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Bronx district attorney charges 12 people with shootings, carjackings, armed robberies
By
Samantha Max
Published Sep 21, 2023
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Samantha Max / Gothamist
By
Samantha Max
Published Sep 21, 2023
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A dozen people, ranging from 16 to 22 years old, have been indicted in the Bronx in connection with 23 violent incidents, including shootings, carjackings and armed robberies, prosecutors said on Thursday.
NYPD Deputy Chief Jason Savino said nine of the 12 people who were indicted are accused of firing guns on two or more occasions.
“These are the shooters,” said Savino, who oversees the NYPD's Gun Violence Suppression Division.
The 110-count indictment charges alleged members of the “5zzly” crew with crimes ranging from murder and manslaughter to robbery and conspiracy for incidents that occurred between 2021 and this year. Prosecutors said the group is responsible for 10 nonfatal shootings and the killing of Ariel Santos, 32, who was caught in the crossfire during a shootout with a rival group near the intersection of 178th Street and Arthur Avenue in May 2021.
The district attorney’s office said the group stole several vehicles and also robbed people of their cellphones, sometimes at knife or gunpoint. In one case, prosecutors said, several members of the group stole an on-duty parole officer’s gun, which they allegedly used during a shootout later that day.
Bronx DA Darcel Clark said some of the defendants will be charged as adults.
Prosecutors have arrested hundreds of New Yorkers in a handful of mass takedowns in the last decade, including a 2016 federal indictment of 120 people in the Bronx that was believed to be the largest gang takedown in New York City history. A study of the 120-person indictment found that takedown swept up many individuals who were only loosely gang-affiliated.
But Clark said this investigation focused on 12 young people who are accused of serious crimes.
“It’s not like we’re going out to look for everybody, take everybody down,” Clark said at a press conference on Thursday. “We are really using precision prosecution, as well as investigations, to make sure we get the right individuals.”
Tagged
public safety
the bronx
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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