Broadway is not big enough for these vendors.
One man was slashed in the neck and another placed under arrest after a verbal dispute between vendors turned bloody near Macy’s in Herald Square Saturday morning, police said.
The violence broke out just before 9 a.m. when two vendors operating on opposite sides of the street started arguing outside 1338 Broadway, near 35th Street, cops said.
The war of words ended when one vendor slashed the other in the neck, the NYPD said.
Marzouk Ibrahim, 36, was arrested and charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon, disorderly conduct and harassment, an NYPD spokesman said.
The unidentified 32-year-old victim was transported by EMS to Bellevue Hospital with neck lacerations and is expected to survive, authorities said.
While the NYPD did not spell out what fueled the slashing, word on the street was that the two vendors are involved in a turf war.
The scenario: Both sides are from Egypt. They work opposite sides of the street at the corner of West 35th and Broadway beside Macy’s. One guy said he has been at the corner for three years and the other across the street wants to buy his space — and that notion didn’t sit well with the other vendor.
One of the factions features three brothers who operate one cart and take turns working 8-hour shifts. One of the brothers was allegedly slashed by Ibrahim. At one point, the cops instructed the brothers to “pack up and leave.”
One faction claims the beef started when one of them went to the bathroom and when he came back his “stuff” was on the ground and cart flipped over. His cousin, Ibrahim, was the individual arrested in the slashing. That faction claims the victim cut himself and lied to police.
Some workers in the area said the vendors are not supposed to selling their hot dogs and pretzels and beverages until after 5:30 p.m. and cops issue tickets to the offenders but let them keep their goods and take their carts.
The rules were strictly enforced before the pandemic, but not so much now, the workers said, noting the vendors turn “vicious” when instructed to move from spots they are not authorized to be in.
These turf wars happen “frequently,” said Joseph Carella, a spokesman for the 34th Street Partnership, who noted that “vendors are tacitly allowed to conduct these battles with each other because the city does not enforce placement regulations” and likened it to a “Wild West scenario beyond the eyes of the enforcement bodies.”
Said Carella: “Earlier this year, the Partnership’s unarmed security officers were given peace officer status by New York State, and they have the power to issue fines, which they have been doing, although they cannot prevent these types of showdowns.”
