Rick's
Pool Hall
624 T Street, N.W.
(PSA 305) (Ward 1)
This Nuisance
Property was originally a business, operating under the name "Rick's
Billiards". Despite its purported operation as a pool hall, the Nuisance
Property served as a base for the sale and use of heroin, which resulted
in large amounts of foot and car traffic and numerous arrests for
heroin and other drugs in and outside the property. Traffic and drug
trade from this property spilled out onto the street causing groups
of heroin sellers and users to congregate in the 600 block of T Street,
N.W. In the span of two years, the nuisance property itself was the
cause of 38 police calls for service, while the area just outside
of 624 T Street (in the 600 block of T Street) was the cause of 187
police calls for service. In the span of five years there were over
50 arrests at 624 T Street; 37 of these arrests were drug related,
with 34 of the drug related arrests involving heroin. The police made
an additional 85 arrests just outside of the nuisance property in
the 600 block of T Street, N.W. Over 60 of these arrests were drug
related with over 50 of the drug related arrests involving heroin.
In 1999, a search warrant was executed on the property resulting in
three arrests and a seizure of heroin from inside of the building.
In short, community members and police officers watched for years
as drug transactions and drug users operated in and around the nuisance
property without regard for the negative affect on the community.
The United States Attorney's Office Nuisance Abatement Team gathered
all of the arrest reports, calls for service and evidence of drug
activity. The Team then contacted the property owner and informed
him of its intention to file a civil suit under the Nuisance Abatement
statute. The owner promptly sold the property which is now operating
as Café Mawonaj, a coffee house.
