What’s not to love in this crime caper? The Hour reports that:
Rafael Collazo, 40, had concealed $200 worth of crack packaged for street sale under the belly fat that hung over his belt while working as a garbage collector at the show
From now on, instead of thinking about Relacore and stubborn belly fat, I’ll be thinking about crack. But that is not enough to make this story one of my all time favorites. It’s got all the mixings of a Carl Hiaasen thriller all right here in good old Norwalk. You see, a confidential informant tipped off Norwalk’s finest. You can imagine the scene:
The air was thick, wet, steamy and larded with the decaying smell of
of low tide in bloom. The fiberglass bulkheads and and waterlogged docks
heaved with the passing crowds, a clink of metal beating a small tune of life
at a marina.
The man in the shadows watched as Rafael leaned against the garbage can,
rubbing his belly, the drugs he was about to sell tucked underneath. The
man flipped open phone and dialed Suda.
“Papa is here,” he said. “He’ll make a deal unless you catch him. Green shirt,
he’s working as a garbage man.”
With that the man slipped his phone back into his pocket and walked
away.
From there, the chase was on. Cell phones at the ready, Rafael and Detective Mark Suda made plans to meet and exchange money for crack and the men in blue were ready to swoop in.
“I told him, ‘Look, there’s police everywhere — are you crazy?’” Suda said. “And he’s like, ‘Oh yeah, don’t worry about it. Just be cool and calm and we’ll be all right.’”
When officers who were placed strategically around the entrance to Norwalk Cove Marina, where the annual boat show opened Thursday, spotted a man matching the description walking toward them in a bright green shirt, Suda called the number again and Collazo immediately “answered the phone right in front of us,” he said.
Great reporting by Noelle Frampton, and great work by the Norwalk Police Department.
source: The Hour, Anonymous tip leads to drug bust at boat show by Noelle Frampton, September 21, 2007
