PixelPusher
12-04-2006, 12:19 PM
'CRYSTAL' PALACE (http://www.nypost.com/seven/12012006/news/regionalnews/crystal_palace_regionalnews_todd_venezia__erika_ma rtinez_and_stefanie_cohen.htm)
EXEC TURNS HIS PENTHOUSE INTO A METH LAB: FEDS
By TODD VENEZIA, ERIKA MARTINEZ and STEFANIE COHEN
December 1, 2006 -- The trailer-park drug known as "hillbilly crack" has been putting on the Ritz lately - as federal drug agents uncovered a crystal-meth lab inside the $6,000-a-month Manhattan penthouse of a bank executive, authorities said yesterday.
Michael Knibb, an information-technology vice president at Citigroup, ran the sophisticated drug operation from the living room of his luxury apartment overlooking the United Nations, said Drug Enforcement Administration officials.
The 37-year-old Knibb - who makes an estimated $250,000 a year - allegedly told authorities that he had decided to make his own methamphetamines because he could not find a reliable drug dealer after moving to New York from Seattle two years ago.
Knibb was one of 10 alleged do-it-yourself drug makers busted this week as part of a federal anti-meth sweep dubbed Operation Red Fusion. (sounds like a Tom Clancy video game)
Yesterday was National Methamphetamine Awareness Day.
The arrests were made after each of the suspects allegedly bought meth-making chemicals from the same Internet sites.
None of the suspects were major dealers, and most just made enough for their own use, according to the DEA.
Knibb wasn't the only suspect whose profile didn't fit the image of the typical meth producer.
Another suspect is Mehmetcan Dosemeci, a Columbia University doctoral student, who told cops he mixed and used the stimulant to boost his studying, officials said. :dizzy
Dosemeci, a native of Turkey, is a Fulbright scholar and a graduate instructor at the school.
He was busted after he allegedly made the boneheaded mistake of going online to get one of the prime meth ingredients, iodine crystals, and having it sent to his Manhattan Avenue apartment.
DEA agents raided his home in October. The history student might have also gone far in chemistry, since DEA officials said the 1.3 grams of meth they found had a purity of 98 percent.
"It's just not as it seems at the moment. It's a big misunderstanding," Dosemeci said at his apartment yesterday.
He and Knibb were free on $150,000 bail.
EXEC TURNS HIS PENTHOUSE INTO A METH LAB: FEDS
By TODD VENEZIA, ERIKA MARTINEZ and STEFANIE COHEN
December 1, 2006 -- The trailer-park drug known as "hillbilly crack" has been putting on the Ritz lately - as federal drug agents uncovered a crystal-meth lab inside the $6,000-a-month Manhattan penthouse of a bank executive, authorities said yesterday.
Michael Knibb, an information-technology vice president at Citigroup, ran the sophisticated drug operation from the living room of his luxury apartment overlooking the United Nations, said Drug Enforcement Administration officials.
The 37-year-old Knibb - who makes an estimated $250,000 a year - allegedly told authorities that he had decided to make his own methamphetamines because he could not find a reliable drug dealer after moving to New York from Seattle two years ago.
Knibb was one of 10 alleged do-it-yourself drug makers busted this week as part of a federal anti-meth sweep dubbed Operation Red Fusion. (sounds like a Tom Clancy video game)
Yesterday was National Methamphetamine Awareness Day.
The arrests were made after each of the suspects allegedly bought meth-making chemicals from the same Internet sites.
None of the suspects were major dealers, and most just made enough for their own use, according to the DEA.
Knibb wasn't the only suspect whose profile didn't fit the image of the typical meth producer.
Another suspect is Mehmetcan Dosemeci, a Columbia University doctoral student, who told cops he mixed and used the stimulant to boost his studying, officials said. :dizzy
Dosemeci, a native of Turkey, is a Fulbright scholar and a graduate instructor at the school.
He was busted after he allegedly made the boneheaded mistake of going online to get one of the prime meth ingredients, iodine crystals, and having it sent to his Manhattan Avenue apartment.
DEA agents raided his home in October. The history student might have also gone far in chemistry, since DEA officials said the 1.3 grams of meth they found had a purity of 98 percent.
"It's just not as it seems at the moment. It's a big misunderstanding," Dosemeci said at his apartment yesterday.
He and Knibb were free on $150,000 bail.