Authorities Announce Arrests Of 49 Alleged Gang Members
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Two street gangs that allegedly terrorized East New York for three years have been taken down.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced Wednesday the arrest of 49 alleged members of the Rockstarz and the VCG gang, ranging in ages from 16 to 23.
Charges against them include murder, attempted murder and conspiracy.
The gangs are accused of using Facebook to threaten and intimidate each other.
According to the indictments, the war between the gangs began with the shooting of a VCG gang member by a Rockstarz member in Sept. 2009.
At least two of the alleged shootings between the gangs hit bystanders, including a 10-year-old boy who was hit in the neck while while watching TV in his home two years ago.
Kelly said the gangs were extremely dangerous and violent.
"A 17-year-old girl who had the temerity to refuse Rockstarz's demand to help set up a shooting of a VCG was herself shot three times in the face as she left the Workman Houses on her way to school," Kelly said. "She was left a quadriplegic as a result."
The indictments also accuse the gangs of cooperating to prevent witnesses from testifying against members of either gang.