NYC prosecutors fighting to prevent ‘bad old days’ after bust of Times Square ‘24-hour open-air drug bazaar'

New York City prosecutors say they are vowing to prevent Times Square from devolving back into the "bad old days" after charging a group of men for running a "24-hour open-air bazaar for the sale of crack cocaine" there.

"As alleged, the defendants operated a veritable 24-hour open-air bazaar for the sale of crack cocaine in Times Square," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement. "We recall the bad old days of a much seedier Times Square that was unwelcoming, and we are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that those days remain just a memory."    Prosecutors, citing an indictment unsealed Tuesday, alleged that "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."