and were held on $1 million bail.
The cards were distributed widely in the East Village, Lower East Side and TriBeCa — and were even left at the doors of random apartments, according to Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan.
On the busiest nights, each of the cellphones listed on the cards registered 170 incoming calls, officials said.
Guzman was busted Thursday night as he allegedly got ready to make a delivery to a customer on the Upper West Side. He was carrying 16 grams of cocaine, more than $1,600 cash and four cellphones — plus a small stack of the “Coca-Cola” cards, authorities charged.
Zenon, who was on probation, was busted the same night in a restaurant in Washington Heights. Cops found 20 bags of marijuana in a coffee thermos in his car, as well as more “Purple Rain” cards, officials said.
Their attorney, Barry Weinstein, downplayed the arrests. “In all these months, they [undercover cops] were unable to get an A-1 sale out of these guys. These are not giants of industry,” he said.
Additional reporting by Chuck Bennett