Court gets grim Gabay slay details
IN THE EARLY morning hours before the 2015 West Indian American Day Parade began, rival gangs turned a Brooklyn avenue into a war zone.
A two-year-old beef between the battling street crews erupted in gunfire that led to the fatal shooting of Harvard-eduated aide to Gov. Cuomo, Carey Gabay, an innocent bystander.
For the first time since the Sept. 7, 2015, shooting, a Folk Nation gang turncoat Tyshawn Crawford, 23, took the witness stand for the prosecution on Thursday to tell the story of how a feud started for a forgotten reason ended in the senseless death of a promising young man.
Hundreds of revelers like Gabay were enjoying the predawn J’Ouvert celebration prior to the parade when gang member Stanley Elianor alerted Crawford that their enemies were nearby.
“The ops (enemy) is right there. It’s about to be lit,” said Crawford during his testimony in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
Crawford, who bragged of shooting at more than 50 people in his gang career, copped a plea deal with prosecutors allowing him to testify against accused fellow gang members in exchange for 14 years in prison for his connection to the slaying of Gabay (photo).
He’ll testify against Elianor, Keith Luncheon, Micah Alleyne and Kenny Bazile who are on trial before two separate juries.
Crawford told the panel that the Crips and Folk Nation gangs got along until an unknown problem arose and the relationship “cracked” in 2013.
In the early hours before the parade, Crawford said the tension was building on the corner of Bedford Ave. and Sullivan St. in Crown Heights until shots rang out.
“I seen the shots coming, I see the flash, I hear the gunshots, my ears were ringing,” Crawford said.
Innocent bystanders like Gabay ducked for cover as bullets flew in every direction.
Crawford said Elianor was on a patio in the Ebbets Field building firing a “bigger gun.”
Elianor’s DNA was found on a Mac-10 machine gun discovered at the scene.
During the fray, 41-year-old Gabay was mortally wounded.
Crawford and the shooters fled the scene, but each were tracked down and busted over the next year.