Bloomberg Calls Midtown Violence "Wilding"

The multiple brawls, shootings and more that spread in Midtown on Easter night into Monday morning were dubbed "wilding" by Mayor Bloomberg, "The mayhem in Midtown appears to be a bunch of gang members wilding. There’s a bunch of people that think it’s cute to go out and to run around and to cause chaos, and we loaded the area up with police, but they can’t be everywhere." Know what else some of these people may think is cute? To give the bird to a Daily News photographer after being arrested!

Bloomberg also said, "This is just a bunch of people who shouldn't be on the streets if they behave this way, and we're not going to stand for it." Four people were shot—three by guns and one by a BB gun—and suffered non-life-threatening injuries. One of the victims, Keanu Griffin, who was shot in the thigh when she was heading to a subway, said, "It came out of nowhere. I just saw people running and I got hit."

Thirty-three people were arrested for offenses like gang assault and disorderly conduct; another 23 received summonses. Police say that Easter night violence has become an unwelcome tradition of sorts, but Griffin's father said, "If it's a regular routine on Easter, they should have had enough cops up there to stop whatever it is going on...She just got hurt from going to have a good time. On 42nd St. On Easter!"

A business owner on West 40th Street told the Post, "I was shocked. I've been here 25 years and I can't believe anything like this can happen in Times Square. I don't like to use the word scared, but this is very unhealthy for the city." On the other hand, Angus McIndoe, owner of Angus McIndoe's restaurant, said, "You know it's the cost of doing business. It's not the first time there has been nutty activity in Times Square." The NY Times offered some history of Easter night violence:

Police officials say they first noticed the unruly crowds in 2003, believing it to be an outgrowth of revelers spilling out from the International Auto Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center at 11th Avenue and 34th Street. Its first weekend, and one of its busiest, typically falls at Easter.
The next year, the police added extra patrols, including antigang units, to Times Square and the area around the convention center. Arrests usually numbered in the high teens or low 20s. In 2006, a teenager was stabbed; the next year, a teenager was slashed in the arm. Last year, there were 27 arrests, the most until this year.

This year, the participants seemed to have mostly skipped the auto show. Chris Sams, a spokesman for the show who has worked there the last 12 years, said that while the police had said there were gang colors at the show in the past, that was not the case on Sunday.

“Our crowd was very family oriented,” he said. “Lots of strollers.”

The Times also noted that the violence "was enough that when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg sought a word to describe the chaos, he chose 'wilding,' a term that first became popular in 1989 in connection with the infamous Central Park jogger rape case, a time when crime in the city was at its highest." The Post says the term is "loaded" and "strikes fear into New Yorkers who remember the bad old days when packs of marauding youths roamed the streets." Bloomberg and the NYPD are dealing with a spike in crime based on numbers from 2010 relative to last year.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said yesterday, "New Yorkers are on edge, and for good reason: with shootings up 19 percent over the same time last year and murders up 22 percent, everyone should be on heightened alert. One thing is becoming increasingly clear - the city cannot withstand the draconian cuts proposed by the state to our budget. If there was ever a prime example that we need more resources to combat crime, this is it. We need Albany to do the right thing and pass a budget that won’t place New Yorkers in harm’s way. "

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on April 6, 2010 9:30 AM

Comments [rss]

xgeyiph772

Good thing the NYPD is pulling hipsters off trains at Atlantic Ave to give them tickets for putting feets on seats. Those damn hipsters scare me, unlike wilding thugs in Times Square. Good God, can we bring Giuliani back? He wouldn't put up with this shit for one second.

Guest

These kids would be a bit less gung ho about attacking people in Times Square if they thought those people were packing heat.

Snoopy

So this event has been escalating since 2003 and the police have not ramped up for it? Tell me if that isn't total mismanagement on the part of the NYPD, or just another bullshit PR tactic from the union to complain about budget cuts?

How many times have I seen a parade of police vehicles miles long with lights and sirens blaring going to a staging area and just sit? If those a holes downtown can't allocate resources from all the outer boros where the cops are cooping, for special events like this than why do they flood the streets with cops for gay pride day? How many people have been shot on gay pride day?

Automocar

Oh, lots of people. Just not by guns.

ocm123

The NYPD were as prepared as they could have been. They set up command posts and had over a hundred cops assigned to the midtown region. In fact, three of the four shootings (there was another instance in which someone fired shots but did not hit anyone) took place on blocks that had police on them.

Snoopy

There are 48 street corners between the Convention center and 42nd and Fifth. That is about 2 cops per corner, with a few left over for mid block coverage. That is not a surge or overly aggressive take on a problem that has occurred since 2003.

How many cops show up around Madison Square Garden when a big "event" is taking place?

Snoopy

You're probably right and I'm sure many have died as the result of being shot in the butt on the occasion, but it was consensual. That's where the difference lies.

aspiringrapper

It's time the eloi step up their game & take this city back from the morlocks.

theevilone

So the NYPD is a bunch of useless thugs...until we want them to take down more useless thugs. Makes sense.

Boogie Down

"Remind me again why we put up with this shit?"

When you figure this out, please let the rest of us know. It astounds me that violent thugs who are financially and intellectually incapable of taking care of themselves (and I'm not talking about any particular race of people) have it easier in this city than hardworking, middle-class folks. Destructive lifestyles are enabled and rewarded, while those often trying to do the "right thing" have it much more difficult. Seems off to me.

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

the daily news article is adding to this mythology about how nyc was controlled by gangs until Guliani arrived.

"That was in a time when crews dubbed "wolfpacks" rode in from the outer boroughs to hunt for "vics," grabbing whatever cash and jewelry they could.

"Manhattan make it and Brooklyn take it!" was a popular cry."

Come on man. yeah there was more crime, but my lil old white grandmother was riding the trains and walking the streets, and so were millions of other people. it wasnt total anarchy, at all.

I certainly dont remember people wilding on Easter. Halloween, yes, but Easter?

The politicians reveal the real meaning of this little crime spree....

"One thing is becoming increasingly clear - the city cannot withstand the draconian cuts proposed by the state to our budget. If there was ever a prime example that we need more resources to combat crime, this is it"

the police contracts are up for negoitiation. They plan to reduce the number of police and all of a sudden crime is visibly up?

Kojak

I'd link this more to the sour economy. Less jobs = more youths on the street who are up to no good, especially when a disproportionate amount of younger people are affected.

This certain helps the police department's case though for sparing them any significant cuts.

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

you're right. If I recall the crime figures from the other day it said burglary was up dramatically.

this story made national news...which I thought was a bit of an exageration, but eh.

Boogie Down

You think that four people randomly shot isn't newsworthy?

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

yesterday the wikileaks story was worthy of 'national' news coverage...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/apr/07/wikileaks-collateral-murder-iraq-video

BBC, Russian Television, and Al-Jazera(sic) covered it extensivly

All the major US new outlets 'mostly' ignored it and went with Tiger or Ipad stories. Compare 10K articles for Tiger, 700 hundred for the leaked tape. The times mentions it a bit, the washington post as well, but it was mostly ignored. For people who 'trust' drudge, it wasn't even mentioned there.

sure, TMSQ wilding is news, but its not as worthy as the more comlicated news that was out there at the same time.

Papercutninja

But they're all "good kids", "honor students" and "aspiring rappers". They also happen to ruin society as a whole. Remind me again why we put up with this shit?

I went to the car show last year, and you can tell who the "troublemakers" are because while everyone else lines up to sit inside a car, they just cut the line. Apparently being black thug means you don't have to wait in line.

Boogie Down

Oops, this didn't post as a reply, so let's try again.

"Remind me again why we put up with this shit?"

When you figure this out, please let the rest of us know. It astounds me that violent thugs who are financially and intellectually incapable of taking care of themselves (and I'm not talking about any particular race of people) have it easier in this city than hardworking, middle-class folks. Destructive lifestyles are enabled and rewarded, while those often trying to do the "right thing" have it much more difficult. Seems off to me.

Papercutninja

I've always said, it's easier to be a criminal than it is to be an upstanding citizen. It never ceases to amaze me that there are chromed out Escalades parked around the projects. Glad to see that my tax dollars are financing people's lifestyles like that.

horseplay

So you're blaming the desruction of nyc and society on young teens committing crimes? Seriously? And suppose the politicians, mayor, thug cops and geedy rich developers ect ect are just outstanding examples for society. Rite?

buttface

Time to bring back mass public executions in the town square.

Kojak

That may be a tad bit excessive. I'm a fan of corporal punishment.

Mr. Shankly

Caning then?

Kojak

Yes. I was earlier critical of Singaporean justice relating to the death penalty, but their caning rituals are great. They won't be able to sit on their asses for months without withering in pain.

Sadly, the Constitution forbids such punishment as cruel and unusual.

Phil

As Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia said about violent flash mobs in Philadelphia the other week and I paraphrase some, Parents take control of your children. Don't be showing up to court and howling, "My Baby, My Baby, My Baby," when they're taken away to jail.

Kojak

Well, 45 adults and 9 juveniles were arrested. When your over 18 your fair game.

VorneliusCanderbilt

Bloomberg really should just hold a press conference and say, "Parents, take care of your children... (long pause) ... Or we will!"

(And he has to make sure to pause for dramatic effect when he delivers that last part. He should have a look in his eye where the subtext is like, "Think I'm playin'? I ain't trippin' on this... Who wanna test me?")

horseplay

You left out the part where after he says that, a nice pretty big bullet come out of nowhere striking him in his horned head (pause).... Coming out of the other side of his horned head and striking "you" between the eyes and blowind that little pee brain out the back of your bubble

VorneliusCanderbilt

Excellent point.

horseplay

You left out the part where after he says that, a nice pretty big bullet come out of nowhere striking him in his horned head (pause).... Coming out of the other side of his horned head and striking "you" between the eyes and blowind that little pee brain out the back of your bubble