Trinitarios Gang Takedown Leads To 10 Arrests, NYPD Says

NEW YORK — Cops on Wednesday arrested 10 reputed members of a brutal gang that has terrorized parts of New York City with random attacks, NYPD officials said.

Police are still looking for five alleged Trinitarios gang members connected to "very vicious" assaults on innocent bystanders in The Bronx and northern Manhattan, Deputy Chief Timothy McCormack said.

"We believe that this is random acts of violence by the Trinitario gang securing their territory," McCormack, the Bronx detectives commander, told reporters Wednesday.

Police say the accused gangbangers are part of the Trinitarios's Los Sures set — the same group responsible for the horrific June 2018 murder of 15-year-0ld Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz outside a Bronx bodega.

The individuals — whom police did not immediately identify — will face conspiracy, attempted murder and gang assault charges in a Manhattan court, according to McCormack. Police officials gave few details about their alleged crimes, but McCormack said their violent acts involved knives and machetes.

Cops nabbed one high-ranking Trinitario in Wednesday's arrests, which were the result of a 10-month investigation, McCormack said. Officers also recovered two guns and gang paraphernalia in the busts, he said.

Two of the people were linked to the infamous mistaken-identity murder of Guzman-Feliz, according to the deputy chief. Five men were convicted of murder for the killing in June — almost exactly a year after the aspiring detective was stabbed to death.

The Trinitarios have a long and bloody history in New York City. The gang started on Rikers Island in 1992 and spread through the prison system and onto the streets as its members were released. A 2011 FBI report called the Trinitarios "the most rapidly-expanding Caribbean gang and the largest Dominican gang."