The colorful bottles have popped up every summer in black and Hispanic communities — from the bodegas of Washington Heights to the stoops of Fort Greene — since the early 1990s. On beach boardwalks, at neighborhood basketball courts and block parties, New Yorkers are drinking nutcrackers, boozy homespun cocktails made from a blend of alcohol and fruit juices .

But t his year, the New York Police Department is cracking down on the illegal drinks and the vendors who sell them, vendors and customers said .

“In nine years this is the worst summer I’ve ever had,” said Dee, 40, a nutcracker seller from Brooklyn who requested her last name be withheld.

Police Commissioner James O’Neill said at a late July news conference that recent arrests of nutcracker vendors were routine law enforcement. “There is no alcohol in public parks. Do we do enforcement? Yes, we do enforcement. But I wouldn’t call it a blitz,” he said.