Prosecutors cite drop in crime with breakup of 10th Street Gang

Federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials gathered Monday for a news conference at an outdoor basketball court on the Lower West Side to symbolically return the neighborhood to its residents.

The site, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Tripi, is where many area youths took their first steps down a criminal path.

This is where kids became lookouts, moved on to drug dealers, and where they were introduced to street violence and the 10th Street Gang, Tripi said. This court is now used for its intended purpose, and the families of five homicide victims may have some semblance of peace now that the people responsible for these murders have been convicted.

With Fridays conviction, 44 gang members who have stood accused of racketeering, numerous counts of violence, over two dozen shootings, dozens of narcotics transactions, are all now convicted, said Hochul.

Since 2010, Hochuls office has prosecuted 22 homicides and removed 200 10th Street Gang members from the street, said Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda.

They started moving into Riverside, but theyre gone now, Derenda said. Weve also made arrests of 7th Street Gang members. And were taking on gangs in other parts of the city, including the East Side.

In crediting members of the Buffalo Police Department, the State Police and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Hochul did not forget to thank neighborhood residents.

The citizens of the West Side of Buffalo stood shoulder-to-shoulder with law enforcement, providing testimony and identification of the gang members who were making their lives miserable for many decades, he said.

While no neighborhood residents were present at the news conference, some were seen standing in driveways and doorways of nearby homes. Those sitting on porches were wondering why television trucks surrounded the playground.

One man, who asked that his name not be used, told of motorbikes disturbing the peace late at night. He also mentioned a corner deli and the customers who camp out in front of the store drinking until 1 a.m. But he admitted the neighborhood is peaceful compared with past conditions.

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Prosecutors cite drop in crime with breakup of 10th Street Gang