Prosecutors are charging more than a dozen alleged Flatbush gang members with murder and conspiracy for going on “hunting expeditions” to gun down rival gangsters — and even civilians — simply for living in Canarsie.
Officials arraigned 15 members of gang No Love City on Feb. 3, claiming the group’s turf battles were an organized campaign meant to spread fear, Brooklyn’s top prosecutor said.
“We must never allow violent street gangs to take over and terrorize our communities by going on hunting expeditions and roaming our streets shooting and killing people at will,” said District Attorney Ken Thompson.
Prosecutors say the conspiracy started in September 2013 but intensified after No Love City member Malik Bhola was murdered in Bushwick on Jan. 1, 2014. His compatriots allegedly began a scorched-earth campaign against rival Canarsie gangs they believed to be responsible, going so far as to target bystanders for “merely being from the ‘Flossy’ [Canarsie], ” according to a statement from Thompson.
One member allegedly shot a 60-year old woman, paralyzing her from the waist down, while attempting to blast a rival — another allegedly shot up a Memorial Day barbecue, wounding three, and then bragged about it on Facebook, prosecutors said. A third ensnared a rival by setting up a fake date via social media, the statement reads.
“Instead of a date, the victim received a gunshot wound to the face that left him with a broken jaw,” the release states.
Each of the accused — all of whom are between 18 and 27 years old — faces up to 25 years for conspiracy, and some face life in prison for second-degree murder charges, officials said. The judge ordered the men held without bail. Two are still at large, and one is awaiting extradition from New Jersey, prosecutors said.
