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A Times Square drug kingpin nabbed in an “around-the-clock” crack peddling operation is back on the streets of the Big Apple — thanks to former President Joe Biden, The Post has learned.
Johnny Perez, a 32-year-old convict nicknamed “Ghost,” was one of nearly 2,500 convicted federal criminals who had their sentences commuted by Biden on Jan. 17 before he left office — including at least three other dealers busted with him in 2021, records show.
Federal prison records show that Perez, who was one of eight suspected drug dealers rounded up in a raid by the NYPD and federal agents, is listed as due for release in May — but he is no longer behind bars.
Authorities called the brazen $10,000-a-week crack operation a “24-hour open air bazaar operating in around-the-clock shifts at 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue.
“One ‘shift’ arrived in the late morning and made sales through the late afternoon, and then other defendants arrived and sold through the evening and nighttime,” the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York said in a press release at the time of the arrests.
“Although there was no set composition of defendants for the two shifts, defendant Aaron Starks was often present and overseeing the first shift, and defendant Johnny Perez was often present and overseeing the second shift,” according to the release.
Perez was sentenced to eight years in federal prison, while Starks was hit with a sentence of six years, according to online records — before both had their sentences trimmed by Biden.
“This falls in line with the prevailing mindset — everyone who comes into the criminal justice system must be a victim,” one frustrated law enforcement source told The Post.
“Never mind the fact that these people made it their business to create and exploit victims,” the source said. “Victims of addiction and poverty. It’s literally their only business.”
Two other cohorts from the 2021 raid — Sekou Simpson and Davon Mial — had sentences of 3.5 years and 2 years and 3 months, respectively, also commuted by Biden on Jan. 17.
The status of the other cases was not immediately available.
The US Bureau of Prisons did not respond to a request for information on Sunday.
In addition to the commuted sentences, Biden also pardoned 39 convicts before leaving the White House.
