‘Loot’ of all evil
Gangbangers nailed in slay plots, online brags
NINE REPUTED members of the Loot Gang — accused of terrorizing parts of Brooklyn and Queens for months and then boasting about it on social media — were indicted Tuesday on charges that could send them to prison for decades.
Among them is a 19-year-old from Brownsville who is charged with murdering an aspiring FBI agent.
The gang wreaked havoc from November 2015 to August 2016, as its members tried to take out rivals including those in the True Bosses Only (TBO) gang, authorities say.
The nine men were charged in a 69-count indictment with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, weapons possession and other charges connected to seven separate shootings.
Thirteen people were injured in the violence, including reputed TBO members and four women who were innocent bystanders.
The violence also left Terrell Henry dead. The John Jay College student was shot at a bodega at Wilson Ave. and Covert St. in Bushwick, Brooklyn, on Aug. 12, 2016.
Henry was not affiliated with any gang and wanted to be an FBI agent. Quincy (SK) Vital was charged with the 22-year-old’s murder.
“Quincy Vital is what we call the embodiment of a driver of crime,” said acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez at a Tuesday press conference.
Henry, a relative of hip-hop artist Joey Badass, was “in the wrong place at the wrong time for wearing red shorts in a rival TBO gang territory,” Gonzalez said about the shooting, which was captured on video surveillance.
Vital, who is pending arraignment in Brooklyn Supreme Court, was also charged with two other shootings.
Also captured on video was a Feb. 20, 2016 shooting in Jamaica, Queens, where Dylan (Banga) Cruz targeted alleged rival Tysheen Gott as he sat inside the Rico Chimi restaurant.
During the shooting, according to the surveillance video, Gott grabbed an innocent woman waiting to place an order and used her as a human shield.
The 33-year-old woman was shot three times.
Gott was shot five times, but did not cooperate with investigators. He sustained several lifelong injuries, including the loss of his genitals, a law enforcement official said.
Brooklyn prosecutors included Cruz’s case with their overall investigation, which covered shootings in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Fort Greene and Canarsie.
“We simply will not tolerate such lawlessness and bloodshed in our communities, which put hardworking residents at risk,” Gonzalez said.
The alleged gang members also taunted their rivals online.
Cruz, 25, allegedly bragged about shooting Gott in a rap song posted on YouTube and Sound-Cloud.
Another song, “Rockyworld,” posted by Loot Gang members, was in retailiation for the Nov. 27, 2015 shooting death of Armani (Rocky) Hankins, an associate, outside an Applebee’s restaurant on Dekalb and Flatbush Aves. in Fort Greene. “Rockyworld” received more than 500,000 hits.
Besides Vital and Cruz, the other defendants are David (Spazz) Burston, 21, Maurice (Maur) Ellis, 20, and Josiah (Siah) Morris, 19, all from Brownsville; Legrant (Brisko) Foster, 22, Terrard (Ty) Wimms, 19, and a 15-year-old juvenile, all from East New York; and Earl (Bloccz) Gilbert, 22, of Queens.
If convicted, they all face up to 25 years in prison on the top count of conspiracy, while Vital faces 25 years to life for Henry’s murder.