Updated 11/04/2011 11:29 PM
NYPD Teams With FBI To Bust Harlem Gang
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
Nineteen suspects, including several teens, were arrested this week when the New York City Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation busted a Central Harlem gang, and officials said Friday that the weapons investigators recovered could have killed dozens. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.Investigators took down a violent street gang this week whose members are accused of terrorizing Central Harlem and stashing guns all over the neighborhood.
The New York City Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered about 20 guns. Officials said Friday that dozens of people could have easily been killed with just two of them: a TEC-9 and a Chinese military semiautomatic rifle.
Prosecutors indicted 19 people on charges that include attempted murder and conspiracy.
Police said the suspects belong to one of Harlem's most violent gangs, known as "One Twenty-Nine" or "Goodfellas/The New Dons."
The members are accused of using violence to defend their drug-dealing territory near West 129th Street and Lenox Avenue.
"Their territory is protected with guns that are purchased with proceeds from other crimes, such as robbery and narcotic sales," said Inspector Lori Pollock of the NYPD's Manhattan North narcotics unit.
"Guns were routinely stashed by members of this crew in mailboxes, such as the mailbox you see to my left, under stoops, in storm drains, and on rooftops, allowing gang members and anyone else who stumbled upon them easy access to the weapons," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr.
The district attorney said the gang is responsible for 16 shootings this year alone. An 18-year-old and 17-year-old were charged with attempted murder.
"That tells us a little bit about the seriousness of the issue we are dealing with. Crews are getting younger," said Vance.
Residents said that while the area around 129th Street is beautiful and tree-lined, its soundtrack is often one of gun violence.
"I hear gunshots all the time, and they tell us that it's high school kids and what not, but it's really scary," said one resident.
"There's always some shootings going on out here on this block. Always. It's nothing new. It's just that something new is that they arrested them. They got them. That's new," said another. "I feel good because they got them off the street, and they got some of these guns."
This is the second gang takedown in the area in as many weeks. Police say they're going to keep a close watch on the block to make sure a new crew doesn't move in.