Canal Street in Chinatown is once again awash in a sea of illegal vendors hawking knock-off designer bags, electronics and jewelry less than a month after ICE dramatically cleared the area and made arrests.
Just minutes after cops confiscated hundreds of handbags and other goods, merchants began slinging items from unmarked bags, blankets and wagons again.A pair of jam-packed illegal markets peddling knock-off Christian Dior, Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton handbags on Canal Street were shut down by Manhattan cops Sunday – only to brazenly reopen minutes later.
“I’m not afraid,” an illicit peddler boasted to The Post right before lifting the tarp from his wagon to reveal dozens of fake handbags and wallets after the police blitz — in what has become a constant routine that vendors say has been playing out daily this holiday season.NYPD officers first cleared out one bustling illicit section around Canal and Lafayette streets just after 1 p.m., confiscating so much counterfeit merchandise that officers could hardly shut the door of the SUV they’d shoved items into while sending some vendors running into the streets with their still-full wagons in tow. About 20 minutes later, officers then descended on dozens of other vendors who had been slinging knock-off bags as well as jewelry and electronics – courting hoards of shoppers spilling out into the roadway — at Canal Street and Broadway.Crazed gym member leaps over counter, pummels staffer who asked her to quiet down: wild videoA vendor told The Post the raids are a daily occurrence — as are counterfeit sales resuming as soon as authorities leave the area.At least one counterfeit-handbag transaction was simply relocated to a nearby pizza shop during the police activity Sunday. Other groups of shoppers were led to side streets to make their holiday season purchases.making an undisclosed number of arrestsWhile Chinatown has been known as a hub of counterfeit goods for decades, some locals claim the crime has only gotten worse in recent months. “The crowds of counterfeit vendors on Broadway between Walker and Canal are denser than ever,” the Tribeca Citizen blog fumed in a Thursday post. “Throngs of buyers and sellers, at least five deep along the curbside,” the blog said. “The garbage was disgusting.”Earlier this year, the city Department of Transportation revealed plans to create a “super sidewalk” to expand access for pedestriansMore than two dozen people have died or been seriously injured on the congested corridor in the past five years, Gothamist reported. Another person fumed, “Police should just clean this up and then the city allow a reasonable number of regulated permits.Andy Reid's future revealed as Chiefs' dynasty comes to crushing endKirsten Fleming MTA's $7.3M 'fins' are a joke and yet another gift to fare beaters — there's only one way to stop them Madonna, 67, goes makeup-free to celebrate Hanukkah with much-younger boyfriend Akeem Morris, 29, and kids Cher goes rock ‘n’ roll in leather jacket and blond wig for holiday performance on ‘Saturday Night live’Olivia Rodrigo and boyfriend Louis Partridge split after two years of dating: reportWhat's inside the newly released Epstein files? Creepy photos, A-list stars, and heavy redactions
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