What you should know
- Seventeen suspected members of three rival gangs who came together to form a super gang known as YPF face a total of 118 charges.
- The alleged members were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, possession of weapons and other crimes related to shootings that resulted in 14 victims, including four who died.
- At the beginning of the investigation, the alleged gang members arrested were between 14 and 20 years old.
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NEW YORK – Seventeen suspected members of three rival gangs that came together to form a super gang known as YPF face a total of 118 charges, after being arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, possession of weapons and other crimes. related to shootings that resulted in 14 victims, including four who died.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Tuesday that those arrested face charges in connection with several incidents, including a shooting inside a warehouse on New Lots Avenue, a party in Crown Heights and an incident in MetroTech Plaza.
In the MetroTech incident, which took place in broad daylight, security cameras showed people running for their lives when shots rang out. A New York University student was shot in the arm.
The district attorney said the indictment is the result of a long-term investigation by the District Attorney’s Office of Criminal Violent Enterprises and the New York Police Department’s North Brooklyn Violent Crimes Squad into the alleged violence. committed by members and associates of three violent street gangs that formed an alliance. The gangs are FNO, PPP and YAWAH. Collectively, they became known as YPF after joining forces to increase their numbers and territory.
In addition, according to prosecutors, the alliance allowed suspected gang members to commit violence against their common enemies and maintain geographic dominance. Other benefits included access to more guns, the freedom to travel safely to his allies’ neighborhoods and the ability to go after more rivals, prosecutors said.
At the beginning of the conspiracies, the alleged gang members arrested were between 14 and 20 years old.
Mayor Eric Adams, on his fourth day as mayor, addressed the issue that made his number one campaign promise: safer neighborhoods.
New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell promised progress saying “stopping violence is the number one mission of the NYPD.”
Adams noted that in some of the district attorney’s video evidence, suspects now charged with violent crimes openly display weapons on social media like Snapchat. The mayor wants to ban these types of posts.
“The technology exists,” he said. “If a weapon is shown on the screen, we shouldn’t show that.”
Addressing the flow of weapons into the city is another priority for the district attorney. González said a suspect was armed with a revolver when police arrested him.
“Even when he was arrested he had a gun on him,” the district attorney said.
However, Adams insists that investing in education, preventing crime and gang takedowns like the one that took place can make a big difference.
“We are not going to live in a culture of violence,” he said. “It’s not who we are. We deserve better.”
Several of the defendants on Tuesday face life sentences if convicted.
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