Former Staten Island deli owner arrested on drug charges while facing ... - SILive.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Talk about a bitter pill to swallow.

The owner of the former Nel-Boy Bagels in Great Kills -- the focal point of a major prescription drug sweep in the summer of 2011 -- was set to be sentenced Friday to up to five years in prison for dealing drugs from his store.

But Syed Rashid will likely see additional prison time tacked on after being arrested Tuesday for allegedly selling illegal narcotics on the street.

The 50-year-old Huguenot resident, who was free on $50,000 bond, was busted on Brandis Avenue, Eltingville, said court papers.

According to those documents, Rashid and a co-defendant, Brian Lang, 27, of the 100 block of Lewiston Street, New Springville, were sitting in a parked 2005 Toyota Camry.

Lang was behind the wheel and Rashid was in the front passenger seat.

At about 7:30 p.m., a third suspect, Thomas Pagano, 43, of the 100 block of Alexander Avenue, Annadale, approached the car, said court documents.

Officers observed Rashid hand Pagano something for an undisclosed amount of cash, court papers said. The item turned out to be six pills of Suboxone, a drug used to treat opioid dependence, said police.

Cops also found one Suboxone pill on the Camry's center console, court documents state.

Rashid and Lang were each charged with single felony counts of drug sale and drug possession, said a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan. They're also accused of a misdemeanor count of drug possession.

Pagano was charged with misdemeanor drug possession and possessing a controlled substance outside its original container.

At the time of his arrest, Lang was free on his own recognizance pending the disposition of marijuana charges in an unrelated case.

Rashid was arraigned Thursday in Stapleton Criminal Court and was remanded to jail.

Nel-Boy Bagels captured headlines in August 2011 as the centerpiece of a prescription drug sweep that netted more than 3,000 pills, along with cocaine, heroin and marijuana, said authorities.

Rashid, the owner of the small deli on Amboy Road near Nelson Avenue, was among the 25 loosely connected suspects arrested across the borough's East and South shores.

Officials said the deli had a bustling drug trade, hawking pills at $20 a pop.

A law enforcement source said Nel-Boy was packed full of customers in the middle of the night when police raided it. In the back room, cops found a "drug den," the source said, which included 100 glassine bags of heroine and 30 syringes.

Authorities were tipped off to the Nel-Boy operation through the South Shore Merchants Association.

In April, Rashid who's also known as "Sam," pleaded guilty to a felony charge of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. It was the top count against him.

Under his agreement, Rashid was to be sentenced Friday in state Supreme Court, St. George, to no less than four years and no more than five years in prison.

However, a judge is not bound to that sentence in the wake of Rashid's latest arrest.

Rashid's lawyer, Mark J. Fonte, could not immediately be reached Wednesday for comment.