For years, the intersection of Bryant and Seneca avenues in the Bronx has been steeped in drugs, dollars and death.
Two rival gangs, the Bryant Boys and the Nasty Boys, ran multimillion-dollar crack and heroin operations on opposite corners of the intersection - all within easy shooting distance of each other. At least 15 people, including three bystanders caught in the crossfire, perished in a decadelong drug war.But federal authorities now have clamped down on the corner, indicting 31 members of both gangs. All but three were in custody Tuesday.
The rise of the Bryant Boys and Nasty Boys "is a dramatic example of how violent drug gangs can simply own street corners and dictate who can be there and when, and on what terms," U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said.
In recent years, federal officials have been using racketeering laws - designed to fight the Mafia - against street criminals practiced at beating ordinary murder and drug charges.
Unlike state murder laws, the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, requires proof only that a suspect was part of an enterprise that committed a murder, not that he was the actual killer. A conviction carries a sentence of life without parole.
More than 200 New York City gang members linked to at least 100 murders - and suspected of committing countless others - have been indicted under federal racketeering laws in the past two years.
Police draw a direct connection between the RICO arrests and dramatic drops in crime rates.