NYPD: Brooklyn gang members discussed crimes on Facebook

The Brower Boys, a teenage gang in Brooklyn, found out the hard way about the dangers of revealing too much information on Facebook.

NYPD detectives, tipped off that gang members were squabbling over crime proceeds on Facebook, took down 14 reputed members of the gang that targeted apartments in the Crown Heights area for burglaries, assaults and robberies, officials said yesterday.

Taking their name from nearby Brower Park, the gang members ages ranged from 15 to 19 years old, with one as young as 13. They carried out a yearlong burglary spree, from April 2011 to March 2012, stealing electronic equipment, cameras and laptops that were later pawned for cash, according to 102-page indictment filed in the case.

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said that gang members joked with one another online about how they might be caught after they saw comments from an earlier news conference that said cops and the staff of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes had become social media savvy.

"They ended their postings with LOL -- for 'laughing out loud,' " Kelly said at a news conference yesterday.

"There was someone laughing out loud. It was police Officer Michael Rodriguez, who had 'friended' the burglars to the point where he learned of their next move," Kelly said.

As a result, cops were able to record video of gang members breaking into apartments, Kelly said, adding that the suspects targeted people who had just moved into the neighborhood.

Hynes said that most of the break-ins occurred when residents weren't home. But, he said, in one incident, four suspects, including the 13-year-old, tied up a woman and sexually assaulted her. One victim in a different incident was also shot and wounded, Hynes said.