Nassau County gang crackdown leads to 35 arrests

Nassau police arrested 15 gang members and 20 other people — including a man accused of attempted murder and four women who allegedly gouged out someone’s eye — during a crackdown on the Crips, Bloods and MS-13, county officials said on Tuesday.

Officers seized 10 illegal handguns, Oxycodone pills, a large knuckle knife, a kilo press and a bill counter while executing three search warrants during the five-day investigation, Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.

Nassau police will conduct a similar gang crackdown in four or five weeks, Ryder said during a news conference at Nassau police headquarters in Mineola. Police also arrested a member of Zoe Pound, a Haitian gang, officials said.

"We are taking the fight to the gangs," County Executive Bruce Blakeman said. "If you want to operate in Nassau County, we are going to come after you. We are going to come after you with every asset that we have."

Ryder said one defendant, Keith Estrada, is a member of the Crips street gang and allegedly stabbed a victim in the chest just over a week ago. According to court records, Estrada pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges at an arraignment on Monday before Nassau Judge Michael Alpert, who ordered Estrada held without bail. Estrada’s attorney, Jeff Groder, of Mineola, did not return requests for comment.

Four alleged members of the Bloods — Ariane Henry, Simone Williams, Malani Williams and Lyric Adiansing — assaulted and partially blinded another woman as part of a gang initiation, Ryder said.

"They went in, they beat her down, they took her eye out," Ryder said.

The four alleged Bloods members pleaded not guilty to assault charges during arraignments before Nassau Judge Diana Hedayati, who ordered each held in lieu of $75,000 cash, $187,500 insured bond or $375,000 partially secured bond.

Attorney James McGlynn, of Bethpage, who represented Simone Williams, declined to comment. Christopher Devane, of Mineola, Malani Williams’ attorney, could not be reached for comment. Nicole Guliano, who represented Henry, said her client does not have a prior criminal record and the "defense team will not let Ariane's story get buried in this avalanche of unrelated arrests." Steven Gaitman, of Garden City, Adiansing’s attorney, said: "We ask that there is no rush to judgment regarding our client Ms. Adiansing. We possess video footage of the entirety of the incident and will share with the district attorney’s office after a thorough investigation and analyzation."

Three alleged members of MS-13 who were arrested during the crackdown were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation, Blakeman said.

The 20 defendants not identified by police had outstanding warrants, officials said.

The gang crackdown, Ryder said, was not connected to the fatal shooting of a teen last week in Eisenhower Park.

"The shooting last week is an ongoing investigation," Ryder said. "We’re comfortable with where we are in that investigation and we will give you positive results within the next few weeks. We have to wait for forensics to come back."