NEW YORK CITY – New York City is no stranger to gun violence and gangs in certain neighborhoods, but now police are finding them all over the city – and gang members are getting younger and younger.
Gang membership at an all-time high
What we know:
Once upon a time, gangs in New York were mostly found in low income, high crime areas, city jails like Rikers Island and state prisons. But now gang membership in New York City is at an all-time high, according to multiple law enforcement officials, and the age of many gang members is barely in the double digits.
A chart from Vanguard Crime Strategies LLC shows the overall structure of gang life in New York City. It looks organized, but it’s complex and even chaotic, with shifting alliances and even coalitions between former rivals called “opps.”
Photo credit: Vanguard Crime Strategies LLC
In New York City, there are four main nationally affiliated gangs: the Bloods, the Crips, Folk Nation and the Trinitarios. Under them, there are hundreds of smaller groups called sets or crews. There’s no exact census on actual numbers, but law enforcement officials estimate it’s in the tens of thousands.
“You have to realize that about 65% of our shootings in New York City, historically, have a gang nexus.”
— NYPD Chief of Department John Chell
“They’re putting everything online, whether they’re rapping about their opps or whether they’re kicking over candles or whether they’re actually doing drills, they’re doing everything online, and they’re documenting and creating their own digital footprint,” said Theresa Ramos, CEO of Vanguard Crime Strategies.
‘Going to be used against you’
Dig deeper:
FOX 5 NY’s Lisa Evers had exclusive access to NYPD Gun Violence Suppression Division takedowns in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, where police and prosecutors put alleged trigger pullers in handcuffs. Police say both shooters and their victims are getting younger, and 96% are minorities.
“You have to realize that about 65% of our shootings in New York City, historically, have a gang nexus,” said NYPD Chief of Department John Chell.
Gang members’ digital boasting and posting of crimes and threats leaves a digital fingerprint and a fast track to a conviction, says prominent criminal defense attorney Arthur Aidala, who represents Sheff G.
“The pictures of you with the guns that you put on your Instagram page, well, we got that,” Aidala said. “The picture of you doing some kind of rant about something, that’s going to come in. At the very least, it’s going to be used against you.”
Hassan “Hocus 45th” Harris
What they’re saying:
Hip-hop community activist Hassan “Hocus 45th” Harris, a former gang member, ignited the internet when he started the “drop my flag challenge” to encourage young gang members to leave gangs before it’s too late. The former member of the notorious Bronx Bloods set called “Sex, Money, Murder” was acquitted in 2012 of conspiracy charges that could have kept him behind bars for life.
“Some of them might even look up to me and who I was, not understanding that I came up in an era where there were no cameras,” Harris said. “Nowadays, you go spin the block, they will rewind back to where you left your house.”
New York CityStreet SoldiersCrime and Public Safety