24 Reputed Members Of Murder Moore Gangstas Arrested
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two dozen reputed members of a Bronx gang have been arrested, accused of trafficking drugs and guns and terrorizing Mott Haven.
As 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reported, the Murda Moore Gangstas allegedly controlled the area in and around the Moore Houses development. Those arrested have been charged with racketeering, drugs and weapons offenses.
"They fought with gangs operating at the Betances Houses, the Riverpark Towers Houses, the Millbrook Housing Projects and the Highbridge Gardens Houses," James Hayes, special agent-in-charge of Homeland Security Investigations, told D'Auria. "So this was the most ruthless criminal street gang operating in the drug trade in the Bronx."
24 Reputed Members Of Murder Moore Gangstas Arrested
Hayes said the arrests, which came following a two-year multi-agency investigation, will send a message to other gangs and will keep the streets safer as law enforcement continues to gather evidence to bring down other dealers.
Twenty-one of the defendants -- including five who were already in state or federal custody on other charges -- were scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court Wednesday afternoon.
LINK: List of suspects and charges
According to the indictment, the Murda Moore Gangstas has operated since 2006 and its members were involved in street robberies, assaults and sales of crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs.
"The Mott Haven community and residents in the Moore and St. Mary Park Houses will hopefully feel safer knowing that these criminal crew members have been removed from their midst, and allow their children to play in the area that they once used as their own personal battle ground," NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a news release.
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