The Bronx District Attorney calls it "an alliance of evil" — four local gangs that sold drugs in New England used the money to bring guns back to the Bronx. One defendant was charged with 11 attempted murders. Our Criminal Justice reporter Dean Meminger has the story.
Money, guns and drugs; this is not a rap song or a Hollywood movie, but the real deal on the streets of the Bronx.
"Smaller crews seemed to be joining forces in the name of illegal profit and increasing violence," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said at a press conference.
84 people have been indicted in what officials are calling the largest gang take-down in Bronx history. The charges include attempted murder, as well as running guns and drugs between the city and points north and east.
"Carved a path of destruction from the West Bronx to New England, selling drugs up North for quadruple their street price here, and returning to the Bronx with firearms purchased up there," Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said.
Those busted are from four gangs: the Miami Ave gang from Macombs Road, the Eden Boys from the Mount Eden area, and the UGZ and RGZ gangs.
They're accused of selling cocaine and heroin in Manchester, New Hampshire and communities in Massachusetts.
At times, they would trade the drugs for guns and ammunition — weapons they would use to settle beefs with crews in the Bronx. Authorities believe the group is responsible for 22 shootings, including several attempted murders.
"Beyond their indifference for the residents of the Bronx, they also went to great lengths, as the [Bronx] DA referenced, to push their narcotics poison outside of New York, preying on countless addicted users," Bratton said.
Police said they recovered 15 guns, hundreds of bullets, more than $250,000 in cash from the gangs, and at least 16 kilograms of cocaine, crack, heroin and fentanyl, a synthetic opiate.
"Fentanyl is 70 percent more powerful than heroin," said Keith Kruskall of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "If you ingest it, you're basically playing Russian Roulette; you could instantly die."
58 of the defendants were charged as major traffickers, meaning they could face life behind bars.
Law enforcement officials said this case is not over. They are continuing to investigate how the gangs got all of those drugs, and who gave them the guns in New Hampshire.