'Boss Crew' Drug Ring 'Terrorized' Bed-Stuy, Feds Say

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — This crew is no longer the boss. Fifteen members of the "Boss Crew" drug ring that "terrorized" Bedford-Stuyvesant for three years could face life in prison, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Led by Tyshawn "Ty Black" Burgess, the crew supplied the area with heroin and crack cocaine and used guns to protect its members, Manhattan federal prosecutors said.

"These arrests demonstrate our continued commitment to protecting communities that are victimized by gang and gun violence," Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for New York's Southern District, said in a statement.

The group charged in Manhattan federal court includes street-level dealers, middle men and top-level distributors, prosecutors said.

Boss Crew distributed drugs in and around Bed-Stuy on a daily basis from 2015 to this May, prosecutors said. Burgess, 24, oversaw the operation, coordinating the supply of drugs to dealers and referring customers to other members, according to prosecutors.

Other lower-level members allegedly supplied wholesale drugs to dealers, packaged drugs for distribution and distributed them on the street.

Burgess and six other men used guns to protect the operation, leading them to be charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a narcotics conspiracy, prosecutors said.

All 15 members are charged with conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute at least 280 grams of crack cocaine and at least 100 grams of heroin, prosecutors said. They could face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Authorities arrested 14 of the men Wednesday morning after a joint investigation with the NYPD and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The 15th was already in custody on state charges, prosecutors said.

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