Two Rikers Island guards have pled guilty to felony assault charges for running a violent "Fight Club" like enforcement system that pitted gang members against inmates and resulted in the death of one 18-year-old prisoner. 33-year-old Michael McKie is expected to receive a two year sentence in January, while 37-year-old Khalid Nelson will receive one year. Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Hearn said in a release that the two guards "fittingly…face prison sentences themselves. As inmates, they will appreciate the importance of Corrections Officers' maintaining integrity and safety in the City jails." more ›

Yesterday, a judge sentenced three men involved in a horrific rape and robbery to over 150 years in prison. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei was so troubled by the crimes, which included the rape of three women—a woman, her 17-year-old daughter and a teenage family friend—that he said to the man who was convicted of the rapes, Glendon Jackson, "Somebody wrote a book, Dante Alighieri, where he ranked the crimes and this has to be one of the worst crimes and you have to be one of the worst offenders," and sentenced him to 260 years. more ›

Federal and local authorities have raided a Long Island apartment complex in what's being called a "major drug bust." At least 15 have been arrested—many of them suspected members of the Bloods—in Rockville Centre. more ›

It's been a busy week in court for members of the notorious La Mara Salvatrucha street gang, better known as MS-13. Member Julio Chavez is charged with killing Maurice Parker on May 18, 2007, in Flushing—and all because of a misunderstanding. Chavez mistook Parker for a member of the rival Bloods gang, because he was wearing a red sweatshirt. According to accomplice and former MS-13 gang member Jose Molina, Chavez went on a long rant in Spanish after the murder, saying amongst other things: "Yeah, homie, that's how you're supposed to do it. You see the blood coming out of his head?...The beast has eaten!" more ›

So your friend is getting sentenced in court and you want to show him support. You are a good friend! But you know what isn't ok? Showing support by threatening the family of their victim. A group of Bronx Bloods discovered this the hard way yesterday at the sentencing of Robert Denis, 18, who will be spending the next 26 years behind bars for killing Rayquon Story in 2007. more ›

A city correction officer has been suspended for 15 days and placed on modified duty with no inmate contact after she was busted bringing her cell phone to work to chat with her boyfriend—a Bloods member doing time at Rikers. Rosalyn Wilkes, 43, was charged with promoting prison contraband after taking her personal cell phone to jail, which is prohibited. She allegedly used the phone to talk to her boyfriend while she was working at the Tombs in Lower Manhattan, and even let other inmates use it to talk to him. more ›

The NJ State Police conducted its fourth survey (PDF) on gangs in the Garden State and found 45% of towns reported some gang presence. The Star-Ledger reports, "Authorities surveyed nearly all 566 municipalities, with only Elizabeth declining to participate... State Police identified 244 distinct gangs and 1,575 gangs." Here are the gangs with the widest reach: Latin Kings (106 towns); Sex Money Murder Bloods (95 towns); Nine Trey Bloods (86 towns); Pagans Motorcycle Club (79 towns); G-Shine/G.K.B Bloods (73 towns); MS-13 (67 towns); Grape St. Crips (51 towns). more ›

If you've been in Queens Supreme Court recently, you may be wondering if there's been a major migration of people from Cincinnati, judging by all the Cincinnati Reds red-and-black caps which seem to populate the building. But the Big Red Machine hasn't kicked the Mets out of Queens' heart just yet; members of the Bloods have appropriated the Cincinnati insignia to get under the skin of their rivals, the Crips, and to show solidarity with fellow soldiers on trial. "They should not be coming into this courthouse wearing their colors. This is our territory, not theirs," says Mariela Palomino Herring, the chief of the Queens district attorney's gang violence bureau. more ›

The man accused of being the personal gun shopper for members of the Bloods, ferrying guns from North Carolina to NYC, is being held on $2 million bail in a Brooklyn jail. However, Kyle Leonard, who allegedly sold two Berretta semi-automatic pistols, one Cal Taurus revolver, three more semi-automatic handguns and a Bushmaster AR15 assault rifle to an undercover in one buy, could get out for $1 million if he pays cash. more ›

This holiday season, are you dreading dealing with huge crowds and interminably long lines en route to purchasing those perfect gifts for your loved ones? Why not hire a personal shopper! You don't even need to meet in person: just send your order via text, and a certified member of the Bloods will service all your handgun needs! more ›

In 2006, a man was fatally shot and many others were injured when a sniper fired in various Queens neighborhoods over an eight hour time period. The sniper turned out to be bricklayer Matthew Colletta, who had targeted red cars and people wearing red clothing. Yesterday, Colletta was convicted of the murder of Todd Upton as well as the attempted murder of 12 other people. Upton's wife Mary said, "It's been a long four years, and we're glad justice was done. You don't hate him [Coletta]. You have to let go, but you understand that there has to be a price to be paid." more ›

The Post's rantin' Steve Cuozzo is in rare form today with his takedown of the new plaza planned for the Barclays Center/Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. Cuozzo calls the design "singularly malevolent in its ugliness," and "more conducive to hosting a Crips-Bloods scrimmage than the intended upscaling of the neighborhood." The best part? When "He Who Yells At Cloud" lays the blame for this "travesty" at the feet of the project's biggest opponent. more ›

The Bronx DA's office announced that 38 reputed Bloods gang members and associates were indicted for an array of charges including attempted murder and narcotics trafficking. And five of the defendants were involved in the stray bullet shooting of a 15-year-old girl who struck in the head while walking home from school. more ›

Eight members and associates of the Bloods have been arrested and charged with running a series of sex trafficking rings, some involving girls recruited from junior high schools. Four distinct operations around Bushwick, Brownsville and East New York were uncovered by Brooklyn prosecutors, including two run by alleged ringleader Abking Wilcox, who kept the working girls at his apartment: "He kept the girls prisoner in his house and if they didn't make the $500 minimum [a day] he beat them," one investigator told the Post. more ›

Hundreds of officers and agents from local, state, and federal agencies, led by the FBI, conducted early morning raids in Newburgh, NY today, in an attempt to address the outsized violence in the small city. The Times Herald-Record reports there were two operations: "Blood Drive" which "targeted 60 suspected members of the Bloods, including the reputed leader Anthony 'Double O' Boykins and his 18-year-old replacement, Joseph McLean" and "Black Crown," which "targeted 18 members of the Latin Kings." Federal indictments are expected later this afternoon. WABC 7 reports, "The Bloods will be brought to Lower Manhattan, and the Latin Kings will be brought to White Plains." more ›

It seems that rival drug crews are not only sharing lookouts and customers (perhaps in homage to Stringer and Prop Joe's Utopian vision of criminal enterprising)—they're sharing weapons too! Police believe that they've noticed a new trend amongst gangs in NYC, with rivals sharing guns rather than heading out of state to restock their illegal firearms. more ›

The tragic murder of 15-year-old Brandon Bethea triggered the investigation that led to a massive gang takedown in Queens. Bethea was killed by a stray bullet in 2008 in a Far Rockaway project, shot by a gang member firing into a crowd. The gunman's arrest sparked a wiretap investigation that took down 104 people identifying with "Flocc," a gang alliance between members of the Crips and the Bloods. "It was that investigation that got us up on the phones as we learned about the [gang] activity in that area," Deputy Chief Robert Boyce told the Daily News. more ›

A nearly two-year long police investigation, "Operation Under Siege," revealed over 100 suspects, dozens of guns, and piles of drugs, all in connection to a plot to assassinate cops. The team behind this plot? A strange alliance of the Bloods and the Crips, traditionally rival gangs. They allegedly set aside their differences to plan the assassinations of patrol cops in projects in the Rockaways. Police Commish Ray Kelly said one gang associate "intended to position himself on rooftops and shoot police officers who were compromising his business in Far Rockaway and South Jamaica." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg said judges need to crack down on those arrested for the Easter "Wilding" riot in Times Square. "We are not going to tolerate behavior like that, and I think -- if the district attorney really prosecutes -- that will send a message," he said on his weekly radio show. Even though 350 cops were assigned to monitor the yearly Easter Night gang initiation, four people were shot and 33 were arrested. more ›

15-year-old Leo Perez, a student at Graphics High School in midtown, was in the wrong place at the wrong time Tuesday afternoon when a gang fight broke out on at Eighth Ave. and 49th Street, conveniently located near the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square hotel. Police sources say that around 3 p.m., Isaiah Taitt, 17, of Brooklyn, a member of the Latin Kings gang, was confronted by three Crips. "They motion for him [Taitt] to take your hands out of your pockets. He takes his hands out. He has a knife. They jump him," a source tells the Daily News. Perez was one of bystanders who saw Taitt being kicked and beaten, and when he broke free from his assailants, he brutally stabbed Perez, mistaking him for one of the Crips. more ›

Cops broke up a major drug ring and arrested fifty suspected dealers operating out of a Far Rockaway housing project. After making 174 undercover purchases in six months, police raided the Hammel Houses, the Post reports. According to the Daily News, officers cuffed 45 suspects including members of the Bloods, Crips, and Money Over Bitches gangs. Police seized 41 bags of crack, 230 bags of marijuana, and smaller amounts of heroin and Oxycontin. Ten of the suspects had been arrested in a bust two years ago, and police continue to search for 13 other suspects. Queens Narcotics Capt. Thomas Marren says cops will pay close attention to the nearby Carleton Manor housing project so the dealers can't easily relocate. more ›

Recent parolee Akin Webster, 25, surrendered to police in connection with a drive-by shooting that killed a member of the Bloods gang in Arlington on Nov. 16. The suspect — who was paroled in March after serving three years for slashing a rival's face — is accused of shooting 25-year-old Kameek Sears because the victim didn't "watch out for" Webster during a recent fight in prison, the Daily News reports. Webster has also been charged with shooting and wounding Sears' friend, Donte McKee, 23. Four members of the Bloods were killed in Staten Island last month, prompting some gangsters to skip town to stay safe. more ›

A Staten Island gang war that has claimed the lives of four men so far this month has gotten so intense that members of the Bloods are apparently skipping town to stay safe. According to the Daily News, the internal squabble between Bloods members from New Brighton and those from Port Richmond and Mariners Harbor turned deadly on Nov. 7, when an argument over a girl lead to the shooting of Jermaine "Big Den" Dickerson in an Arlington housing development. more ›

Federal officials busted 53 gang members affiliated with the Bloods today in a massive bust, the Post reports. They were charged with dealing crack cocaine and heroin in the Bronx, particularly the Morrisania section near Yankee Stadium, and officials believe they "are behind at least 20 unsolved murders and more than 40 shootings over the past few years." Cops made over 30 undercover heroin purchases from the gang, which had names like "Get Money Crew" and "Bronx Gun Slingers." Thirty-seven members were arrested, 3 were already in custody, and 13 remain at large. The details of the investigation, "Operation Rotten Apple," were revealed in the indictment (PDF), and really sounds like something out of "The Wire." more ›

It's so hard to keep up with Gang Initiation Day! Is it on Easter, or around Halloween, or both... or neither. Cops are on alert again as the annual Halloween rumor settles upon us, which typically alerts the city of a Bloods-induced bloodbath that has potential new members slashing hundreds of innocent people. Of course, the NYPD notes that this is somewhat of an urban legend, and actual gang bloodshed hasn't gone down since 1995. more ›

A menacing text message saying, "Oct. 21st starts gang initiation week they are rumored to try to kill 140 Woman.PLZ FORWARD This can save our women!" frightened some northern NJ students, but police say the so-called "Red October" gang initiation rites are an "urban legend." Newark police director Gerry McCarthy said, "Every Halloween, people were talking about gang initiation, but there is not a shred of evidence to prove that it's true." In NYC, gang initiation day is allegedly April 12. more ›

Yesterday, the funeral of 13-year-old Kevin Miller was held in a Jamaica church, a week after he was hit by a stray bullet from gang gunfire. Queens DA Richard Brown also announced that a second suspected Crips gang member was arrested for Miller's murder, "This case is another example of the mindless gun-related violence and street gang mentality that turns our streets into battlefields and too often takes innocent lives and recklessly endangers public safety." more ›

Friday morning a Port Authority cop faced off against a group of nine gang members aboard the PATH and took them all down without having to step off the train. Officer John Roche was fetched down while aboard a PATH train in Jersey City by 37-year-old Shine-Amon Sky around 6 a.m. Friday. Sky had woken up after dozing off during his morning commute to find one of the young Bloods nearby had stolen his cigarettes. The large group of teens and young adults then pounced on Sky when he confronted them about it. When Officer Roche tracked down the gang and saw how poorly his odds looked against so many of them, he ordered the train conductor to lock down the train just past the Grove Street stop as he waited for backup. Once his fellow officers arrived, they were able to round up all nine of the Newark gangbangers, who were charged with everything from riot and disorderly conduct to recruitment of a street gang. Two of the female teenagers were also hit with making terrorist threat when they said that they would kill Roche as he apprehended them. more ›

The funeral of a gang member has police on "high alert" today, according to Newsday. Melissa Williams, 28, was fatally shot last month in the Rockaways: "Williams was an associate of GIB, Get It In Bricks - a reference to bricks of cocaine - police sources said. The man charged in her shooting, Nigel Vasser, also 28, is a Bloods member with a sect known as HRG Blood, for Hood Related Gangster." The two gangs have been at fighting for a few years now and, based on "prisoner debriefings" and informants' news, the NYPD will have a number of units (including the Gang Division) present at the viewing at a Rockaways Church. Further, Newsday reports, "The NYPD is so worried it even notified New Jersey State Police because Williams will be buried in Morganville, N.J., at the Forest Green Park Cemetery, and it is not unusual for rival gangs to confront each other graveside." more ›

Surveillance video obtained by the Post depicts the early Sunday morning shooting of a teenage Harlem father who died on the very streets he struggled and failed to escape. Police say 17-year-old Cory Squire, the father of a 3-year-old boy, died after being shot once in the head from behind on West 141st Street around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. His distraught 18-year-old girlfriend tells the tabloid that Squire had tried to sever ties with the Bloods after their son was born, and even "joined the Job Corps and was training to be an electrician, but he always knew the only way he could get out of that gang was the way he got out." more ›