It’s the most flashy street in the Hamptons, the Rodeo Drive of the East End, where, if you have the money to spend, you can light an inferno in Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton or Prada.
And, at least until recently, Newtown Lane in East Hampton Village was also where you could buy high-grade cocaine from a drug dealer who drove a Mercedes, picked you up at an upscale Italian restaurant and drove you to a more secluded location to do the deal.
And it wasn’t street drugs laced with fentanyl or bath salts. It was the real thing, “much purer and of a higher quality,” a source familiar with the matter told DailyMail.com.
But now that entire million-dollar drug deal has come crashing down following the arrest of the alleged kingpins who kept the Hamptons on the hook.
Michael Khodorkovskiy, 44, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, a private ride-share driver, and Russian-born Alexandr Dyatchin, 38, an Uber driver who rented a summer home in the millionaires’ playground, have been charged with more than 80 felonies.
Newtown Lane is at the very center of life in East Hampton, as wealthy New Yorkers flock to Long Island’s East End to escape the summer heat in the city.
Michael Khodorkovskiy is accused of serving clients in East Hampton, where he would meet them at an Italian restaurant and drive them to a more secluded location to close the deal.
Alexander Dyatchin moved from Florida to a rental house for the summer in the Hamptons. When police raided that house, they reported finding $19,000 in cash and more than a pound of cocaine, already packaged in hundreds of packages and ready to be consumed.
The alleged drug dealers are said to have been operating out of the exclusive Newtown Lane in East Hampton.
Police say the two men ran a cocaine delivery service that served high-end locations in the Hamptons, from Newtown Lane to the prestigious Montauk Yacht Club, and everywhere in between.
And what Khodorkovskiy and Dyatchin didn’t know was that many of the deals they were making weren’t with high rollers looking to make more money, but with undercover agents.
The arrests have sent shockwaves through the summer paradise, especially at Cittanuova, a chic Italian restaurant across from Chanel and next to Zimmermann, a store recommended by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, where a regular dress can cost more than $2,000.
It was at Cittanuova that, unbeknownst to the restaurant owners, Khodorkovskiy met with his clients. “He has no connection with the restaurant or its staff,” Cittanuova said in a statement.
Khodorkovskiy, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on August 2 at noon near his home in Brooklyn. He had previously been convicted of strangling a person in New York City and is currently on parole.
Dyatchin was arrested around the same time that East Hampton Town Police, along with the East End Drug Task Force, raided his seasonal home in Springs, a somewhat less salubrious part of East Hampton.
Both are being held on $2 million bail each, or $20 million bail to be secured by a 10 percent deposit.
However, according to prosecutor Rob Archer, both men face further charges, with the possibility that one or both could be remanded in custody without bail.
The two men have made more than $1 million since the spring of 2003 from their drug business, prosecutors say.
The arrests have sent shockwaves through the resorts, and nowhere more so than at Cittanuova, a posh Italian restaurant in the elite East Hamptons neighborhood where, unbeknownst to its owners, Khodorkovskiy was meeting with clients.
At Zimmermann, just off Cittanuova, a standard dress can cost upwards of $2,000.
Police say several of the drug transactions took place at the exclusive Montauk Yacht Club.
The yacht club sits on 16 acres on Star Island, near the tip of Long Island, and is the largest marina in the Hamptons.
Montauk Yacht Club is said to have been a key business location for Dyatchin.
According to Archer, an assistant district attorney in the narcotics division, the two men “worked in tandem”: Khodorkovskiy served clients on Newtown Lane, while Dyatchin provided services at points east, including Amagansett and Montauk, with several sales taking place at the exclusive Montauk Yacht Club.
Among the places where Dyatchin has closed deals are a Stop and Shop supermarket in East Hampton, the Beach Bounce restaurant in Montauk and Rosie’s, a trendy restaurant in Amagansett.
None of the companies whose addresses appear in the criminal complaints have been implicated in any crime.
Both men pick up their customers, take a short ride and complete the drug sale, prosecutors say.
According to Archer, when police executed a search warrant at Khodorkovskiy’s Brooklyn home, they found more than a kilogram of cocaine and a cache of gold coins valued at more than $100,000.
Khodorkovskiy, Archer said, has a bank account with more than $130,000.
Khodorkovskiy appeared in court for his arraignment in Riverhead, New York, on August 15.
The Bounce Beach restaurant in Montauk is among the locations where Dyatchin reportedly closed his deals.
Police say Dyatchin met his clients at several different East End restaurants, including Rosie’s, a trendy restaurant in Amagansett.
Khodorkovskiy is currently facing 47 felony charges, the most serious of which are four counts of first-degree drug sales, a category A-1 felony. All four sales were for more than two ounces of pure cocaine, according to the charges.
Archer said Khodorkovskiy has not yet been charged with first-degree possession following the raid on his Brooklyn home, which he said is underway. Archer also said more charges will be filed, including under New York state’s toughest drug laws that would accuse the defendants of being drug lords.
When police raided Dyatchin’s home, they reported finding $19,000 in cash and more than half a kilogram of cocaine, already packaged in hundreds of bundles and ready to consume.
He had recently moved from Florida to the Hamptons. Police seized the Mercedes Benz he was said to be working on, as well as a motorcycle.
While Khodorkovskiy dealt exclusively in high-grade cocaine, Dyatchin also made several sales of MDMA, known on the street as Molly or Ecstasy in Montauk, to undercover agents.
Newtown Lane is home to many expensive designer shops, including Prada and Louis Vuitton.
Dyatchin rented this house in The Springs, a less salubrious area of East Hampton.
Archer asked that a minimum bail be set at $2 million for both men and that the source of the bail be examined first to ensure that it was not illegally obtained funds. He also pointed to the possibility that even more serious charges could be filed to justify the high bail requested.
Tony Mirvis, representing Khodorkovskiy, and Kenneth Russo, representing Dyatchin, argued against the high bail. Mirvis noted that his client has never missed a court date and that such a high bail amounted to pretrial detention without bail. Russo said his client had never been arrested before and that there were family members in the courtroom.
Dyatchin’s sister, who lives in New Jersey, sat in the audience.
Archer said Dyatchin’s visa to stay in the United States had expired, as had his passport. Archer said Dyatchin was born in Russia and is a citizen of Serbia.
(tags to translate)dailymail
