{"id":324346,"date":"2026-08-18T21:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T21:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324346\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T21:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T21:10:08","slug":"man-charged-with-selling-fatal-dose-of-crack-to-woman-found-dead-in-manhattan-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324346\/","title":{"rendered":"Man charged with selling fatal dose of crack to woman found dead in Manhattan facility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A man was arrested for selling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdny\/pr\/manhattan-man-charged-distributing-narcotics-caused-death-resident-transitional\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a fatal dose of crack cocaine<\/a> to a recovering drug addict found dead inside a Manhattan transitional housing facility, officials said Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Surveillance footage inside the building shows Matthew Spatola, 37, handing the victim narcotics around 9 a.m. on June 26, according to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>The suspect was then spotted entering and exiting the victim\u2019s room twice that afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>A short time later, her lifeless body was discovered beside a glassine envelope and pipe that tested positive for cocaine.<\/p>\n<p>The victim\u2019s name has not been released.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMatthew Spatola provided lethal narcotics to a woman in the very building where she was living to escape addiction,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. \u201cBut even her death did not stop Spatola from allegedly continuing to deal drugs, exposing particularly vulnerable neighbors fighting for their own recovery to the same life-threatening poison that killed her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On July 14, police recovered narcotics, including crack, heroin and fentanyl, during a raid of Spatola\u2019s Manhattan home.<\/p>\n<p>Spatola was charged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday with distribution of narcotics resulting in death and distribution and possession with intent to distribute narcotics, officials said. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on the top charge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMatthew Spatola callously preyed on individuals at a transitional housing facility in Manhattan,\u201d said NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch. \u201cThe defendant sold the drugs that resulted in one resident\u2019s death and continued to distribute them even after her demise, caring more for money than human life. This individual is now being held accountable and can no longer sell his poison on our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man was arrested for selling a fatal dose of crack cocaine to a recovering drug addict found&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[122163,6279,70409,11152,20995,75,84,83,9,24,63,63057,86867],"class_list":["post-324346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-distribution-of-narcotics","tag-drug-addiction","tag-drug-dealer","tag-drug-overdose","tag-homeless","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-transitional-housing","tag-u-s-attorneys-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}