Joe Malinconico, Paterson Press Published 2:21 p.m. ET July 21, 2020

Just a block from Broadway on Auburn Street in Paterson, the influence of drugs is apparent. NorthJersey

PATERSON An apartment building where 82 people were arrested in one day in 2018 was the target of a Paterson police drug bust on Monday during which a loaded gun, 200 packets of heroin and 25 vials of crack cocaine were seized, authorities said.

Mondays bust at 83 Auburn Street underscored the relentless nature of the narcotic trade on the block, one of Patersons notorious open-air drug markets, police said. From 2014 through 2016, Paterson police made more than 200 drug arrests on the block, authorities.

In 2015, city narcotics detectives arrested 87 people on narcotics charges at 90 Auburn Street, the building across the street from where Mondays bust took place, and in 2017 two teenagers were shot one fatally in what police said was a drug-related dispute at 87 Auburn Street.

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After the homicide, Paterson police put a patrol vehicle in front of the building where the killing happened and Auburn Street quieted down for a few weeks. But eventually, the drug trade and gun violence returned.

In Mondays bust, police arrested two suspected drug dealers from Paterson and three alleged customers from Wayne, Clifton and the city of Passaic, according to Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale.

People regularly hang out in front of 83 Auburn Street. Authorities said they saw the three suspected buyers walk up to the building and engaged in drug transactions with young men outside.

City officials designated Auburn Street Freedom Boulevard" in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s 1968 visit to a church there just days before he was assassinated.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

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Five arrested in drug bust on Patersons Freedom Boulevard - NorthJersey.com