Two-dozen terrorized Moore Houses, investigators say
Federal and local law enforcement have brought down a gang accused of terrorizing tenants of the Moore Houses on East 149th St. at the northern edge of St. Mary’s Park in Mott Haven.
Over 20 gang members “were involved in street robberies, assaults, and sales of crack cocaine, marijuana, and other drugs” between 2006 and this year, according to an Aril 2 press release from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In all, 24 members of the Murda Moore Gangstas, or MMG, were charged with crimes ranging from racketeering to conspiracy to sell crack and marijuana, as well as possessing and discharging firearms. Maximum penalties range from 20 years to life behind bars.
Twenty-one of the defendants, who range in age from 18 to 28, appeared in Manhattan federal court yesterday.
“The Mott Haven community and residents in the Moore and Saint Mary Houses will hopefully feel safer knowing that these criminal crew members have been removed from their midst,” said NYPD commissioner William Bratton, who attributed the mission’s success to coordination between federal law enforcement, NYPD’s Bronx Gang Squad and the 40th Precinct.
“All New Yorkers have the right to the peaceful enjoyment of their neighborhoods, whether they live in Mott Haven or Riverdale,” said Preet Bharara, the Manhattan U.S. attorney in a press release. “Cases like this one, where we worked closely with our local and federal law enforcement partners to charge 24 leaders and members of a violent gang that allegedly terrorized the Moore Housing Projects in the Bronx, can make a big difference.”
Five Moore Houses residents, known as the “Top Five,” launched and continued building the Moore Murda Gangs over the last eight years, investigators charge. The five include Tevin Mizell, a/k/a “Tev Gunz,” Kevin Mizell, a/k/a “Kev Gunz,” Edwin Smith, a/k/a “Ed Black,” and Joshua Fladger, a/k/a “Millz.”
The MMG has been embroiled in a violent turf war with rival groups from other local NYCHA complexes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office went on to state, including the “Lookin’ Real Good” or “LRG” gang from Betances Houses and the “Killbrook Up” and “Killbrook Down” gangs from Millbrook Houses.
But not only did the suspects engage in shoot-em-ups with rival dealers, authorities contend, they also “committed street-level robberies” of “law-abiding citizens, in and around the Moore Houses.”
The takedown is the latest in a series of high-profile busts in which federal and local law enforcement have collaborated, dating back to June, 2012 when 21 members of the Murda Moore Gangstas were arrested following a six-month investigation. In December, 2012, 45 suspects were charged with running a crack ring out of two other local NYCHA complexes, Mott Haven and Patterson Houses. Then in January, 2013, 13 defendants were charged with selling and dealing drugs out of the John Adams Houses on Tinton Avenue.
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