Drug probe focusing on housing complex in NJ city mocked by Conan O’Brien yields 149 arrests

149 drug arrests in NJ city Conan O’Brien mocked

NEWARK, N.J. — Authorities are hailing the arrests of 149 people in one of New Jersey’s most dangerous cities, which Conan O’Brien mocked on NBC’s “Tonight Show.”

Mayor Cory Booker announced the arrests Wednesday outside the notorious Academy Spires apartment complex in Newark, just west of New York City.

Twenty-eight arrests Wednesday morning capped a six-month drug investigation focusing on the complex. Seven guns, $15,000 in cash and $25,000 worth of drugs were seized.

Undercover officers made numerous drug buys at the complex. Booker says police will stay there “for as long as it takes.”

Booker has tried to clean up Newark, which has been blighted by unemployment and shocking violence such as the execution-style slayings of three college-bound students in 2007. O’Brien donated $100,000 last September after joking Booker’s health care program consisted of a bus ticket out.