A cooperating witness took the stand in Manhattan federal court this week and described a drug operation near Washington Square Park that allegedly pulled in nearly $40,000 a month, ran three shifts around the clock, and paid street-level workers up to $500 a day to hand off crack cocaine, heroin and fentanyl to a steady stream of buyers.
John Livigni, accused by federal prosecutors of heading the so-called “Yellow Bag Boys” crew, went to trial Tuesday on charges connected to two 2025 overdose deaths, according to the New York Post. Prosecutor Remy Grosbard told jurors the defendant led a conspiracy that sold deadly illegal drugs around Washington Square Park, per the Post's account of opening statements. Livigni is accused of responsibility for the park's yearslong drug problem and was indicted alongside 18 others when the case was unsealed in October 2025.
Justin Barry, who began working for Livigni in July 2023, testified about the day-to-day mechanics of the operation, telling jurors he was a recovering addict when he took the job, the Post reports. Barry said each shift consisted of one worker and two managers, with workers exchanging drugs hand-to-hand with clients while managers stayed a step removed from direct sales and supervised the shifts. Workers put in six to seven days a week, per his testimony, and managers earned about $800 weekly overseeing the operation.
Color-Coded Bags and a Round-the-Clock Schedule
According to Barry's testimony, the crew organized its product by color: yellow packages held crack cocaine, while light-blue envelopes contained heroin and fentanyl. He said the crew moved roughly five to six crack-cocaine packs per shift, generating up to $1,800 a week in crack sales alone, while heroin and fentanyl brought in as much as $7,000 weekly. Barry testified that police seized drugs from him at least once in 2025 while he was still working for Livigni, and he has since pleaded out in a related state drug case.
Federal prosecutors say the enterprise, sometimes referred to as the WSP enterprise, distributed millions of individual doses of synthetic opioids, heroin and crack cocaine in and around the park between 2020 and October 2025, according to a DEA press release. That same release states law enforcement and emergency medical personnel responded to more than 65 reported overdoses in and around Washington Square Park over that period.
Two Deaths at the Center of the Case
Livigni is charged in connection with two drug-related deaths over a six-month span in 2025, per the Post. One victim was Bailey Shaw, an 18-year-old who had come to New York from Colorado to work in a Broadway-linked internship program, the Post reports; prosecutors have linked drugs allegedly sold by Livigni's network to Shaw's death. The second victim was a 43-year-old homeless man who had lived in the Washington Square Park area for years and frequently purchased drugs in the park. The second victim died in 2025.
Descriptions in the case included a black pouch, yellow crack pouches and empty light-blue dope bags. Other packaging was associated with certain defendants. Livigni's crew and Maliek “Scarface” Lugg were described as coordinating territory. Lugg had been held at Rikers Island since March on state charges.
Defense Targets Cooperating Witnesses
During opening statements Tuesday, defense counsel Michael Perkins urged jurors to keep an open mind and closely scrutinize the credibility of cooperating witnesses who agreed to testify in exchange for leniency in their own cases, according to Inner City Press. That defense strategy appears aimed squarely at witnesses like Barry, whose plea deal in a related state case preceded his testimony against Livigni.
To win a conviction on the charge of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death, prosecutors must satisfy what's known as a but-for causation standard, meaning they must show the specific drugs distributed by Livigni's network were a necessary cause of Shaw's and the 43-year-old victim's deaths, without needing to prove intent to cause harm, per the Federal Criminal Attorneys and stemming from the Supreme Court's Burrage v. United States decision. A conviction under that statute carries a mandatory minimum of 20 years in federal prison and a maximum of life, with no parole option, meaning Livigni faces up to life in prison if convicted, according to the DEA. The trial is scheduled to resume Wednesday.
Fallout Reaches Park Policy Debates
The overdose crisis tied to the park has already reshaped local policy debates. In May, Hoodline reported that Manhattan Community Board 2 and the NYC Parks Department held public discussions on installing permanent lockable perimeter gates at Washington Square Park to enforce nightly curfews, a proposal meant to replace the temporary metal barricades used during late-night sweeps. The federal case now unfolding in court adds new detail to why those conversations began in the first place.
