How Bees Revealed a Pot Farm Beneath the Maraschino Cherries
Bee Stung
Red-hued bees led authorities to discover New York City’s biggest-ever marijuana farm in the basement of a cherry factory—triggering the owner’s suicide.
Buck Ennis/Crain’s New York Business
Were it not for the red bees of Red Hook, Arthur Mondella might still be Brooklyn’s own Cherry King and New York City’s No. 1 pot grower.
He might still be running his family’s maraschino-cherry factory while secretly operating New York City’s biggest-ever marijuana farm in the basement.
The bees changed everything, because the explanation for what so mysteriously turned them red indirectly gave investigators a pretext to twice search the factory after they were unable to obtain a search warrant.
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