A Deadly Warehouse Robbery Shows What Unlicensed Cannabis Inventory Really Costs

Two people died inside an unlicensed Mount Vernon cannabis warehouse in 2024, and the federal case is still producing guilty pleas two years later.

By Cannible Editorial

Cannabis inventory sitting outside the legal system is a concentrated store of value with no insurance, no banking, and no ability to call 911, and that combination is what made an unlicensed Mount Vernon warehouse worth killing for in March 2024. Two people died in that robbery, and federal guilty pleas are still landing two years later. If you buy cannabis, the practical upshot is that the supply chain behind your purchase determines whether the people handling your product have any legal recourse at all.

Here is what the case establishes.

This article is general information about a criminal case and cannabis market structure. It is not legal advice. Charges that have not been resolved by a court remain allegations, and you should consult a licensed attorney about any specific legal question.

Lohud / The Journal News: Guilty plea to federal charges in deadly Mount Vernon cannabis robbery — Jonathan Bandler's reporting on the latest plea in the 2024 warehouse case.

What happened inside the Mount Vernon warehouse

Two years after two people were killed inside an unlicensed cannabis warehouse in Mount Vernon, New York, the federal case is still adding guilty pleas. Ryan Rivera, identified by prosecutors as one of the plotters, pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy and firearms possession tied to the March 2024 heist, as reported by the Rockland/Westchester Journal News.

The robbery was planned. Nobody stumbled into that building.

Salem Rabadi, a warehouse employee, was killed. So was Romano Acosta, one of the robbers. Both died that night during an attempted theft that federal prosecutors say was organized, coordinated, and motivated by an estimated $8 million sitting inside four walls.

What was actually stored in the building

That warehouse was not a small side operation. It held more than 1,600 pounds of marijuana and 1,100 pounds of cannabis edibles, and it supplied illegal marijuana to smoke shops across the region. The operation was unlicensed, a detail News 12 reported when the first suspect was arrested in 2024.

A confidential informant told investigators the robbers believed they could steal as much as $8 million from the facility.

A warehouse full of unregulated product is a concentrated store of value. It sits outside banking, outside insurance, outside any security framework regulators require. So when it gets hit, there is no 911 call, no insurance claim, no paper trail. The only way to recover the inventory is by force.

The size and unlicensed status of that inventory made it unusually attractive to organized criminals willing to use lethal force.

Why unlicensed inventory attracts violence

Research compiled by NORML shows that crimes against licensed facilities remain a small and stable share of overall crime. Treat that as observational evidence drawn from compiled crime data rather than a controlled comparison, but the structural logic behind it is straightforward.

Unlicensed operations work under a different set of constraints.

New York City saw this repeatedly in 2024. Officers responding to burglaries at suspected illegal warehouses in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx found $5 to $10 million in illegal product at each location. The burglaries happened first. Police found the warehouses after. Criminals located these sites well before any regulator did.

City officials have said this plainly.

Unlicensed cannabis shops attract robberies and shootings.

Philip Banks III, New York City Deputy Mayor for Public Safety

Banks also said those shops threaten public safety by distributing untested products.

Where the federal case stands now

Several defendants have already pleaded guilty and received significant prison sentences. Another accused leader, Moises Encarnacion, remains in ongoing psychiatric evaluations, which continue to complicate the proceedings.

Rivera's guilty plea covers his own admitted conduct. Every other allegation against him and the remaining defendants stays an allegation until a court settles it.

The legal proceedings are ongoing, with multiple guilty pleas secured and at least one defendant still under psychiatric evaluation.

The real issue is commercial infrastructure

The cannabis in that warehouse became a target because it existed inside an underground supply chain. Inventory with enormous street value, zero legal protection, and no audit trail is easy to steal and hard to recover. That is what made it dangerous. Not the product itself, but the complete absence of any legitimate structure around it.

Licensed businesses get robbed too. This case does not say otherwise. The difference is in what each type of operation has available when something goes wrong.

An unlicensed warehouse handles its problems differently. In Mount Vernon, that meant two people died.

How big the illegal market still is

The scale of the illicit trade puts this single case in context. California alone seized $534 million in illegal cannabis in 2024, along with 61 firearms. Since 2019, that total is roughly $2.8 billion.

Each of those seized stockpiles was, at some point, exactly the kind of target the Mount Vernon warehouse became. Add the multi-million-dollar caches found across three New York City boroughs in the same year, and Mount Vernon stops looking like an outlier and starts looking like a category.

What this means for you as a buyer

If you buy cannabis, the supply chain behind your purchase matters. Product moving through unlicensed warehouses reaches consumers untested. The people handling it at every step work without legal protection.

The Mount Vernon case will keep moving through the courts. More guilty pleas will probably come. The two deaths have already happened, inside a market structure that made them more likely.

The supply chain behind your purchase affects more than the product in your hand. It touches worker safety and what happens in the communities these operations run through.

Frequently asked questions

What happened at the Mount Vernon cannabis warehouse robbery?

In March 2024, a group of armed individuals robbed an unlicensed cannabis warehouse in Mount Vernon, New York. Two people were killed: Salem Rabadi, a warehouse employee, and Romano Acosta, one of the robbers. Several suspects have since pleaded guilty to federal charges including Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy.

Why was the warehouse a target?

The warehouse was unlicensed and held over 1,600 pounds of marijuana and 1,100 pounds of cannabis edibles. Investigators were told the robbers believed the facility held up to $8 million in product. Because the operation was illegal, it had no insurance, no legal banking access, and could not report theft to police without self-exposure.

What is Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy?

Hobbs Act robbery is a federal crime that covers robbery or extortion affecting interstate commerce. A conspiracy charge means the defendant agreed with others to commit the crime, even if they did not personally carry it out.

Are licensed cannabis businesses also targeted by robbers?

Yes, licensed cannabis businesses can be robbed. Research from NORML indicates that crimes against licensed facilities remain a small and stable share of overall crime. Licensed operators have regulatory-mandated cameras, tracked inventory, and insurance options. They also have the legal right to report crimes. Together, those factors reduce both their attractiveness as targets and their vulnerability when crimes do occur.

How widespread is the illegal cannabis market?

California alone seized $534 million in illegal cannabis in 2024, along with 61 firearms. Since 2019, the state has seized roughly $2.8 billion in illegal product. New York City saw multiple large-scale illegal warehouses discovered in 2024 following burglaries in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, with $5 to $10 million in illegal product found at each site.

What is the current status of the Mount Vernon case?

As of 2026, Ryan Rivera has pleaded guilty to Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy and firearms possession. Several other defendants have also pleaded guilty and received significant prison sentences. Moises Encarnacion, another accused leader, remains in ongoing psychiatric evaluations. All unresolved charges remain allegations until a court rules on them.

Key takeaways

The Cannible Newsroom's take

What we would tell a friend is this: the argument for buying legal is usually framed around lab testing and label accuracy, and those matter, but Mount Vernon is the version of the argument that is harder to shrug off. A warehouse employee died at work in a building that could not call the police on its own behalf. That is a labor-safety story as much as a cannabis story.

What concerns us is how easily this gets flattened into a talking point. Licensed shops are robbed too, and pointing at one horrific case does not settle a policy debate. The NORML material is a compilation of crime data, not a controlled study, and it should be read that way. The honest claim is narrower: an operation that cannot bank, insure, or report has fewer options when it is targeted, and the people inside it absorb that gap directly.

The nuance we keep coming back to is that the illicit market is not a moral failing on the part of the customer. It is often the cheaper or nearer option, especially where licensed retail rolled out slowly. Consumer choice is real but it is not the whole lever. Enforcement, licensing pace, and banking access all shape how many buildings like this one exist. California's $2.8 billion in seizures since 2019 suggests the underlying supply has not gone anywhere.

We will update this article as the Mount Vernon prosecutions resolve and as the law, the data, or the enforcement picture changes.

Sources and further reading

For questions about a specific case, charge, or license status, consult a licensed attorney or your state cannabis regulator directly.

Find a licensed shop before you spend money

The simplest way to stay out of the supply chain described above is to buy from a verified, licensed retailer. Browse the Cannible dispensary directory to see what is licensed near you, check licensed dispensaries in New York if you are in the Mount Vernon area, and read how to choose a dispensary if you want to know what a compliant storefront should look like before you walk in.

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