The Daily News has awful details about the Bedford-Stuyvesant home invasion-turned-sexual assault. According to the News, "When their victim, who was tied in a bedroom, refused the sexual demands, 'the defendant threatened to shoot her,' [Brooklyn ADA Wilfred] Cotto said of the youngest in the crew." And that suspect is 13-years-old. more ›

Police say they are searching for a gang of subway thieves who have struck at least three times since August—including twice at one of the busiest subway stations in Manhattan. Four of the five suspects are male, but the female suspect has the words "Hated" and "Loved" tattooed on her arm. Must be a fan of Charles Laughton? more ›

Yesterday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy asked for a preliminary injunction to bar 37 gang members from a two-mile square "safety zone" in Wyandanch. Levy said, "Gangs ... have a propensity to take over school yards and street corners. They do not own those streets, the people of the community own those streets," and the injunction would prohibit gang members from wearing "gang colors, making gang signs or even gathering on corners or in parks," Newsday reports. more ›

The little boy who was shot in the leg while walking on Astor Avenue in the Bronx on Thursday night is covering from his injuries. His mother told NBC New York, "It didn't hurt the bone or anything. He's okay now. He got six staples." But it didn't look that good when she saw his leg on Thursday. more ›

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly spoke about yesterday's Brooklyn shooting that spilled out from a East New York house party. Police said that the fight was instigated when two men bumped into each other during a "Freaky Friday" party at 325 Wyona Street. Now, the cops say the men may have been in gangs; Kelly said, "We believe there's gang involvement here -- one group called the 'Very Crispy Gangsters' who may have some involvement." more ›

Tomorrow is Easter, which means the NYPD is getting ready for a different kind of tradition: The so-called gang initiation rites. Last year, there were multiple brawls, shootings and arrests in and near Penn Station and Times Square, which was enough violence for Mayor Bloomberg to call it "wilding". Now, the Post reports, "The NYPD and Midtown merchants are bracing for another Easter Sunday (or 'Gang Initiation Day') wilding session -- with extra patrols and boosted security ready to take on marauding gangs looking to terrorize Times Square and nearby businesses" more ›

Previously, Judge Edward McLaughlin denied the Harlem Abyssinian Baptist Church's request to post the $50,000 bail for 17-year-old Afrika Owes, who has been charged with conspiracy and ferrying guns for a local gang. McLaughlin had said he needed to research the tax and non-profit issues involved in using church money to post bail, but after looking into he said there's nothing stopping the church. If they hold a corporate meeting and get a majority vote, they can post her $50,000 bail in mid-April. Perhaps he finally saw the body of Christ. 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 ›

Yesterday Harlem Rev. Calvin Butts asked his congregation to pray for Afrika Owes, the 17-year-old straight-A student who was charged with ferrying guns to Harlem gang on the instruction of her boyfriend, who is currently doing time at Rikers. "She was just led astray as so many have been," he said. "I'm asking for your prayers...save this young woman." Owes was once a part of his church's choir and youth ministry, and her mother still attends the church. Butts said, "We want to believe she was led into this. Our sense ... is that she is not a drug dealer." 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 ›

The NYPD announced that seven members of the Latin Kings were arrested for attacking three gay men. Two other suspects are still at large and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly called the incidents "cowardly and despicable.. This was not part of an initiation. This was a reaction to the fact that they had engaged in homosexual activity." more ›

In a page right out of the show "Sons of Anarchy," seventeen members of the motorcycle club The Pagans were arrested today in a plot to kill their arch-enemies, the Hells Angels. Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents arrested the members this morning at the alleged headquarters of the Long Island Pagans, the House of Tattooing in Rocky Point. They face charges of conspiracy to commit murder, assault (some using "axe handles, boots, billiard balls, and a pipe wrench"), distribution of cocaine and oxycodone, conspiracy to commit extortion and weapons charges (PDF). more ›

A 10-year-old boy was the latest victim of stray bullets from a gang shootout last night in Brooklyn. Khalil Robinson was watching TV in his first floor East New York apartment when he was struck by two bullets, once in the neck and once in the shoulder. more ›

Two teenagers were rushed to the hospital with severe slash wounds after a brawl near South Beach in Staten Island on Monday. Police have yet to make any arrests, but believe the melee could have been a hate crime, which seem to be on the rise in the borough. 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 ›

Police got a tip from a Brooklyn cab driver that the MS-13 gang may be planning an attack on the NYPD. The driver's friend allegedly over heard gang member talk about a murder contract on police in the back seat of a cab, mentioning how he would kill an officer in every command. NYPD spokesman Sgt. Kevin Hayes told the Daily News, "At this time, there's nothing to indicate there's a city-wide threat," but cops are taking the tip seriously and trying to gather intel. more ›

In the Bronx a heroic dad of two young girls was stabbed to death by a group of vicious teens Friday night, while attempting to protect the 16-year-old son of a friend. The teen had been involved in an altercation between two rival groups earlier in the day, and after night fell prowlers came back looking for him. “I’ll hang with you,” 26-year-old Orlando Salgado told the teen, according to the AP, but the thugs stabbed him twice and ran. "For saving his life, we're going to take yours now," one of the attackers allegedly told him. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] High school students in Washington Heights and Elmhurst were stabbed in unrelated incidents this morning, according to authorities. A 15-year-old is expected to survive after getting stabbed with a steak knife 16 times in his back and arm in his Upper Manhattan school, while a Queens 17-year-old was cut inside Newtown High School in a separate violent confrontation. more ›

Is Chuck E. Cheese a hotbed of criminal activity? Andrew Fine took his young daughter to their outpost in Harlem recently and did a double-take when he saw the list of rules posted at the front door. They include: No gang style apparel—including hats, buckles, bandanas, towels. And of course, "No gang-type conduct... verbal slogans or hand signs" and absolutely "no weapons, or tools whatsoever, including knives, chains, screwdrivers, glass cutters." What happened at the Harlem Chuck E. Cheese to warrant the placement of such a sign! We've contacted the company to find out if the place "where a kid can be a kid" has a problem with violence; in the past this one in Wisconsin has been called out for being a stage for adult bad behavior. more ›

Police shot an East Flatbush man four times in the legs after he lunged at them with a machete last night. Three officers encountered the 49-year-old after responding to a call from the man's daughter alerting them of an emotionally disturbed person in their East 94th Street residence, according to the Times. When the cops arrived at the door, the man approached them with the blade. After "pepper spray failed to subdue the man," an NYPD sergeant fired 13 shots, hitting him in both legs. The man, whose name has not yet been released, had no previous arrest record. In past years, machetes have been used in multiple stabbings, including several gang-related incidents in Williamsburg. more ›

City Council passed legislation creating a specific crime classification for gang initiations—but opponents say the new bill could put innocent kids behind bars and lead them toward gangs. Gotham Gazette reports that the bill establishes a misdemeanor offense for gang initiations that prosecutors can use as an additional charge against suspects. Prosecutors don't need to demonstrate that someone was hurt in an initiation to use the new law, meaning they won't need a victim's testimony to prove a crime occurred. Critics say that's a loophole that could allow police to arrest innocent people with little evidence. Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) disagrees: "You can't pull anyone off the corner with this law ... That's ridiculous." more ›

The mother of a 7-year-old who disappeared from a foster home in Brooklyn more than a week ago remains behind bars because authorities believe she knows where her son is. Staten Island resident Jennifer Rodriguez—who according to the Post was described by a social worker yesterday as a drug-addicted habitual liar—is being held on contempt charges as authorities continue to look her son, Patrick Alford, who went missing on Jan. 22. more ›

Police arrested seven members of the Latin Kings gang accused of stashing heroin and cocaine in the airbag compartments of their cars while they smuggled the drugs into Brooklyn. Before driving across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the suspects purportedly hid the narcotics in "hydraulic trapdoors that were rigged to open when the driver pushed a series of buttons on the dashboard panel in a set order," the Staten Island Advance reports. After an 18-month investigation — which involved undercover drug drug purchases and electronic and visual surveillance — prosecutors alleged that 27-year-old ringleader Jose Arroyave repeatedly sold glassine bags of heroin and $4,000 of cocaine to an informant. An additional suspect has reportedly fled to Puerto Rico. 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 ›

Street gangs used to have way cooler names — like, say, the Devil's Rebels for instance. Now there's some amazing footage that's resurfaced of the '70s Bushwick gang, originally broadcast as part of a 1976 newscast. The footage was allegedly captured using a night vision lens and concealed cameras, and Bushwick BK notes that it all goes down in the 83rd Precinct, "a battleground for the police and young street criminals, where a teenage gang roams the streets at night looking for trouble." more ›

A gunman for the Gambino family has taken the unusual and dangerous step of outing himself as homosexual, as a gambit to obtain a lower sentence for killing a Queens bagel store owner in 2003. Robert Mormando had already confessed to the murder, and his decision to out himself in court was intended to show the judge that his cooperation was riskier than most, because, as we know from The Sopranos, the mob kills gay members. In fact, the NY Times even gets the actor who played a homosexual gangster on the series to weigh in! 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 ›

That's right, bird on bird violence is happening in our own backyard: Brooklyn. WCBS reports that a man recently rescued a falcon from a troupe of pigeon bullies! While an adult peregrine falcon could have taken them all out, this one was just a baby, being chased and pecked at by the larger birds. "Morgan Pitts says the falcon was either abandoned by its mother or fell from its nest in his Greenpoint. The frightened chick is now in the care of veterinarians at The Animal Medical Center in Manhattan." One day he'll encounter those pigeons again and the tables will be turned. Until that showdown, however, check out the baby falcons that were born at three different city bridges earlier this year. 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 ›

A man accused of beating an off-duty police officer during a 2006 fight at a Bronx White Castle was acquitted of assault charges. Daryl Massey, who had pleaded not guilty, insisted he never touched officer Eric Hernandez. Hernandez, who was taunted and beaten by a gang at the fast food restaurant, had drawn a gun and did not drop it when a responding officer asked him to. The responding officer fired at Hernandez, who later died of his injuries. A jury deliberated for three days before coming to their verdict. Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said, "We are outraged and disappointed that this cowardly thug who was part of a wolf pack that attacked officer Hernandez and set into motion a chain of events that led to the officer's tragic death will not be held responsible for his crime. Everyone who participated in any part of this unwarranted and brutal attack shares the responsibility for the death of a good police officer and deserves prison time as a result." more ›