Qns. DA smacks two gangs; susp in teen’s slay among 33 busts
A nearly three-year-long investigation led to a massive Queens gang indictment charging 33 defendants — including the accused killer of a basketball-loving teen and four other alleged murderers — the Queens district attorney said Tuesday.
The sweeping charges involved members of rival gangs involved in a lethal yearsold feud in southeast Queens, Queens DA Melinda Katz said in unsealing a 151-count indictment against the defendants.
Authorities recovered 34 firearms with search warrants and arrests during the probe, she added.
Amir Griffin, 14, was shot to death while shooting hoops on Oct. 26, 2019, taking a bullet to his neck on a neighborhood court. The South Jamaica youth and aspiring NBA player was working on his game when executed by a gang member in a case of mistaken identity, said Katz — with nearly two dozen local shootings ensuing.
Teen suspect Sean Brown was arrested in 2021 after a two-year manhunt and extradited to New York to face charges in the Griffin slaying, where the teen was blasted with a .38-caliber handgun.
The war pitted members of the Money World street gang against two rivals, the Local Trap Stars and Never Forget Loyalty. The deadly dispute began with a gang slashing seven months before Griffin was gunned down, escalating after his death.
A second victim, 26-year-old Sean Vance, was killed when shot eight times on New Year’s Eve 2020 while sitting inside a double-parked car, targeted by gang members who wrongly blamed him for the killing of a Money World gang member earlier in the day, officials said.
Two other innocent victims were also caught in the crossfire last year and one bullet narrowly missed a 7-year-old boy in an August 2022 shooting, said Katz.
“Whether is was a young man playing basketball with friends, a schoolteacher walking his dog or a mother running out for milk for her children, we have seen New Yorkers peacefully going about their business killed by mindless gang violence,” the prosecutor said.
The defendants were arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on a variety of charges, including murder and conspiracy, with the suspects facing a May court appearance in the investigation.
“The people of New York City are safer because of the meticulous investigation and sustained effort of the NYPD officers and Queens prosecutors involved in this important cases,” said NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
Authorities said gang violence in the Baisley Park Houses was further fueled by taunting social media postings and rap videos, with the two sides bragging about violent encounters and disrespecting deceased family and friends.
The latest incident came this past January, when a Money World associate opened fire on a Local Trap Stars member, with the targeted gang-bangers wounded along with a man shot while walking to a nearby deli in the middle of the afternoon.