Nearly 50 Brooklyn gang members were arrested after they shared too much of their violent activity on Facebook.
The gangsters indicted are known to be members of two rival New York gangs, the Rockstarz and the Very Crispy Gangsters.
Police found that the gang members began adding their enemies as friends on Facebook and placed threatening messages on their rivals’ walls. Some of them even posted pictures in front of their rival gang members’ homes.
“Because of these individuals’ insatiable desire to brag about what they did, these investigators were able to draw a virtual map of their activities and bring them to justice,” said New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.
One gang member even posted a picture of him stealing the watch and belt of a rival gang member that he just wounded. The picture caption read: “I can’t give it back. You can’t walk no more.”
Violence between the two gangs started in 2009 after a member of the Rockstarz killed one of the Very Crispy Gangsters. Since then, their rivalry has led to 10 shootings causing the deaths of three gang members as well as injuring a 10-year-old bystander who was hit by a stray bullet while watching cartoons at home.
Most of the arrested gangsters are in their early 20’s with the oldest listed as 23 and the youngest under 18. All face charges of murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy.
