Now, he is seeking a seat on the bench.
A candidate for civil court judge on Staten Island is drawing on a remarkable past that includes posing as a drug addict while working undercover for the NYPD during the height of New York City’s narcotics crisis in the 1980s.
Glenn Yost told The Post that he took part in more than 500 drug arrests during his police career, including Staten Island’s first grand jury case involving a crack cocaine sale.
“I feel like I’ve come full circle in the law — enforcing it for 20 years, teaching it, and practicing it for nearly 20 years,” said Yost, a 63-year-old Republican attorney.
Born in Brooklyn, Yost moved to Staten Island at age 11. He was raised by his single mother, who worked at Sears.
He joined the NYPD at 20 and entered the department’s narcotics unit two years later, he said.
Working under an assumed name, Yost conducted undercover operations across Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island. During one especially deep assignment, he lived in a Brooklyn apartment outfitted with a wiretap and carried counterfeit identification and credit cards.
Among his alter egos was “Vinnie,” an aspiring actor who drove a red Eldorado Cadillac and spent summers in the Hamptons — yet also visited rundown crack houses to buy heroin, cocaine and Percocet.
“Those shooting galleries, if there’s anything you can imagine close to hell, that would be it,” he said.
“It was scary because you didn’t know who was who. You didn’t know whether you were going to be robbed. It smelled horrible. People would use the bathroom wherever they wanted.”
By showing up repeatedly, Yost earned the confidence of dealers and became a familiar customer. A confidential informant also helped him establish and maintain those connections.
“I think ideally what the undercover needs to be is very clever and cunning,” Yost said.
At times, dealers held him at gunpoint and demanded that he sample the drugs as proof he was not a police officer. Yost said he developed a risky deception: he would dip his forefinger into the powder, then bring his middle finger to his mouth. The dealers, he said, “never noticed.”
When pressed to inject heroin in front of them, he said, “I just pushed them away and started yelling and screaming.”
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For added protection, he carried a .25-caliber Colt automatic pistol concealed beneath his clothing.
Yost’s performance was convincing enough that one of the suspects he eventually arrested, known as “JD Handsome,” formed a close bond with his undercover persona.
“I kind of liked him,” Yost said. “He was a good person — other than being a drug dealer … He was thinking of making me the godfather of his kid.”
Yost met JD Handsome during a failed cocaine purchase, after another dealer grabbed his $20 and ran. Handsome approached him and offered to help.
For the next six months, the pair spent long nights together as Yost continued building the case.
When Yost ultimately arrested his undercover friend and the man’s pregnant wife, who was also involved in selling cocaine, the couple were left stunned.
“If you can imagine the shock on this guy. I mean, I’m his friend,” Yost said. “He was just in complete shock [when they were arrested]. He could not get over the fact that I was a police officer.”
Yost said the most convincing part of his portrayal was his refusal to walk away when dealers turned him down.
“A heroin addict wants the heroin. If they tell you ‘no,’ you still hang around and beg until you get what you want,” he said.
After his narcotics work, Yost became a youth outreach officer and helped create the “No Staten Island Racism” program for local schools. He later attended New York Law School and retired from the NYPD at age 40.
While preparing for the bar exam, he taught criminal justice and history at St. John’s University and at St. Joseph by the Sea High School on Staten Island.
Yost believes those varied experiences have given him an understanding of people from every background.
“I bring life experience, compassion, patience, and respect to the bench,” said Yost, a married father of five. “Compassion comes from observing and being part of people’s suffering.”
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