United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BRONX, NY - Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark, U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt and New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton today announced the indictment of 84 alleged gang members connected to 22 shootings in the west Bronx and who flooded towns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire with cocaine, fentanyl and heroin.

District Attorney Clark said, “With reckless brutality, these four gangs battled on the streets of the Bronx over drug profits made in New England, or purely for the sake of violence, sometimes trapping innocent bystanders in the crossfire. One defendant alone is being charged in connection with 11 attempted murders. These gangs trafficked narcotics to Manchester and Massachusetts and brought firearms back here. Their greed was matched only by their ferocity.”

DEA Special Agent in Charge Hunt said, “Inundated with gun toting drug crews, the west Bronx was the starting point of a drug pipeline to cities as far north as Manchester, New Hampshire.  The ‘Eden Boys’, ‘Miami Ave’, ‘UGZ’ and ‘RGZ’ gangs allegedly fed drug addiction throughout the Northeast via sales of crack cocaine, heroin and fentanyl.  I commend the men and women from the DEA Strike Force, NYPD and the Bronx District Attorney's Office for their diligent work throughout this investigation." 

Commissioner Bratton said, “These 84 gang members are facing a slew of charges that include 22 shootings -whose carnage wreaked havoc on the neighborhoods of Tremont, Fordham and High Bridge. Beyond their heinous indifference for the residents of the Bronx, they also went to great lengths to push their narcotics poison outside of New York, preying on countless addicted users in my home state of Massachusetts and as far north as New Hampshire. I want to thank the many men and women who meticulously put the pieces of this puzzle together and who went in harm’s way to upend it and who have ensured justice is served to the many victims permanently affected by the violence carried out by this crew.”

The defendants are charged with a total of 386 counts including conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, attempted murder and weapons charges. Fifty-eight of them are charged as Major Traffickers, which carries up to life in prison if convicted.

Thirty-one defendants were arrested yesterday, March 9, 2016, by members of the DEA Strike Force and NYPD officers.  Defendants were arraigned yesterday or are awaiting arraignment today before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Stephen Barrett.

Thirty-five defendants are already incarcerated on related charges. And 18 are still being sought.

District Attorney Clark said that, in November 2014, police in the 44th Precinct began working with the Bronx District Attorney’s Office to investigate street crews based in the 44th and 46th precincts who were responsible for shootings. In February 2015, the DEA Strike Force entered the investigation and intelligence indicated that crew members had been frequenting Bourne and Wareham, Massachusetts possibly for the purpose of selling narcotics.
      
In May 2015, it was determined that the crew had been transporting heroin and cocaine from the Bronx for sale in the area from 2012 until late 2014.  Thirteen members were identified and charged with Operating as Major Traffickers.

The investigation continued and found that crew members had also been transporting crack cocaine and to a lesser extent, heroin, to Manchester, New Hampshire.
 
The investigation found crack cocaine was being transported from the Bronx to Manchester by crew members and firearms were being brought to the Bronx from Manchester.  The defendants were selling $10,000 worth of crack a week, for quadruple the street price in the Bronx.
 
Sources of supply were identified, leading to a high level organization supplying multiple kilos per week throughout the Bronx.  This group originated in the 46th precinct but had expanded throughout Manhattan and Bergen County, N.J. 

Search warrants of the suppliers yielded nine kilograms of cocaine, four kilograms of heroin, two kilograms of (the dangerous synthetic opiate), one half kilogram of heroin enhanced with Fentanyl, twelve pounds of cutting agents and manufacturing equipment.  About $260,000 in cash, seven vehicles and 889 grams of crack cocaine also were seized.
         
Fifteen firearms have been recovered, as well as large capacity feeding devices and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. 

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Terry Gensler of Gang Prosecution/Major Case Bureau, under the supervision of Edward Talty, Chief of Gang Prosecution/Major Case Bureau.

The DEA’s New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force comprises agents and officers of the DEA, the New York City Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement,  Homeland Security (HSI), the New York State Police, the U. S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshal Service, New York National Guard, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office, the Clarkstown Police Department, Port Washington Police Department and New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The DEA Strike Force is partially funded by the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking (HIDTA), which is a federally funded crime fighting initiative.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and is not proof of a defendant’s guilt.