A Staten Island civil judge candidate has a wild, action-packed past as an undercover narc who posed as a dope fiend to bust dealers in NYC back in the 1980s.
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who → have → 1980s
Glenn Yost told The Post he made more than 500 drug busts with the NYPD – including the very first grand jury crack-sale case on Staten Island.
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he → tell → Island
“I feel like I’ve come full circle in the law – enforcing it for 20 years, teaching it, and practicing it for nearly 20 years,” said the 63-year-old Republican lawyer.
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lawyer → feel → years
Yost was born in Brooklyn and moved to Staten Island when he was 11 years old.
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he → bear → Island
He was raised by a single mother who worked at Sears.
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who → raise → Sears
He was 20 years old when he joined the NYPD and became part of the narcotics unit two years into his career, he said.
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he → join → career
He ran undercover operations for the NYPD in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island under an alias.
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He → run → alias
Deep undercover, he lived in a wiretapped apartment in Brooklyn and had fake ID and credit cards.
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he → live → ID
He assumed new identities like “Vinnie” – a red Eldorado Cadillac-driving aspiring actor who summered in the Hamptons, but hung out in squalor-filled crack houses to score heroin, cocaine and prescription pain med Percocet.
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who → assume → heroin
“Those shooting galleries, if there’s anything you can imagine close to hell, that would be it,” he said.
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he → ’ → hell
“It was scary because you didn’t know, you didn’t know who was who.
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who → know → ?
You didn’t know if you were going to get robbed.
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you → know → ?
It smelled horrible.
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It → smell → ?
People would go to the bathroom wherever they wanted to.”
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they → go → bathroom
Consistency helped him gain the dealers’ trust — so he became a repeat customer.
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he → help → trust
A confidential informant helped cement the relationships.
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informant → help → relationships
“I think ideally what the undercover needs to be is very clever and cunning,” Yost said.
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Yost → think → what
Sometimes, he was forced at gunpoint to sample the drugs to prove he wasn’t a cop.
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he → force → drugs
But Yost mastered the art of pretending to sample the goods by dipping his forefinger in the powder — but bringing his middle finger to his mouth.
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Yost → master → mouth
Dealers, he said, “never noticed.”
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he → say → ?
If he was asked to shoot up heroin on the spot, “I just pushed them away and started yelling and screaming.”
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I → ask → them
And just in case, he kept a .25 automatic Colt pistol hidden under his clothes for protection.
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he → keep → protection
Yost played the part so well that one of the criminals he took down, “JD [John Doe] Handsome,” developed a deep friendship with his alter-ego.
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he → play → ego
“I kind of liked him,” Yost admitted.
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Yost → like → him
He was thinking of making me the godfather of his kid.”
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me → think → kid
He first crossed paths with JD Handsome during a botched cocaine buy, when another dealer snatched his $20 and bolted.
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dealer → cross → 20
Handsome saw an opportunity, sidling over to ask how he could help.
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he → see → opportunity
Over the operation’s six months, the two were practically inseparable, hanging out to all hours of the night.
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two → hang → night
When he finally arrested his ‘pal’ and his pregnant, coke-dealing wife, the couple were stunned.
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couple → arrest → pal
“If you can imagine the shock on this guy.
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you → imagine → guy
I mean, I’m his friend,” Yost said.
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Yost → mean → ?
“He was just in complete shock [when they were arrested].
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they → arrest → shock
He could not get over the fact that I was a police officer.”
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I → get → fact
The key to selling his junkie bit was never taking no for an answer, Yost said.
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Yost → sell → answer
“A heroin addict wants the heroin.
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addict → want → heroin
If they tell you know ‘no,’ you still hang around and beg until you get what you want,” he said.
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he → tell → what
Yost went on to work as a youth outreach officer, co-founding the “No Staten Island Racism” school program before attending New York Law School and retiring from the NYPD at 40.
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Yost → go → 40
While studying for the bar, he taught criminal justice and history at St. John’s University and St. Joseph by the Sea high school on Staten Island.
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he → study → Island
He believes his unique background helped him empathize with all walks of life.
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him → believe → life
“I bring life experience, compassion, patience, and respect to the bench,” said the married father of five.
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father → bring → five
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
