DA Responds to Neighbor Complaints in Hempstead; Shuts Down Illegal Social Club, Arrests Ringleader

Residential home served as illegal gambling parlor; Parker faces drug and gun charges

MINEOLA, NY - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that in response to complaints from neighbors, an illegal social club and gambling parlor has been shut down by the Hempstead Police Department and Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, resulting in the arrest of the club’s ringleader on drug, gambling, and weapons charges.

Rice said that in the early morning hours of March 21, Hempstead police officers executed a search warrant at 63 Booth Street in Hempstead. Nearly 40 people were packed into the two-story house at the time the warrant was executed. A craps table was seized, along with a joker poker machine, and substantial quantities of cocaine and crack-cocaine. Eddie Parker, 55, who lives in the house as a tenant, was in an upstairs bedroom at the time when police entered, and threw a semi-automatic handgun out the window. The weapon was recovered.

The house had been the focus of numerous complaints from neighbors. Approximately 30 minutes before police arrived, Rice said that gunshots were fired from the house. Two others were arrested on outstanding bench warrants.

Eddie Parker, 55, of Hempstead was charged with two counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second and Third Degrees, Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the First Degree, Possession of a Gambling Device, and Promoting Gambling in the Second Degree. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. He is due back in court tomorrow.

“When neighborhoods are held hostage by these dangerous and illegal social clubs, it is our responsibility to answer their calls for help,” Rice said. “I want to commend the Hempstead Police Department for their quick and professional takedown of this blight on the community.  Resident tips are often law enforcement’s frontline defense in combating these quality-of-life crimes that can destroy neighborhoods.”

Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Swenson of the DA’s Street Narcotics and Gangs Bureau is handling the case for the District Attorney’s Office. The defendant is representing himself.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.