New York--Police have shut down a drug business thriving around the corner from the Abyssinian Baptist Church in the Harlem neighborhood, according to The New York Times.

The paper reported that 14 members of a Harlem drug ring have been indicted following a nine-month investigation into a crack-cocaine trade along the block just northwest of the church.

District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said the drug-dealing and violence "plagued residents and visitors in this Harlem neighborhood, who were confronted with narcotics dealing even as they made their way to church." He described the block as "a persistent hub of drug-related violence and crime."

Charges focus on members of a group known as the Stone Crew, and authorities brought other narcotics charges last October against five members of another neighborhood gang headed by 49-year-old Mary McRae.

Another recent undercover investigation broke up a gun-running organization which sold weapons from a produce stand a block south of the church. Morgenthau said the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist church, had been among those who complained to the police. Morgenthau said the Stone Crew members, if convicted, could receive sentences of at least 162 years.

"These people are well known in the community, and it is important to see them facing significant sentences," Morgenthau said.