The NYPD made five arrests in last week's assault on two police officers in Times Square — allegedly at the hands of a migrant youth gang, called Los Diablos 42.
What You Need To Know
- Police arrested five members of a migrant youth gang called Los Diablos 42, who allegedly were involved in an assault against cops in Times Square
- The NYPD is looking for three more suspects in the attack
- The NYPD commissioner said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were waiting at a precinct for one of the suspects, but police declined to turn him over
The gang is a "farm team" for Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that now operates in the city, according to a police official at the news conference.
The latest arrests: five suspected members accused of assaulting two cops in Times Square Friday night.
To the mayor and his police commissioner, it’s a consequence of progressive criminal justice reforms.
"Whose side are you on?" Mayor Eric Adams asked.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch implored city lawmakers to keep the department's gang database that helped identify suspects in the Times Square assault.
"It absolutely defies common sense that our City Council is looking to abolish this database," she said. "We need our City Council to stop legislating against our cops and to start legislating for public safety."
City Council spokesman Rendy Desamours responded in a statement, "It's unfortunate we have leadership in the mayor’s office and administration that would rather make baseless accusations instead of focusing on partnership to improve our collective safety."
The NYPD wants to make more arrests of the gang members involved in the Times Square assault, releasing photos of three more individuals.
The assault started when the officers tried to bust an attempted "wolf pack style robbery," as the police commissioner called it.
"Instead they were ambushed, pelted with scooters, basketballs and other makeshift weapons," Tisch said. "This was a targeted attack, planned deliberate and carried out with intent."
The two police officers are OK.
Tisch said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had been waiting at a precinct for an arrested suspect. She said NYPD officers followed protocol, declined to turn the suspect over to federal immigration agents. She said the department and is looking into how ICE got word of someone in police custody.
The five arrests are just a fraction of the 240 arrests made against the 37 people the NYPD have identified in the gang or who had been arrested alongside members, according to Jason Savino, NYPD's assistant chief of the detectives bureau.