4 Yonkers gang members admit guilt in crack ring
Photo credit: Susan Stava | A police car in Yonkers. (June 13, 2012)
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Four members of a Yonkers street gang pleaded guilty this week to federal charges stemming from a turf war with other street gangs over the street dealing of crack cocaine in the city.
The four men, all reputed soldiers in the Elm Street Wolves, were among 65 reputed gang members charged in August 2011 as federal and local law enforcement swept through the city in pre-dawn raids after unsealing five federal indictments.
Christopher Granger, 22, of New Rochelle; Shawn Patterson 24, of Yonkers; and Ryan Granger, 26, of Yonkers all pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in White Plains to conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. Christopher Granger also pleaded guilty to illegally carrying and using a firearm. They all face up to life in prison when they are sentenced in December in White Plains by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas. Federal sentencing guidelines are likely to call for lesser sentences.
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Rashad McNulty, 35, of Yonkers, pleaded guilty to distributing crack cocaine. He faces up to 20 years in prison when Karas sentences him Dec. 18.
Lawyers for the men did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The August 2011 raids targeted the Wolves and the Cliff Street Gangsters, who authorities said had teamed up in an ongoing turf war with another street gang in southwest Yonkers, the Strip Boyz.
"They retaliated against anyone who dared to encroach on their territory," FBI Assistant Director in Charge Janice Fedarcyk said after the arrests.
In June, the FBI and Yonkers police arrested 22 reputed members and associates of the Strip Boyz and charged them with drug and firearms offenses. That gang was said to have promoted their illegal activities through rap songs they made into mix tapes sold on social media and CDs sold in Yonkers.
