Construction Workers Busted For Selling Pot At Ground Zero
Construction workers at the World Trade Center construction site have been getting high—and not from building what will be the tallest building in New York. Three concrete workers at Ground Zero were charged with possessing and selling marijuana at the site in Lower Manhattan today, following a seven-month investigation by the site’s integrity monitor and the Port Authority inspector general. Apparently something’s been smelling a little funky for a while.
According to Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman, the IG’s office made several undercover drug buys from the three workers—employees of Long Island’s Sorbara Construction Corp.—at the site’s transportation hub. The three—Brian McDermott, 34, of Brooklyn; John Fama, 30, of Jersey City; and Cesar Rivera, 25, of the Bronx—also sold drugs to other workers.
We set up on it and we launched an investigation,” Port Authority director of investigations Mike Nestor told the New York Daily News. “We have a zero-tolerance program at the World Trade Center for drinking alcohol. Marijuana is as bad or worse and leaves you partially impaired. “We don’t want them working in high areas or with equipment.”
Construction on the World Trade Center—once dubbed Freedom Tower—has been riddled with problems for months. Before today’s pot bust, other construction workers were caught drinking alcohol while working at the site, and racist graffiti—including the N-word—was found in one of the men’s bathrooms. Most disturbing, however, is the ongoing series of accidents that have occurred at the site in the past year, including various falls, dropped materials and equipment, as well as fires. Whereas one might have previously blamed the incidents on a curse or just bad juju based on the Ground Zero’s horrific history, it’s now pretty clear the workers were probably just stoned.
