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One shooting injured a woman who was eight months pregnant and
was sitting in a parked car, police and prosecutors said.
Another sent bullets flying into a crowded basketball court,
where an onlooker was hit in the chest.
Those victims survived. But four other bystanders, aged 44 to
66, did not.
The violence “impacted the entire neighborhood — a climate of
fear among ordinary residents," Manhattan District Attorney
Alvin Bragg said at a news conference.
The 30 defendants are charged with various crimes, with some
facing murder charges. Some defendants have pleaded not guilty,
while others have yet to be arraigned.
Prosecutors say a 2018 killing touched off a chain of
retaliatory brutality among three groups, known as the 200/8
Block, the 6 Block crew and the Own Every Dollar crew, also
dubbed O.E.D.
Authorities say the groups operate in the Inwood area and
adjacent Washington Heights, the neighborhood where the Tony
Award-winning musical and movie “In The Heights” are set.
In text and social media messages, members threatened rivals and
talked up violent plans, according to the indictment. One
defendant told an ally to hang out with one of their rivals,
smoke pot with him and bring him downstairs, adding, “He gonna
get it bad. Make sure he don’t got a knife or nothing,”
Altogether, the groups are accused of 18 shootings that killed a
total of seven people.
The prosecutions are “going to have a huge impact” on safety in
the neighborhood, NYPD Deputy Chief Brian Gill said at the news
conference.
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