Monday, November 29, 2010

NYPD busts gang 3 blocks from precinct

From the Times Newsweekly:

Twenty teenagers were recently collared by officers from the 104th Precinct who put a stop to an alleged gang initiation inside Joseph Mafera Park in Ridgewood, it was reported.

Law enforcement sources said the suspects—ranging between 13 and 19 years of age—were taken into custody by members of the 104th Precinct Conditions Unit for illegally gathering inside the park located at the corner of 65th Street and 68th Avenue at 7:25 p.m. on the night of Saturday, Nov. 6.

Upon further investigation, police sources stated, the individuals appeared to be taking part in a Latin King initiation ceremony.

The 20 teenagers—all residents of Brooklyn and Queens—were formally charged with unlawful assembly. One of the 14-year-old suspects was additionally booked on criminal possession of a weapon charges.


See post from August 26.

31 comments:

Joe said...

Mafera Park ?
What that about ? Its called (or was called Farmers Oval) and there have been gangs and "hangouts" there for ever especially behind the bleachers during summer.
I was in the 60th lane Greenhouse gang.

-Joe

Anonymous said...

What is the significance of the gang hanging out 3 blocks from the precinct. Is there a "safe radius" that is supposed to exist just because a precinct is nearby? Is the precinct supposed to generate a shield generator that guarantees no gangs within their immediate area? Is it more understandable if they were hanging out 4 or 5 blocks from the precinct?

Anonymous said...

It's significant because up until a few months ago, the 104 Pct was denying there were gangs within its confines.

Deke DaSilva said...

Imagine that - if the police actually go out and walk a couple blocks from the precinct, they might actually discover some interesting things in the neighborhood!

Coppers - There's more to your neighborhood than Dunkin' Donuts and bad diners!

Anonymous said...

No word on the Albanian gangs that hand out in there?

Guess they know how to keep a lower profile, unlike the Hispanics (who don't know much of anything).

Anonymous said...

AMOR

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Joe said...

104 is where the cops spend the last couple years before retirement. Its been that way FOREVER.
They do have lots of rookies in cars, but rarely do they make any arrests.

Back in 1985 I chased this mugger many blocks south to Cypress ave and ended up tackling him and got the purse back. After perhaps a minute of rolling on the ground he then got hit by a car trying to run away again.
After about a 1/2 hour this older big cheese Sargent from the 104 showed and starts screaming at me bitching how much investigating and stuff he had to be done, writing pages of report, what a trauma it caused for the person driving the car.
Then the cherry on the cake:
"all this for a purse with $20 in cash" "you should have minded your own GD business its our job to catch the bad guys"
The guy died the crooks mother tried to sue me when she couldn't get more then $5000 from the drivers ins company..It didn't happen since I was only 21-22 and had no money or bank account

Anonymous said...

104 is where the cops spend the last couple years before retirement. Its been that way FOREVER.
They do have lots of rookies in cars, but rarely do they make any arrests.
-----------------------------------
Where are you getting your information from? This just isn't true. Maybe years ago, cops came from other precincts to "retire" there. But the fact is that NO precinct in the city is any bargain anymore. Even if it is a nicer neighborhood, the building is usually just as run down, and the same bullshit trickles down from police headquarters to every precinct in the city.
Most cops go to special details with overtime in their last few years, and precincts just don't have any overtime.
As far as rookies making arrests, trust me, they are HOUNDED by the bosses to write summonses and make arrests. They might not be the arrests you want to see being made, but trust me again, the rookies are throwing handcuffs on people.

Anonymous said...

It's significant because up until a few months ago, the 104 Pct was denying there were gangs within its confines.
----------------------------------
Exactly where and when was this ridiculous claim made?

Anonymous said...

Coppers - There's more to your neighborhood than Dunkin' Donuts and bad diners!
----------------------------------
Actually, I usually see more traffic agents and correction officers in Dunkin Donuts than cops. I also see a hell of alot more laborers and people in hospital scrubs there than cops.

Anonymous said...

Unlawful assembly?
So basically they weren't doing anything wrong besides being in a group of 20 people. I guess if they were playing a baseball game they could be charged with the same crime, and the person with the bat could be charged with the weapon. Sounds like kids hanging out, like many of us did growing up in our own neighborhoods throughout the city.

Anonymous said...

I don't know what anyone means by gangs being in the 104th pct. because they assured me there were no gangs in their pct.!

Anonymous said...

I don't understand what is unlawful about 20 youths assembling in a park at 7:30 on a Saturday night.

Anonymous said...

I believe that Parks closed at sundown. They must have gone around the tracks to an entry. That gang also tags the trains with spray cans. The tracks conrail and LIRR were always a passage way for gangs from Brooklyn, Rust street and points east.
The cops don't see them nor look since it not their Jurisdiction .
To add LIRR and Conrail cops don't give a shit.
Just like INS when the city cops bust the Conrail cops say "let em go" unless they killed somebody.

Anonymous said...

The nearer to a precincts the better it is to run a crime everyone knows it's best to run a criminal enterprise under their noses as they will rarely be discovered or in fact gain a couple cop customers to hook into! Now that's the real OT , right?

Anonymous said...

I think it is ridiculous to arrest teens in a public park at 7:30 PM on a Saturday night because that is past sundown this time of year.

The "appearance" of an initiation ceremony sounds suspect, the "weapon" the 14 year old had is not described further...sounds more likely someone didn't like these kids for their race or something.

Anonymous said...

DI Green assured a civic group several months back that there was absolutely NO GANGS in the 104th. He's in denial because he wears blinders!!!!!

Anonymous said...

A baseball game would have required a permit!
20 teens in a group is never a good thing, I'm glad the cops got them for something and I wish they would do it more often. Maybe then the parents would be forced to get more involved in these kids lives. And if not these kids should be taken away from these parents and put onto homes where they can be taught right from wrong.
I'm sick and tired of replacing my windows that are getting scratched up with gang tags. Even with my web cam catching a kid doing it I was told it wasn't enough.

Joe said...

Where the F_ have people like Anon been, living in the 1964 World Fair underground home the past years ?
"THESE KIDS PARENTS" What parents ?

Most these kids are jackpot baby's having only one mother and several siblings by different fathers.
They are put on the street age 13, females get knocked up, boys get into gang's graffiti, drugs.

The then cycle repeats itself like in these animals home country's. All curtsey of mayor shitheads sanctuary city policy and "come and get it" handouts.
Welcome to Queens 2010 "Planet of The Apes" Part IV The New Amerika

-Joe

Queens Crapper said...

"Kids hanging out in the park" is not the same as a gang initiation. Someone needs to pull their head out of their ass.

Anonymous said...

So, Mr. head out of his ass, what exactly was this supposed gang initiation that they "appeared" to be taking part in? Right now it's just a vague reference to make the police story sound better. If they said it, then it MUST be true.

Queens Crapper said...

It really doesn't make sense for the police to be making this up, since all along they've been saying there was no gang activity within the precinct.

Anonymous said...

I know those kids that finally got arrested. Every single time me and my guys from church go to football there they come with bats trying to hassle us.

To all those ignorant people who said that these are just innocent kids hanging out and probably they got singled out because of their race... that is beyond idiotic.

That neighborhood is not rich white people, its a mix of everything and hispanics, blacks, asians, europeans, pretty much everyone hangs out in that park and the cops do not bother them.

These guys have been terrorizing anyone who goes to that park for the last two months. We stopped going there because we were tired of it all. Im glad they thought these criminals and at least one park in Ridgewood can be considered safer. Cleveland and 93 are a freaking warzone with all the kings, bloods and patria running around.

Anonymous said...

i meant to say im glad they finally caught these guys. I was running on a point, didnt really check the grammar till later.

Anonymous said...

Whats with all the second guessing? All people do on here is complain that the police do nothing and yet when they do all people want to do is criticize what they did and doubt it. The newsapaper isnt going to give you a play by play of what happened and describe in detail what the gang initiation was. Trust me we ,the police who you trash without hesitation, are out there on a nightly basis and we know what these gang activities look like so these "good kids" werent just standing there chatting it up. while your at it look up unlawful assembly in the NY penal law and get back to me. As far as the guy that loves to live in the past and say the 104 is a retirement home, get a grip there are probably 4 guys in that whole house close to retirement. Its a wonder anyone would want to do this job, since it appears that when you are wrong you get trashed and rightfully so but even when you do the right thing and make steps forward you still get trashed. Sad part is that no matter how much people trash us we will still come out and bust our behinds for you everyday. What a City.

Queens Crapper said...

"Sad part is that no matter how much people trash us we will still come out and bust our behinds for you everyday."

Problem with the 104 is that they don't come out at all. The rare occasions when they do, they try to convince you why you shouldn't file a report.

Anonymous said...

@ queens crapper you shouldnt have to be so political when it comes to this cop.

To the cop:

I appreciate this bust that you guys personally and ill be the first to say job well done ( i was the poster who spoke about the us church guys going to play football at night time). That being said, please dont play the innocent card that the 104 tries its hardest and we still get bashed by everyone cause even you know thats crap.

majority of the time all i see is the 104 cops in ridgewood strolling around fishing for something instead of being on call like they're supposed too. Too many things happen in the Ridgewood parks at night time that dont get accounted for. 93 reminds me of Knickerbocker park now where i used to play. It seems like everyday its another gang fight or stabbing there and nothing is said about it. Cleveland is no better, though its been calmer lately.

To the cops in general but especially the 104, we appreciate what you do and we dont take it for granted that you are risking your lives everyday being a cop, but there are things about cops, that make people scratch their heads as to why they do what they do and if we dont feel protected as citizens then we have a right to complain...

Anonymous said...

It's significant because up until a few months ago, the 104 Pct was denying there were gangs within its confines.
----------------------------------
Exactly where and when was this ridiculous claim made?

__________________________________
I ask at practically every community meeting I attend, and I suspect the person who wrote the original comment is at those meetings as well. I have always been told there is NO GANG RELATED ACTIVITY in the confines of the 104 other than what went down last year on Himrod Street. Maybe they can't tell us because they're investigating BUT I WANT TO KNOW so I could 1 -take measures to protect myself and 2 start thinking about selling my home. Once the gangs arrive it becomes no man's land.

Anonymous said...

At the last poster, thats probably the reason why they say that. They dont want people to leave the neighborhood even if they know what they say is not true. But gangs have always been a part of Ridgewood. Glendale has been recent, but Ridgewood since the 70s has had its issues and in the 90s was at its worse. I fear its regressing to its old ways again though, this team instead of the mafiosos with the Spanish gangs...

Anonymous said...

Man when I was living in ridgewood all we had was our block! Woodbine n Woodward.n we ran 93 park and Madison park by freshoond! My block was so wild we give it to any gang blood,king,beta who ever! Even other blocks got it messing with woodbine n Woodward! But then we got older every one moved out da block on our grown man isn't now these lil fake gang banging wanna b thugs every where! I go to 93 park they look at me like I'm new lol meng I've been in 93 since 1992.I grew up on woodbine n Woodward 1858! But I still love ridgewood!

Big X said...

I used to play basketball a lot in 93 Park from 1992-1997. I also occasionally played at Farmer's Oval and Cleveland.

They had gangs in Ridgewood and Grover Cleveland back then, but it wasn't so bad. There seemed to be more beatings over turf and ethnicity than about killing people over drugs (although that DID happen occasionally here and there). The previous generations were more about the adolescent hooliganism and petty crime of classic street gangs. Now you're seeing more hardcore prison gangs seeking to expand criminal enterprise and an uptick in shootings.

Another poster mentioned that there have always historically been gangs in Ridgewood for many years, and they're correct in stating that. That applies more to what I refer to "Lower Ridgewood" which I would say is closer to Bushwick/Wyckoff Heights/Seneca Ave than Fresh Pond. In the 1960's Ridgewood had the Saints and the 1970's the Bushwick/Ridgewood border had the Devil's Rebels. I am only 39, so maybe someone my age or older can fill me in more on the Ridgewood gangs of the 1970's and 1980's. There must have been some German gangs in Ridgewood somewhere along the line.