BOSTON — A 67-year-old Brighton man allegedly ran a citywide crack cocaine supply line out of a locked bedroom closet — and Boston police say it took months of surveillance, a gas-station takedown, and a single set of keys to bring it down.

Investigators had pegged Wilkerson as a primary supplier moving crack across multiple Boston neighborhoods, BPD said. They watched him for months. They built probable cause. Then they made their move.

The takedown went down at the gas station at the corner of Quincy Street and Blue Hill Avenue. Officers tailed Wilkerson out of a Dorchester residence, watched him drive over, and stopped him without incident. They searched his person and turned up cash and a set of house keys — keys that would later unlock the alleged centerpiece of the operation.

A search of his vehicle yielded 1.8 grams of crack tucked into the dashboard center console, drug packaging materials consistent with distribution, and an undisclosed amount of cash recovered from a hidden compartment built into the rear seat, BPD said.

Officers then returned to the Dorchester residence and secured it pending another warrant. That search yielded more drug packaging and a small quantity of crack.

The keys from Wilkerson's pocket pointed them somewhere else: a Brighton apartment.

Later that evening, officers executed the warrant at the Brighton location and walked into what BPD called the most significant seizure of the entire investigation. From a locked bedroom closet: approximately 644 grams of crack cocaine. From the kitchen: multiple scales and drug packaging materials. Pyrex containers, baking soda, paraphernalia coated in residue — the working setup for cooking powder into crack.

In total, BPD seized more than 644 grams of crack and an undisclosed amount of cash. Wilkerson's vehicle was also seized.

Wilkerson is charged with trafficking in a Class B controlled substance over 200 grams and possession with intent to distribute a Class B controlled substance. He is set to be arraigned at Roxbury District Court.