32 Defendants, Including Reputed Members of ‘Gates Avenue Mafia,’ Charged

Ken Thompson
Di s tri ct Attorney
Press Office
718-250-2300
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 13, 2014
32 Defendants, Including Reputed Members of ‘Gates Avenue Mafia,’ Charged
With Conspiracy Following Complaints of Violence, Drugs
Hundreds of Neighborhood Residents Outraged in Wake of Shooting
That Left 11-Year-Old Bedford-Stuyvesant Girl Paralyzed;
Twenty-Nine Guns, Plus Quantities of Drugs, Recovered During Course of Investigation, And Execution of
Arrest and Search Warrants
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with New York City Police Commissioner
William J. Bratton, today announced that 32 defendants, including 12 reputed members of the ‘Gates
Avenue Mafia,’ have been variously charged in three separate indictments with conspiracy to sell
firearms, heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine in and around Gates Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant and in
upstate Gloversville, New York, and with the attempted murder of an upstate man.
District Attorney Thompson said, “There is absolutely no reason why an innocent 11-year-old
girl should be caught in a hail of bullets while sitting outside with her family on a spring evening and is
now paralyzed. We must reclaim streets such as Gates Avenue that are too often plagued by gang
violence and blatant drug dealing, and these arrests will help us do so.”
Commissioner Bratton said, “The New York City Police Department, along with our partners
from the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, will remain vigilant in our efforts in keeping Brooklyn
safe and will not tolerate children being shot on our streets. Thanks to the investigators and prosecutors
assigned to this case, these criminals who conspired to traffic firearms and deal narcotics will be held
accountable for their reckless actions.”
The investigation, which included undercover purchases and electronic surveillance, began last
September following community complaints about narcotics trafficking and violence in and around
Gates Avenue and other areas within the 79th and 81st precincts located in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the
wake of the shooting of Taylonni Mazyck, 11, on May 31, 2013. Tayloni was sitting in front of her
building at 600 Gates Avenue, with her mother and cousins, when she was struck by one of 10 bullets
allegedly fired by Kane Cooper in the direction of several alleged members of the ‘Gates Avenue Mafia’
who were hanging out halfway down the block in front of 590 Gates Avenue. Cooper is charged with
attempted murder and his case is pending.
The District Attorney said that, according to the indictments, the 32 defendants are variously
charged with conspiracy to sell crack cocaine, cocaine, heroin and firearms in Brooklyn and with
conspiracy to sell cocaine in upstate Gloversville, New York, where it sold for a greater profit. Alleged
GAM member Rasheen Behlin is also charged in an indictment with second-degree attempted murder
for beating and nearly shooting to death a Gloversville man last April. All but seven of the defendants
were arrested yesterday. Eleven of the defendants were arraigned yesterday in Brooklyn Supreme
Court. The rest of the defendants are expected to be arraigned today. Detectives recovered 29 guns,
quantities of narcotics and $24,000 cash during the course of the investigation and during the execution
of arrest and search warrants.
The District Attorney said that in addition to selling narcotics and weapons on the streets of
Brooklyn, eight reputed members of the ‘Gates Avenue Mafia,’ allegedly ran a crack operation in
Gloversville, near Albany, in Fulton County. The defendants would allegedly take the drugs from
Brooklyn to Gloversville by Greyhound bus twice a month, according to the investigation, where they
would sell an 8-ball (eighth of an ounce, 3.5 grams of cocaine) for $200. They allegedly sold the same
amount for $150 in Brooklyn.
The District Attorney further said that, according to the investigation, on April 29, 2014, in
Gloversville, defendant Rasheen Behlin and two other men burst into the apartment of one of their
customers and duct-taped two men. They allegedly pistol-whipped the men and beat them with
hammers – breaking their knees and ankles – and then shot one of the victims in the face through a
couch cushion. In an April 30, 2014, raid, Gloversville police recovered 100 grams of cocaine (worth
about $5,700). Gang members allegedly brought the cocaine with them from Brooklyn.
The defendants are variously charged in three separate indictments with second-, fourth- and
fifth-degree conspiracy, first-, second- and third-degree sale of a controlled substance, second-, thirdand seventh-degree possession of a controlled substance, second- and fourth-degree criminal
possession of a weapon, third-degree criminal sale of a firearm, criminal possession of a firearm,
second-degree attempted murder, second-degree assault, first-, second- and third-degree burglary,
first-, second- and third-degree robbery.
The investigation was conducted by Detectives Daniel Grandstaff and Daniel Nicoletti of the
New York City Police Department’s Brooklyn North Gang Squad under the supervision of Sergeant
Joseph Cruzado, Captain Stephen Espinoza, Deputy Chief Kevin Catalina, commanding officer of the
Gang Division and the overall supervision of Chief Thomas P. Purtell, Organized Crime Control Bureau.
The District Attorney also thanked Detectives Michael Jory, Joseph Kadle and Captain Anthony
Clay of the Gloversville Police Department for their assistance on the case.
The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Frank Santarpia, William Neri and
Sabrina Thanse, of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, under the supervision of
Tara Lenich, Deputy Chief for Special Investigations, and Nicole Chavis, Bureau Chief, and the overall
supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney William E. Schaeffer, Chief of Investigations.
DEFENDANT ADDENDUM:
1. The Following Defendants Are Variously Charged in a 98-Count Indictment
(* denotes reputed GAM member):
*Rasheen Behlin, 29, 125 East 55th Street, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and
ordered held on $1 million bail.
*Marvin Blake, 28, 349 Monroe Street, Brooklyn, NY.
James Brown, 36, 1953 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, NY.
*Rayshawn Brown, 23, 212 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and
ordered held on$700,000 bail.
Curtis Clark, 20, 330 Macon Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Dennis Graves, 47,1362 East 85th Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Denzil Graves, 20, 17 Nicholas Avenue, Staten Island, NY.
Rayvoughn Hampton, 20, 954 Greene Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and
ordered held on $250,000 bail.
Kevin Harley, 51, 479 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, NY.
*Jonathan Hernandez, 23, 590 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and
ordered held on $500,000 bail.
*Joseph Hutcherson, 20, 50 Stuyvesant Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Quindell James, 27, 940 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered
held on $150,000 bail.
*Desean Milsaps, 24, 690 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
*Tyrone Richardson, 23, 610 Quincy Street, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and
ordered held on $300,000 bail.
*Dashawn Rowland, 20, 620 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and
ordered held on $750,000 bail.
Tina Roy, 26, 620 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Deshawn Tolbert, 18, 5328 Alice Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
*Zantwon Tucker, 24, 2975 West 33rd Street, Brooklyn, NY.
*Laquan Warren, 19, 345 Livonia Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and
ordered held on $250,000 bail.
*Andres Wildman, 24, 590 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
*Lanell Worley, 24, 574 Georgia Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
2. The Defendants Are Variously Charged in a 33-Count Indictment:
James Brown, 36, 1953 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Lorenzo Manuel, 32, 2588 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Andrew Norris, 34, 1108 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Damien Olmeda, 35, 1905 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and ordered
held on $250,000 bail.
Jose Perez, 39, 992 Halsey Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Alfonza Hodge, 32, 312 Osborn Street, Brooklyn, NY.
3. The Following Defendants Are Variously Charged in a 15-Count Indictment:
Dennis Graves, 47, 1362 East 85th Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Tina Roy, 26, 620 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Kevin Harley, 51, 479 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Damon Blackman, 40, 736 Monroe Street, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and
ordered held on $1 million bail.
Keith Adams, 34, 113 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Michael Jack, 24, 291 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Manshawn Brown, 45, 690 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. He was arraigned yesterday and
ordered held on $250,000 bail.
Dwayne Latimore, 37, 230A Granite Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Taquan Cooper, 24, 95 Navy Walk, Brooklyn, NY.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.