West Harlem Gang Takedown Nabs 48 People, Prosecutors Say

HARLEM, NY — Nearly 50 people were named in an indictment Thursday as authorities busted an alleged drug-trafficking ring accused of selling narcotics around the clock on a couple of blocks in West Harlem.

The ring, known as "Main Event," operated along West 135th and 136th streets between Amsterdam Avenue and Riverside Drive, police said. Participants sold drugs, mainly crack cocaine, and also committed acts of violence that helped make their territory one of Manhattan's most dangerous blocks, prosecutors said.

A total of 48 people were indicted Thursday on charges ranging from attempted murder to conspiracy to weapons possession, the Manhattan District Attorney's office announced.

Authorities began investigating Main Event as far back as 2018, conducting wiretaps, undercover sales, search warrants on iCloud accounts and covert cameras that surveilled West 135th 136th, and 138th streets

Wiretaps showed the participants were selling drugs nearly 24 hours a day, at times recording $10,000 in sales within a couple of hours, prosecutors said. Social media posts, meanwhile, showed piles of cash and diamond-encrusted firearms and jewelry.

Many members of Main Event are related to each other by birth or marriage, according to prosecutors, who said the group often recruited teenagers as young as 15 to sell drugs or engage in violence.

That violence included a July 23, 2020 shooting in which two Main Event members allegedly fired at a rival, as well as a stabbing days earlier on West 135th Street related to a territorial dispute.

"As alleged, these individuals operated a 24/7 drug trafficking ring in an area of West Harlem plagued by narcotics-driven violence and drug-related overdoses," District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in court on Thursday.

"In fact, just a single block of their operating territory, West 135th Street between Broadway and Riverside Drive, was recently classified by the NYPD as the most violent in Manhattan, fueled in no small part by this highly-structured criminal organization."

Gang takedowns have risen in frequency in recent months as the city aims to stem a rise in shootings. The approach has faced criticism from some advocates and experts, however, who say the takedowns sweep up innocent young men and breeds mistrust.