More than 30 members of rival drug gangs in East Harlem were arrested overnight in raids conducted by the FBI and city police at three public housing complexes, authorities said Tuesday.
The raids followed the filings of federal indictments accusing three dozen alleged gang members with drug trafficking and firearms offenses.
FBI agents and NYPD officers swooped into the Washington Houses complex, the East River Houses and Metro North Plaza and picked up 29 people named in the indictments, prosecutors said.
The defendants are accused of dealing such drugs as heroin, crack cocaine, oxycodone and marijuana at apartment complexes operated by the New York City Housing Authority, said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in announcing the indictments.
“For far too long, NYCHA residents have had to live with drug dealing and violence as part of their everyday lives," he said.
The accused gang members also sold drugs near schools and in city hospitals and "protected their lucrative businesses with guns and violence," Bharara said.
The defendants range in age from 19 to 51 and most went by nicknames, such as "Fetty Baller," "Holiday" and "Gotti," the indictments say.
