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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, APR. 15-21, 2022 BXR
Violent street gang members who ‘terrorized’
Bronx neighborhoods locked up in massive sting
BY DEAN MOSES
Twenty alleged gang members
have been indicted and law
enforcement recovered some 18
firearms in a massive investigation
that the Bronx district attorney
announced Thursday.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel
Clark joined top police officials
to reveal the culmination
of a 10-month investigation that
resulted in the mass takedown of
alleged G-side — also known as
Drilly — gang members.
A subset of the Bloods Sex
Money Murder gang and dubbed
by police as the “worst of the
worst,” Clark believes they are
responsible for various brutal
crimes, including murder,
a slew of shootings, and stabbings.
Rounding out the number
to about 32 acts of violence over
the past three years between September
2018 to March 15, 2022.
“They terrorized the residents
of the Fordham/Bedford Park
neighborhoods who were forced
to run for their lives as the bullets
flew through the air,” Clark
said. “Six defendants, including
two who were teens at the time,
shot a 24-year-old James Rivera
multiple times and one defendant
allegedly attempted to stab him
when he fell to the ground. Rivera
died of the gunshot wound
to his back.”
Many of these alleged gang
members bragged about their
crimes over social media and
through video sharing websites
such as YouTube.
While discussing the crackdown,
Chief of Detectives James
Essig referenced the hail of bullets
that has been raining over
the city during the last several
weeks, including the deaths of a
61-year-old woman and a 12-yearold
child.
“So, and we’ve seen the consequences
of somebody firing a gun
in New York City. You know, people
live in fear right now. We’ve
had innocent children shot, injured
and killed recently. We had
a 61-year-old female who was doing
nothing but shopping in a
store, a victim of gun violence,”
Essig said.
Among the 18 guns recovered
one was a ghost gun, a firearm
that is created without serial
numbers and is exceedingly
more difficult to trace. But how
effective is a takedown like this
in curbing the violence?
According to Jason Savino,
the Commanding Officer of the
NYPD Gun Violence Suppression
Division, during peak violent periods,
such as the summer, shootings
reduce significantly after
takedowns such as these.
“So, last summer, between the
months of May and late August,
the gun violence suppression
team initiated seven takedowns
resulting in the apprehension
of over 110 subjects, tremendous
amount. When you look at those
subjects, virtually every single
one of them pulled the trigger,
quite possibly more than once.
Yes, with the effects we saw in
July and August. You asked for
the effects, we saw in July and
August the heart of the summer,
traditionally very violent
months, violence dropped. And it
was one of the few times we saw
that last year. And we attributed
it to the work embedded in those
takedowns,” Savino told am-
NewYork Metro.
With 20 individuals–including
4 adolescent offenders–and
18 guns now in police hands, Savino
has a message for other gang
members.
“To all of our gangbangers out
there: If you are the worst of the
worst, if you recklessly engage in
violence, and endanger our communities,
if you’re one of those
precious few that make daily life
of our great people uncomfortable,
dangerous, and really feel
no remorse about it. I suggest
you shake up and shape up,” Savino
said.
NYPD Chief of Detectives James W. Essig and Bronx District Attorney Darcel D.
Clark examined a gun recovered from their latest gang bust. Photo | Dean Moses
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