DAMN! THE HOOD HUSTLE OF SELLING NUTCRACKERS GETS BLOWN UP BY THE DAILY NEWS!

The city's bodegas and barbershops are secretly selling kids as young as 14 an illegal and potent mix of fruit punch and alcohol, a Daily News investigation found.
"Nutcrackers," and a frozen version called the "Nemo," sell for $5 or $10 a cup - an easy buzz for teens who like the sweet taste and the cheap price.

"They are poppin'. They get you sauced," said Shaquel, a 15-year-old who declined to give his last name.

A News reporter was able to buy the blend of punch and vodka, white rum or tequila at five shops in upper Manhattan and the Bronx last week, including a Washington Heights natural juice spot.

"Kids like them. You don't need ID to get them. It is like your first step toward drinking liquor," Shaquel said.

To make the street cocktails even more appealing to teens, some sellers add liquor to piña colada mix or drop a Jolly Rancher candy at the bottom of the cup.

"It is a real phenomenon right now, and it needs a law enforcement response," said Dr. Peter Provet, head of the Odyssey House, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic for teens. "Kids who start to abuse alcohol start to abuse things that are sweet."

Nutcrackers have even gone mainstream. Harlem liquor stores sell a legal knockoff, called Nutcracker Tropical Fruit Liqueur, for $25 in a bottle decorated with the Manhattan skyline.

Gary Grady, the owner of Grady's Liquors in St. Albans, Queens, said he came up with the idea to bottle nutcracker in 2006 after customers kept asking him if he sold it.

He and his friends put together several recipes and started to deal with Florida-based distributor, Luctor. Grady also came up with the sketch on the bottle.

"It was born in Harlem, and we wanted the New York skyline. Just like Buffalo wings started in Buffalo," Grady said.

Luctor said it has discontinued the rum-based drink.

Shaquel said he regularly buys fruit punch and sour apple nutcrackers from Rodriguez Deli Food Center in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx.

The News visited the deli and bought a 16-oz. styrofoam cup filled with Tampico tropical punch and vodka for $5.

The News also bought nutcrackers from Juaquin Deli, just down the block on Morris Ave. The reporter was never asked to show ID.

Carlos, a Mott Haven 17-year-old, said he was surprised bodega workers sold to an outsider.

"You gotta know the bodegas," Carlos said. "If they don't know you, you ain't gettin' nothin'."

And in fact, a worker at Rodriguez Deli was suspicious - but not enough to send the reporter away.

"Who sent you?" the worker asked. "They are illegal," he said before handing over a cup in a black plastic bag.

Rodriguez Deli has never been cited by the State Liquor Authority for violating their grocery license, which allows the sale of beer and wine coolers, authority spokesman William Crowley said.

Other spots have been busted for selling the boozy concoction - but the fines don't seem to have stopped them.

Cops caught Juaquin Deli in August 2008 with a jug filled with red nutcracker, court papers say. Yet the News was able to buy three cups of the drink there in two visits last week.

Police also cited a Washington Heights barbershop on Audubon Ave. in July 2008 for selling a nutcracker, but The News was still able to buy two $10 containers.

The shop's owner, who said his name is Freddy Imperial, stashes the hooch behind the back tire of a Toyota Avalon in front of his store.

His mix is so popular, he claims, that rappers like Fat Joe are fans.

"Just drink one," a 16-year-old girl warned a reporter. "Two will get you twisted."

Police brass said cracking down on nutcracker sales are a low priority for officers in high-crime precincts who are busy battling drug dealers and gangs.

"We have other things to concentrate on," a police source said. "We can't go on a nutcracker hunt. We don't have the resources."

If cops catch someone selling the drink, the punishment is a mere summons for illegal sale of alcohol, with fines ranging from several hundred dollars to, in the rare instance, more than $1,000.

Kevin, 20, a marijuana addict at Odyssey House, said, "Nutcrackers are the new liquid loosies [loose cigarettes]."

"So many people are selling it," Kevin said. "It is getting worse and worse. They don't care about age. They just want money."