DOWNTOWN — Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, together with New York City Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, announced that nine alleged members of the Road 2 Riches street gang are variously charged in a 68-count indictment with conspiracy to commit murder, possession of weapons and related charges.
The indictment includes charges related to 10 shootings that resulted in four victims, including an innocent bystander, a 68-year-old woman, who was shot in the back in broad daylight.
“This indictment charges a disturbing pattern of gang violence allegedly committed by a group of young defendants,” Gonzalez said. “Their actions endangered entire communities and included the murder of a 24-year-old man and the broad daylight shooting of an innocent 68-year-old woman. Working with the NYPD, we remain focused on holding accountable the small number of offenders driving this violence. The success of this strategy is clear, with record-low gun violence in Brooklyn last year, and continued progress this year.”
“For too long, Road 2 Riches gang members have terrorized neighborhoods in Brooklyn — unleashing gunfire in broad daylight, on busy streets and near schools,” added Tisch. “Many of these alleged shooters were teens, emboldened by laws like Raise the Age that eliminate consequences for young people engaging in this type of violence, but these gangs are no match for the NYPD.”
This year alone, the NYPD has conducted more than 40 gang-related takedowns and taken more than 230 illegal guns off the streets. Tisch credited this as the reason why shootings are down double digits in Brooklyn, “And we are not letting up.”
The defendants were arraigned yesterday in Brooklyn Supreme Court on a 68-count indictment in which they are variously charged with second- and fourth-degree conspiracy, second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree reckless endangerment. The defendants were either remanded or are being held on high bail.
Gonzalez said the indictment is the result of a long-term investigation by the DA’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau and the NYPD’s Gun Violence Suppression Division into the violence allegedly committed by members and associates of the Road 2 Riches (R2R) street gang, which is primarily based within the confines of the 75th Precinct in east New York, from January 2023 to the present. The defendants ranged in age from 15 to 20 during the course of the conspiracy.
It is alleged that many of the acts of violence, including numerous shootings, were captured on surveillance videos. Furthermore, it is alleged that the defendants boasted about their criminal actions on social media, including taking credit for acts of violence such as the shooting death of Abdoulaye Ba, 24, and antagonizing their opposition.
According to the indictment, R2R territory is in the East New York area. Specifically, R2R operates largely out of 398 Sheffield Avenue, part of the New York City Housing Authority’s Long Island Baptist Houses, Remeeder Houses and Unity Houses. R2R is considered a younger subset of the “Cocky Bama Bullies” street gang and falls under the larger Bloods street gang confederacy.
The R2R rivals include several opposing gang members, including “Pistol Packin Pitkin” (PPP) in East New York and the “WOOO” and “CHOO” Folk Nation gangs, whose territories are in neighboring Brownsville, and Forever My Brothers (FMB), also located in Brownsville. Other rivals include the “Wortman Avenue Gangstas” (WAG), based out of the Linden Houses in East New York.
