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New York City District Attorney Cyrus Vance, at podium, speaks at a press conference on Oct. 12 after 16 members of two East Harlem gun trafficking networks were charged with selling more than 100 illegal firearms, including assault weapons and machine guns.
Criminal gangs in parts of New York City are getting increasingly savvy at carrying out violent crimes and eluding police detection, thanks to a practice of hiding and sharing so-called "community guns," police and prosecutors say.
“They don’t want to keep the weapons on them but want to have access to them,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance. “It poses challenges in terms of prosecution, to the police on the street. It all puts the weapon in the hands of a larger number of people."
Community guns are often used by gang members to enforce drug territory. But several recent shootings have resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians, including children. Four-year-old Lloyd Morgan was hit by a stray bullet last summer while on a Harlem basketball court with his mom; Zurana Horton, a pregnant mother, was killed by a bullet fired from a community gun last summer.
Law enforcement surveillance video obtained by the News 4 I-Team shows suspected gang members sharing weapons and hiding them in public places like building mailboxes, garbage cans or under the wheel of a car.
”They have unique ways of hiding these guns," said Inspector Kevin Catalina. "Every gang member has access. It can be in a garbage can, under a tree. They go get it, bring it to a location and then carry out the shootings.”
Catalina said gang intelligence units have made more than two dozen arrests and seized more than a dozen guns this past year. As a result, crime is down – but the community gun problem continues.
“We have a couple of gangs that pose a particular problem for us over here,” said Catalina. He pointed to one crew that uses a .45-caliber weapon to shoot rivals. In one recent shooting, a 10-year-old child was caught in the crossfire in Claremont Park near Webster Avenue, though the child was able to escape unharmed.
Police said gang members know they are under increased surveillance so they take the added measures to try to hide their weapons. Some use children as young as 12 years old to carry weapons for them because they believe police are less likely to stop and question a teen or child.
“This is the way they operate. It is very rare that one individual will have access to a gun full time,” Catalina said.
Ballistic tests can often match a community gun to a shooting, but finding the shooter can be more difficult, according to Sgt. Richard Zacarese.
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“Often you’ll recover the gun, and if that gun was used in numerous shootings, the person you caught with it isn’t necessarily the person who used the gun, since it was passed to hand to hand to hand,” said Zacarese.
Vance highlighted the recent case of Afrika Owes, a 17-year-old prep student who admitted she stored and carried weapons for a violent Harlem drug gang. In prison recordings of phone conversations she had with a gang leader on Rikers Island, she boasted of carrying three guns for the gangs, including a 9 mm.
Police and prosecutors are now using conspiracy laws to bring cases against suspected gang members who are caught with or are known to have used community guns.
“We are always confronted with a changing crime dynamic,” Vance said. “I think the community gun circumstance is an adaptation to effective prosecution and police action. It’s designed to try to insulate themselves from being caught with weapons on their person."
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Police are so darn clueless! Gang members share guns.....why is it called a Community Gun? A gun is a gun and these Young idiots share hundreds of them due to the fact that 90% of them are stolen or bought illegally. *Note....Gang Members aren't the only ones out here shooting "innocent" people!
I've always wondered what it would be like if the south side of chicago stood up to the gangs, asked for the military to come in and clean up the mess, and let the rest of the people who live in those area's work to lift themselves up.
I want to be able to go to the south side and help invest in the people there, but when I fear my life is in danger...why would I ever do that? this and this alone is why poor area's riddled with gang activity wont ever see their lot in life improve, so long as they protect the ones terrorizing them rather than band together and eliminate the thugs.
I would say more like 100% of guns in the hand of gangs to be stolen or bought illegally. Have you ever met a gang member who is in possession of of any guns legally?
....or one with a concealed carry permit
meh.... no news here. WHat gang movie int he history of Hollyword didn't have some kind of stash of guns to go to. At least Hollywood had that fgured out 70 years ago. The Police are just now catching on?
Gangs are stupid. Let's nuke 'em.
I would agree, but is there a small enough nuke to do the job?
Is there a big enough one?
I think we should classify and prosecute gang members as domestic terrorists. If classified as terrorists the Patriot Act would take away a lot of the Constitutional Rights of the people in these organizations that they hide behind and assist law enforcement in speedier and easier arrests and trial of the individuals.
we can classify teabaggers who fly gadsden flags as terrorists too, and prosecute gun manufacturers for providing support for terrorists. wow that was easy! all it takes it just that, someone saying lets do it for our safety and then mission creep. anyone can be labeled. if you don't want anyone to tread on you then you should call for repeal of the patriot act.
I'm not a tea bagger. I was flying the gadsen flag long before the tea party was formed and am not now nor have I ever been a member. My voting record consists of both Democratic and Republican candidates over the years. I hail from the state where the flag was created so it's a heritage symbol for me that can be flown with pride by everyone versus other controversial flags and symbols of the region. But thanks for the quick judgement and personal insult regardless. What a great example of liberal open mindedness you are! On an added note, I'm not a proponent of the Patriot Act but my point was as long it's the law and the government is going to use it to trample on the rights of citizens until it's repealed, they may as well do something positive with it and persecute the crips and the bloods with it as well. You probably think that's pretty racist of me to target minority staffed street gangs though.
Great Idea cnorton... Have you ever thought anything through in your life.. you seem rather anxious to give up such precious freedoms.
Umm, take away "their" constitutional rights? I don't want to sound rude but that was such an asinine statement that you should just walk off into the surf, never to be seen or heard from again.
If gangs are using guns to kill each other who care?. We need to give them more. We could finally napalm the ultimate winner.
We care because they're killing innocent bystanders. If they actually had any training and could shoot then maybe I wouldn't because that would mean kill percentage per ratio to innocent bystanders would be extremely low if not completely gone.
I', with you, let them kill each other off. But unfortunately they suck at shooting.
Holding a firearm sideways is not tactical.
This is propaganda since guns are illegal in NYC.
Yes they are and that is why they are hidden and not carried. Nothing to do with propaganda just people violating the law. At least when they are caught there is no defense for possession as opposed to other states that allow carry and then you have to add the cost of prosecuting with the gun.
1. You have a problem. Complain there's a problem and yet do nothing about the problem.
2. Take action to solve the problem. Not stand around thinking can I really do this because criminals and gang member's have rights.
3. How about hard working people? Do they not have the right to live their lives in some sort of peace?
4. It is up to everyone to have the type of community they would like to live in.
5. People want answers to the problems they have and all the complaining in the World will not do a bit of good unless your ready to take the next step to solve it.
6. Rome wasn't built in a day folks but you have to start to build it.
Wowser!
Special units have made two arrests and confiscated one gun per month in the previous year. Problem almost solved.
Do you peabrains really think that bringing in the military to have shootout on the streets will fix this??? Here's an idea... but you have to be able to think past your nose first. Can you handle that? Here goes.
END DRUG PROHIBITION!!!!
We will never and I mean EEEEEVER make people desire drugs (aka intoxicating substances) less. If that were possible then the 40 years and TRILLION dollars spent on this insipid Drug War will actually have shown results. IT. HASN'T!! WHY?! Because people like to get messed up. It's human nature! Did you spin in circles as a child? We all did! Why? Because it made us feel funny. Been happening since the earliest of civilizations. YOU CAN'T STOP IT WITH JAIL and threats of violence!!!!!
Take the product that people want. Put the market into legal, regulated areas. Where disputes can be settled in COURTS with lawyers not the STREETS with guns!
The solution is SIMPLE and it's teh same one we used to get rid of bootleggers and the Al Capones of the Country. Stop be thick-headed authoritarians and think logically about this.
Give them radioactive weapons, the whole gang will soon die off with cancer. Bad Karma.
Gangs stashing guns is nothing new. It has been done for years.
Make a three strikes your out law..get caught three times and you serve life..lets see who would want to get caught with a gun then. It sounds a little extreme but if you don't have a right to own a gun legally then there is a reason you should not have one. If they are using children and teens..make the gangs accountable and charge each gang member with a strike for every infraction..lets see how bad they are in prison becoming some ones %ITCH!!
'Lets do as many guns being used stories as we can so our anti gun agenda passes in the UN and congress'. ( anti gun proponents thinking).