Good news: Law enforcement just did a high-profile crackdown on the 800 YGz gang, a k a “Young Gunnaz.”
Bad news: It took years after the baby-faced crew had “turned the West Farms neighborhood into a shooting gallery,” in the words of Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.
Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch joined Clark on Thursday to announce charges against 20 members of the gang, half of whom were teens when involved in at least 14 shootings since 2023.
There’s plenty of caught-on-tape evidence, because these sickos liked to fire at rival gangbangers in public spaces with no regard to the lives of the innocents caught in the middle.
During one such shootout on April 1, 2023, 800 YGz members fired across a middle-school playground, forcing terrified children to flee for their lives.
Notice: That’s two years ago; couldn’t Clark have had her press conference announcing charges then?
By the way, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny indicates 800 YGz has 38 total members, which implies 18 of these thugs are still stalking the streets.
They’re presumably continuing the gang’s business of dealing drugs, including crack cocaine; you have to wonder if that means more gun battles as other gangs move on the “young gunnaz” turf.
Meanwhile, progressives on the City Council are pushing to shut down the NYPD’s gang database (which lists 15 “Young Gunnaz”) that helps the cops get these menaces off the streets, claiming it’s “racial profiling” because those in it are mainly black and Hispanic.
They should look at the chilling screenshots from the April 1 shooting — the children fleeing in terror as bullets whiz past are all black and Hispanic, too: Is it “racial justice” to force them to fear for their lives every time they step out their doors?
Meanwhile, progressives in the Legislature offer only watered-down compromise to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s modest proposed fixes to the “discovery” rules that spring many perps on utter technicalities.
And she isn’t even asking for changes to the no-bail laws, nor to Raise the Age, which removed consequences for even the most serious teen offenders and has sparked major gang recruitment of under-18s.
Our lawmakers are busy protecting their “anti-carceral” bona fides when our kids just wish they could reliably play outside without getting shot at.
