GANG TAKEDOWN AND PROJECT RE-DIRECT; BACK ON TRACK; NEW ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY CLASS; PROJECT SAFE STOP UPDATE, STALKING AWARENESS MONTH, EIGHT INDIVIDUALS INDICTED FOR MEDICAID FRAUD

The fact is there are gangs in Brooklyn that terriorize some neighborhoods through intimidation and committing crimes including murders, assaults and robberies. Most victims of gang violence are rival gang members, often because of a dispute over turf.  However, there are innocent victims killed when they are caught in the crossfire.

Many gang members are forced into gangs.  In some cases, young teens join out of fear that they will be victims of gang violence if they don’t join.  Some are forced to choose a side or get beaten.  Others are recruited at schools or online.  In fact, social networking sites have become a popular source among gangs. It's a two-edged sword. With the use of sites like Facebook and Twitter, gangs can grow exponentially faster than in the past. Recruitment is easier and information gets disseminated to members instantaneously . 

On the positive side, law enforcement is able to track their activities and gather information through these sites too, making it easier to take down these gangs.

This month, my office indicted 43 gang members from two rival gangs in Brownsville, the Hoodstarz and the Wave Gang, as part of Operation Tidal Wave.  The takedown of the feuding gangs was a joint effort among the Kings County District Attorney’s Office and the New York Police Department and many other law enforcement agencies.  Gang members were charged for murders, robberies, assault, weapons possession and conspiracy.

In one incident, a leader of the Hoodstarz Gang, Culture Bermudez, gave orders to shoot rival gang members.  A few days later, Hoodstarz member, Gilberto Vincente, targeted rival gang members, fired several shots into a courtyard, killing an innocent bystander and injuring other innocent bystanders including a nine-year-old boy and his father.  In another incident, Andre Moore, a member of the Wave Gang, shot and killed a rival gang member, with some bullets also striking a female bystander.  In many cases, the Wave Gang would target younger males, ages 13 and 14, and surround them in large groups, intimidating and robbing them.  The defendants, ranging in age from 15 to 21, were arrested on January 17, 2012 and January 18, 2012.

My Gang Bureau, led by Deanna Rodriguez as well as our Major Narcotics Investigation Bureau under Marc Fliedner led the investigation and takedown.

It is important to note that our Gang Bureau does so much more than prosecute these cases.  They meet with community leaders throughout the county to develop gang enforcement strategies that identify gang members and their activities.  For instance, we have hosted Gangs Forums to educate parents and anyone else whose family has been affected by gang violence, recruitment or truancy due to gang membership. The goal of the forums is to inform parents and the rest of the community about issues related to gangs and to offer assistance and solutions to put an end to this gang violence.  I have implemented educational workshops throughout Brooklyn, work with Major League Baseball to get stores to stop selling gang paraphernalia and created Mothers Against Gangs, a community group formed to put an end to gang violence.

Unfortunately, many gang members end up either dead or in jail.  There is a third, infinitely more productive option-help gang members turn their lives around before they get themselves into such horrible situations.  

In 2007, we created Project Re-Direct, an alternative to incarceration program for young gang offenders.  The program  focuses on the needs of individual gang members. It educates them on the negative nature of gang culture, and designs a program to rehabilitate and re-direct each of them away from the gang lifestyle back into being contributing members of the community.  If they complete the program, their charges are dismissed.  Of all the participants who completed the program, only one has been rearrested.

My Back on Track program is also a very important initiative geared towards keeping our youth out of the criminal justice system.  The program targets young people, ages seven to 21, in the Brownsville community.  It provides services to both students and their parents, including GED classes, parenting workshops, skills training, mental health and substance abuse treatment.  Created in 2011, Back on Track not only addresses the social service needs of the student, but also considers the needs of the students’ parents.  Back on Track is a collaboration among various partners including the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, CPCA, Inc., the Department of Probation, the Department of Education, Medgar EversCollege, Center for Court Innovation, the Police Athletic League and PSCH (Promoting Specialized Care and Health).

To view a video of a NY1 interview with Deanna Rodriguez, Chief of the Gang Bureau, discussing gangs and Project Re-Direct, please click here:
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/154587/brooklyn-gang-takedown-inspires-new-hope-for-youth-programs

On January 10, I swore in and welcomed a new class of Assistant District Attorneys who graduated from some of the top law schools around the country. Sixty new ADAs are beginning their careers in my office in various bureaus including Domestic Violence, Homicide, Rackets and Sex Crimes.  As I addressed the new class, I advised them that they may prosecute with earnest and vigor, strike hard blows, but are not at liberty to strike foul ones, stressing that it is as much a duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one.  I was joined by Barry Kamins, Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters Kings County Supreme Court, in welcoming the new class.

All too often, we see people, especially kids, get lost or get into trouble and they don’t know where to turn.  Last year, we came up with a solution to this predicament when we announced the creation of our Safe Stop program.  Safe Stop provides a safe place for youth, seniors and all others to go if they need help in case of an emergency to access information about the District Attorney’s Neighborhood Office Program and crime and prevention programs offered both by his office and the Police Department.  Now, if someone is lost, has a medical emergency, or is a crime victim, they can go into any of these Safe Stop locations where merchants will have all kinds of information and resources for those who need help.  They will be trained to know where to refer people and how to help them.

Participants of Safe Stop display decals in their store windows identifying them as a designated Safe Stop location.  The merchants are trained by Executive Directors of neighborhood Business Improvement Districts (BID).  The merchants are directed to call 911 for emergencies that require immediate medical, police or fire response.

The need for such a program came to light when an eight-year-old boy, Leiby Kletzky, was murdered last July, after he got lost on his way home from camp and didn’t know where to turn.  He asked a stranger for help but that stranger turned out to be a monster named Levi Aron, who did not help the young boy, but instead, brought him to his home, drugged him and murdered him.  If we had Safe Stop locations at the time, perhaps this incident would have had a different outcome.

Last August, Safe Stop was implemented with 77 participating merchants in Sunset Park, Williamsburg and Park Slope.  Since then, Safe Stop has grown to 199 merchants throughout Brooklyn. 

This is law enforcement and community partnership at its best.

Click here to see video of an interview with a local business owner in Sunset Park, discussing why she decided to participate in Safe Stop.

January was National Stalking Awareness Month. Stalking is a pattern of unwanted repeated behavior which is directed at a specific person and causes them to be afraid, often leading to violence.  According to the U.S. Department of Justice, stalking affects 3.4 million victims a year. Three out of four victims are stalked by someone they know.  In 2011, the Kings County District Attorney’s Office charged 124 defendants with stalking. New York State was the last state to pass stalking laws in 1999.

A successful stalking prosecution is fact-driven and must look at the full picture of the relationship and history. Stalking can appear as innocent behaviors, for example, always being at the subway stop/favorite store, sending love letters, etc. However, these seemingly innocent behaviors may become a connected series of unwelcomed and unsolicited and causing the victim to be fearful. These patterns must be looked at in the larger context in which the behavior occurs. For many victims it’s psychological terrorism.  The better we understand the facts about stalking, the more we can do to stop it.

The Stalking Resource Center, National Center for Victims of Crime, and the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice, launched National Stalking Awareness Month in 2004.  Ever January since then, communities across the country have made stalking awareness a priority by holding events where vital information is shared.

This year’s theme—“Stalking: Know It. Name It. Stop It.”—challenges the nation to fight this dangerous crime by learning more about it. Stalking is a crime in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, yet many victims and criminal justice professionals underestimate its seriousness and impact. In one of five cases, stalkers use weapons to harm or threaten victims, and stalking is one of the significant risk factors for femicide (homicide of women) in abusive relationships. Victims suffer anxiety, social dysfunction, and severe depression at much higher rates than the general population, and many lose time from work or have to move as a result of their victimization.

For additional resources and information about stalking, please visit The Stalking Resource Center at http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=dash_Home .

Medicaid fraud is a major problem in Brooklyn as undeserving swindlers try to illegally collect money from the government.  This not only costs the taxpayers’ money, but it takes money out of the pockets of the neediest families who rely on this public assistance.   The cost of this fraud is magnified even greater when you consider the increased strain on federal and state budgets.

These scams are perpetrated by greedy individuals by falsifying applications like Medicaid forms or recertification forms.  They lie about their incomes and their assets. 

My office prosecutes Medicaid fraud cases in Brooklyn in cooperation with the Human Resources Administration or reported by people such as you.  My Public Assistance Crimes Unit (PAC) addresses Cash Assistance, Medicaid, Food Stamp and other related frauds which divert funds from the disadvantaged who are in need of these services.  The PAC Unit also prosecutes individuals engaged in Medicaid related black market prescription medication trafficking.  Cases referred to my office will first be screened by my District Attorney’s Action Center which can be reached at (718) 250-2340.

I recently announced the indictment of eight individuals who were illegally collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicaid and other government benefits for which they were ineligible.  One defendant collected over $146,000 in Medicaid benefits even though he owned five businesses.  This individual claimed that he was employed at an auto repair shop where he was only earning $300-$350 per week, and that he was a “helper” at a TriBeCa tea shop.  In actuality, he owned both of these businesses.  He also owned a taxi cab and a taxi medallion, which brought in between $4,000-$8,000 per month.  In addition, deeds showed that his wife and his son purchased a rental property in 2008 at Brighton 8^th Street where the family receives $2,950 each month from building tenants. 

In separate indictments, we charged a woman who collected almost $100,000 in food stamps and Medicaid, claiming to be a single mother of three.  In reality, she was married to someone who received a steady income from his job at a Medicaid Office.  Another individual collected benefits while working for the MTA; another defendant who received thousands of dollars in Medicaid benefits owned commercial rental property; and we also indicted a couple who stole $168,502 in benefits over six years even though they were the owners and landlords of six properties in Brooklyn and Upstate New York.

To see video explaining this fraud from a recent press conference where we announced the indictment of the eight individuals,
click here:

The news articles below may be of interest to you or members of your community.

The Washington Post

Supreme Court Says Search Warrants Needed When Police Use GPS Devices To Track Suspects

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects.

The GPS device helped authorities link Washington, D.C., nightclub owner Antoine Jones to a suburban house used to stash money and drugs. He was sentenced to life in prison before the appeals court overturned the conviction.

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said that the government’s installation of a GPS device, and its use to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitutes a search, meaning that a warrant is required. “By attaching the device to the Jeep” that Jones was using, “officers encroached on a protected area,” Scalia wrote.

All nine justices agreed that the placement of the GPS on the Jeep violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-warrants-needed-in-gps-tracking/2012/01/23/gIQAx7qGLQ_story.html

The Star-Ledger (Newark)

Gov. Christie signs Caylee Anthony-inspired bill into law

Failing to quickly report the disappearance of a child is now a felony under a bill Gov. Chris Christie signed into law today.

The new law, which takes effect immediately, makes failing to report the disappearance of a child age 13 or younger within 24 hours a fourth-degree crime punishable by as much as 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/gov_christie_signs_caylee_anth.html