Posted on: December 06, 2024 06:57 PM

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Eleven reputed gang members charged with conspiracy to commit murder attempted murder attempted assault reckless engagement and gun possession in Queens

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that a three-and-a-half-year investigation into gang violence in Southeast Queens led to the indictment of 11 alleged members of “Whole Blocc Boys” and “Score On Anything” – two subsets of the “8 Trey Movin Crips” street gang. The defendants are variously charged with conspiracy, attempted murder, attempted assault, reckless endangerment and gun possession in connection with nine shooting incidents dating back between March 2021 and December 2022. The defendants are accused of causing indiscriminate violence for the simple mission of protecting their home territory from perceived enemies. Five victims have been identified as part of this investigation, one of whom is paralyzed from the waist down.

District Attorney Katz said: “The defendants are accused of causing frenzied violence in their own communities by trying to kill their gang rivals as part of an ongoing turf war. Violent gang activity places countless lives in danger and we cannot and will not surrender our streets to reckless gang warfare. Seven of the defendants including two alleged ringleaders stand accused of conspiracy in the first degree, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. I commend my Violent Criminal Enterprise Bureau and the NYPD’s Gun Violence Suppression Division for helping to bring these individuals to justice, and I thank them for their unwavering dedication to public safety.”

Five defendants were apprehended and arraigned Tuesday on a 57-count indictment charging them variously with conspiracy in the first degree, attempted murder in the second degree, attempted assault in the first degree, reckless endangerment in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Bruna DiBiase remanded the defendants and ordered them to return to court in December and January (see addendum). If convicted of the top count, three of the defendants face a potential maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and two of the defendants face a potential maximum of life in prison.

One co-defendant was arrested Tuesday while bedside at a hospital due to an unrelated incident. His arraignment is pending.

Three co-defendants are currently in the custody on other matters and will be arraigned at a later date. Two additional co-defendants remain at large.

An additional defendant was separately charged as part of the investigation and subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the second degree, assault in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. He was sentenced to eight years in prison on July 25, 2024.

On May 22, 2021, at approximately 8:30 p.m., SOA members were walking in the vicinity of Sutphin Boulevard and 112th Street. At approximately the same time, a Hyundai Accent turned onto 112th Street and parked. An occupant, a member of the rival “Dream Team,” exited the vehicle and fired several shots in the direction of the SOA members, causing them to flee. Minutes later, surveillance footage showed an SOA member walking toward the vehicle and firing several times at the Hyundai as it drove away. The car hit several other vehicles stopped at a stop sign on 148th Street and eventually rammed into a parked car at the corner of Linden Boulevard, causing all occupants to flee the location on foot.

The investigation later determined that the May incident was an act of retaliation for an earlier altercation which took place inside Roy Wilkins Park, where SOA members committed a gun-point robbery of members of the “Dream Team.”

In another incident, on June 27, 2021, at approximately 2:40 p.m., several purported WBB gang members were inside the Daniel M. O’Connell playground when they were approached by a “Dream Team” rival gang member who took out a gun and opened fire. Several children and families were present inside. WBB members returned fire, recklessly shooting at their enemies, before running away from the park.

On September 14, 2022, at approximately 8:40 p.m., police responded to a report of shots fired in the vicinity of Sutphin Boulevard and 123rd Avenue, a block away from a playground and elementary school. Upon arrival, officers discovered five 9 mm caliber shell casings and later found a gunshot victim with injuries to his leg inside a residential hallway two blocks away from the shooting scene. The investigation later determined that the victim – a purported “Money World” gang rival – was shot by an SOA member driving on the block, as he walked home from a bodega.

Eleven guns were seized in the course of the investigation.

From Queens DA