Exclusive | Hochul deploys state troopers to NYCs Market of Sweethearts to clean up crime-infested block where hookers prowl

Gov.Kathy Hochul deployed New York State troopers Tuesday to help the NYPD take control of sleazy stretch of Jackson Heights overrun by crime and prostitutes nicknamed the “Market of Sweethearts.”Troopers were seen gathering with local cops along Roosevelt Avenue near 83rd and 84th streets, awaiting instructions on specific patrols to clean up what neighborhood activists decried as a corridor that had become an “urban crime zone” and home to “more brothels than bodegas.”Kaz Daughty, NYPD deputy commissioner of operations, was on the scene, indicating the importance of the mission — which came after fed-up local business owners and residents begged for help.Civic leaders applauded Hochul for dispatching the state troopers and the NYPD and the Adams’ administration for ratcheting up patrols and enforcement following a number of raids that had little long-term effect, as brothels and illegal vendors would sprout back up immediately after they were shut down.Last  week, the Let’s Improve Roosevelt Avenue Coalition urged Hochul to send in state troopers, while NYPD Interim Commissioner Tom Donlon personally visited the notorious strip over the weekend and promised more resources to fight prostitution and sex trafficking and other crimes plaguing the area. “We appreciate Governor Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, Commissioner Thomas Donlon and Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry for assigning more police resources to Roosevelt Avenu,” the group said in a statement.

“Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry was on the scene on Roosevelt Avenue and 84th Street this morning.”Democratic District Leader Hiram Monserrate, the former state senator and councilman and co-founder of the group, said he was “thankful” after observing “well over 200 police officers from the NYPD and NYS Troopers.“Today, true leadership stood up and began the process of taking Roosevelt Avenue back from the street gangs, cartels, human traffickers...