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32 Defendants, Including Reputed Members of ‘Gates Avenue Mafia,’ Charged With Conspiracy Following Complaints of Violence, Drugs

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 13, 2014

 

32 Defendants, Including Reputed Members of ‘Gates Avenue Mafia,’ Charged With Conspiracy Following Complaints of Violence, Drugs

Hundreds of Neighborhood Residents Outraged in Wake of Shooting
That Left 11-Year-Old Bedford-Stuyvesant Girl Paralyzed;
Twenty-Nine Guns, Plus Quantities of Drugs, Recovered During Course of Investigation, And Execution of Arrest and Search Warrants

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, today announced that 32 defendants, including 12 reputed members of the ‘Gates Avenue Mafia,’ have been variously charged in three separate indictments with conspiracy to sell firearms, heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine in and around Gates Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant and in upstate Gloversville, New York, and with the attempted murder of an upstate man.

District Attorney Thompson said, “There is absolutely no reason why an innocent 11-year-old girl should be caught in a hail of bullets while sitting outside with her family on a spring evening and is now paralyzed. We must reclaim streets such as Gates Avenue that are too often plagued by gang violence and blatant drug dealing, and these arrests will help us do so.”

Commissioner Bratton said, “The New York City Police Department, along with our partners from the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, will remain vigilant in our efforts in keeping Brooklyn safe and will not tolerate children being shot on our streets. Thanks to the investigators and prosecutors assigned to this case, these criminals who conspired to traffic firearms and deal narcotics will be held accountable for their reckless actions.”

The investigation, which included undercover purchases and electronic surveillance, began last September following community complaints about narcotics trafficking and violence in and around Gates Avenue and other areas within the 79th and 81st precincts located in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the wake of the shooting of Taylonni Mazyck, 11, on May 31, 2013. Tayloni was sitting in front of her building at 600 Gates Avenue, with her mother and cousins, when she was struck by one of 10 bullets allegedly fired by Kane Cooper in the direction of several alleged members of the ‘Gates Avenue Mafia’ who were hanging out halfway down the block in front of 590 Gates Avenue. Cooper is charged with attempted murder and his case is pending.

The District Attorney said that, according to the indictments, the 32 defendants are variously charged with conspiracy to sell crack cocaine, cocaine, heroin and firearms in Brooklyn and with conspiracy to sell cocaine in upstate Gloversville, New York, where it sold for a greater profit. Alleged GAM member Rasheen Behlin is also charged in an indictment with second-degree attempted murder for beating and nearly shooting to death a Gloversville man last April. All but seven of the defendants were arrested yesterday. Eleven of the defendants were arraigned yesterday in Brooklyn Supreme Court. The rest of the defendants are expected to be arraigned today. Detectives recovered 29 guns, quantities of narcotics and $24,000 cash during the course of the investigation and during the execution of arrest and search warrants.

The District Attorney said that in addition to selling narcotics and weapons on the streets of Brooklyn, eight reputed members of the ‘Gates Avenue Mafia,’ allegedly ran a crack operation in Gloversville, near Albany, in Fulton County. The defendants would allegedly take the drugs from Brooklyn to Gloversville by Greyhound bus twice a month, according to the investigation, where they would sell an 8-ball (eighth of an ounce, 3.5 grams of cocaine) for $200. They allegedly sold the same amount for $150 in Brooklyn.

The District Attorney further said that, according to the investigation, on April 29, 2014, in Gloversville, defendant Rasheen Behlin and two other men burst into the apartment of one of their customers and duct-taped two men. They allegedly pistol-whipped the men and beat them with hammers – breaking their knees and ankles – and then shot one of the victims in the face through a couch cushion. In an April 30, 2014, raid, Gloversville police recovered 100 grams of cocaine (worth about $5,700). Gang members allegedly brought the cocaine with them from Brooklyn.

The defendants are variously charged in three separate indictments with second-, fourth- and fifth-degree conspiracy, first-, second- and third-degree sale of a controlled substance, second-, third- and seventh-degree possession of a controlled substance, second- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree criminal sale of a firearm, criminal possession of a firearm, second-degree attempted murder, second-degree assault, first-, second- and third-degree burglary, first-, second- and third-degree robbery.

The investigation was conducted by Detectives Daniel Grandstaff and Daniel Nicoletti of the New York City Police Department’s Brooklyn North Gang Squad under the supervision of Sergeant Joseph Cruzado, Captain Stephen Espinoza, Deputy Chief Kevin Catalina, commanding officer of the Gang Division and the overall supervision of Chief Thomas P. Purtell, Organized Crime Control Bureau.

The District Attorney also thanked Detectives Michael Jory, Joseph Kadle and Captain Anthony Clay of the Gloversville Police Department for their assistance on the case.

The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Frank Santarpia, William Neri and Sabrina Thanse, of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, under the supervision of Tara Lenich, Deputy Chief for Special Investigations, and Nicole Chavis, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney William E. Schaeffer, Chief of Investigations.

 

DEFENDANT ADDENDUM:

 

  1. The Following Defendants Are Variously Charged in a 98-Count Indictment
    (* denotes reputed GAM member):

 

*Rasheen Behlin, 29, 125 East 55th Street, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $1 million bail.

*Marvin Blake, 28, 349 Monroe Street, Brooklyn, NY.

 James Brown, 36, 1953 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, NY.

*Rayshawn Brown, 23, 212 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on$700,000 bail.

 Curtis Clark, 20, 330 Macon Street, Brooklyn, NY.

 Dennis Graves, 47,1362 East 85th Street, Brooklyn, NY.

 Denzil Graves, 20, 17 Nicholas Avenue, Staten Island, NY.

 Rayvoughn Hampton, 20, 954 Greene Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $250,000 bail.

 Kevin Harley, 51, 479 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, NY.

*Jonathan Hernandez, 23, 590 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $500,000 bail.

*Joseph Hutcherson, 20, 50 Stuyvesant Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

 Quindell James, 27, 940 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $150,000 bail.

*Desean Milsaps, 24, 690 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

*Tyrone Richardson, 23, 610 Quincy Street, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $300,000 bail.

*Dashawn Rowland, 20, 620 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $750,000 bail.

 Tina Roy, 26, 620 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

 Deshawn Tolbert, 18, 5328 Alice Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

*Zantwon Tucker, 24, 2975 West 33rd Street, Brooklyn, NY.

*Laquan Warren, 19, 345 Livonia Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $250,000 bail.

*Andres Wildman, 24, 590 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

*Lanell Worley, 24, 574 Georgia Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

 

  • The Defendants Are Variously Charged in a 33-Count Indictment:

 

James Brown, 36, 1953 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Lorenzo Manuel, 32, 2588 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

Andrew Norris, 34, 1108 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Damien Olmeda, 35, 1905 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $250,000 bail.

Jose Perez, 39, 992 Halsey Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Alfonza Hodge, 32, 312 Osborn Street, Brooklyn, NY.

 

  • The Following Defendants Are Variously Charged in a 15-Count Indictment:

 

Dennis Graves, 47, 1362 East 85th Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Tina Roy, 26, 620 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

Kevin Harley, 51, 479 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Damon Blackman, 40, 736 Monroe Street, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $1 million bail.

Keith Adams, 34, 113 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

Michael Jack, 24, 291 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

Manshawn Brown, 45, 690 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered held on $250,000 bail.

Dwayne Latimore, 37, 230A Granite Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

Taquan Cooper, 24, 95 Navy Walk, Brooklyn, NY.

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    An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.