17 gang members indicted for dealing crack near schools
More than a dozen dealers affiliated with a notorious drug trafficking gang were indicted for peddling crack cocaine near schools and playgrounds, authorities said Monday in a statement.
The NYPD and other agencies rounded up 17 defendants over the last two weeks in Manhattan and the Bronx, many of them alleged members of the gang No Sleep Get Money, according to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.
The gang, also known as N$GM, brazenly conducted business at all hours in the lobbies, hallways and stairwells of East Harlem’s AK Houses, a privately owned affordable housing complex, officials said.
The dealers allegedly met with some customers on the sidewalks in front of the buildings and near a playground and three schools, including PS 30 Hernandez/Hughes, PS 138/MS 138 and Success Academy Harlem 2, according to Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan.
The NYPD spearheaded the 10-month investigation, dubbed “Operation Insomnia,” after members of the community complained about the relentless drug trade on their doorsteps, authorities said.
And at least five gang-related shootings took place in front of the AK Houses in the past year, the statement said.
During a Sept. 15 search of defendant Matthew Jones’ pad at the AK Houses, authorities allegedly found two loaded firearms in a dresser drawer, including a .38 and a 9mm, officials said.
A 1-year-old was in the room at the time and three other children were in the apartment at 112 E. 128th St., authorities said.
“Finding decent affordable housing is challenging enough for low-income Manhattan residents, without facing daily threats posed by warring gangs and around-the-clock drug trafficking,” Brennan said in a statement.
“Today’s arrests and indictments demonstrate zero tolerance for this dangerous criminal activity.”
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