A notoriously dirty former New York City cop who spent 13 years behind bars is now teaming up with a drug dealer he was once in cahoots with, but this time it’s to launch a line of cigars.
Former NYPD Officer Michael Dowd, 55, was arrested in 1992 and began serving time in July 1994, after being convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics. His drug dealer cohort, Adam Diaz, served eight years and was then deported to the Dominican Republic. During his time working in Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Dowd routinely shook down cocaine dealers, confiscated their drugs and then resold them.
To the outrage of his former precinct, the line of Dominican Republic cigars that he’s launching with Diaz is called The Seven Five. The cigars’ bands feature a photo of Diaz and a silhouette of Dowd in uniform, as well as both their names. Several phrases are printed on the boxes, including “The King of Brooklyn” and “Nobody can touch me. Nobody can touch my crew.”
For now, the cigars are only being sold at the Long Island Tobacco Outlet in the town of Ronkonkoma. The store’s owner, Fred Udle, said he bought 75 boxes in a bid to stir up publicity. He’s already sold 30 boxes, but said he won’t re-order them due to intense public backlash. The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association already informed him that they will boycott the store if he continues to stock the cigars.
“I’m close friends with a lot of my customers, and they are like family, and it upset them,” said Udle. “I thought it would be great publicity for my shop, but I understand why the cops don’t like him.”
Joe Hall, a former 75th Precinct detective now with the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, declared that it was “a disgrace that [Dowd] is in business with a drug dealer. But that’s probably the only friend that he has. Drug dealers will probably be the ones who buy these cigars.” He also said that if Dowd “had any sense of decency, he’d give all the proceeds to the Widows’ and Children’s Fund.”
Dowd’s son confirmed that neither the infamous former cop or Diaz would comment on the cigar line.