9 Charged With Murder, Robbery, Racketeering in Brooklyn Gang Investigation

The suspects operated out of the Ebbets Field Houses.

Nine members of a violent Brooklyn street gang, known as Folk Nation, are charged with murder, racketeering, robbery, assault and firearms violations in a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said.

The gang, based in the Ebbets Field Houses, has been the subject of a two year investigation by the FBI and the NYPD.  Prosecutors say that since 2008, a violent set of the Folk Nation gang committed four murders, three attempted murders, two assaults and six robberies.

FBI agents and NYPD detectives arrested two of the group’s leaders early Tuesday morning in Brooklyn. Five other people were in custody and two people were fugitives, authorities said.

Prosecutors say the gang used extreme and indiscriminate violence as its protected its territory from rivals and committed robberies of individuals and commercial establishments without regard to innocent bystanders.

In one instance, a 10-year-old girl was severely injured when she was shot in the neck by gang members as they attempted to murder a rival, prosecutors said.

In addition to robbing a jewelry store in New Jersey of luxury watches worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the gang also is accused of luring individual robbery victims to secluded areas in Brooklyn via Internet advertisements on Craigslist and then robbing them at gunpoint.

“Terrorizing a community, this gang claimed its turf by force and robbed from businesses and individuals alike, leaving a trail of victims in its wake,” Lynch said.

If convicted, the suspects each face life in prison.

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