Gang Bust Nets Charge For 2014 Uptown Murder, Feds Say

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS-INWOOD, NY — Five members of a gang that operated for years in Northern Manhattan were indicted on robbery, narcotics and firearms charges following a recent takedown, federal prosecutors said. Prosecutors also linked the gang to a 2014 murder, but have yet to take the accused shooting into custody.

Milton Chardon, Bryan Castillo, George Citronelle, Noel Martinez and Juan Calderon were arrested this week and hit with charges including racketeering, conspiracy to deal narcotics, robbery, burglarizing pharmacies and firearms offenses, federal prosecutors announced. One other accused gang member, Yasmil Fertides was already in custody, prosecutors said.

The men allegedly committed crimes between 2011 and 2018 in the name of the 200 Gang, federal prosecutors said. The gang was allegedly behind the 2014 murder of Orlando Rivera, who was shot in front of a building on St. Nicholas Avenue, but the accused gunman Christian Pabon was not taken into custody during the gang bust, federal prosecutors said.

"The defendants wreaked havoc on their northern Manhattan neighborhood for years through a litany of crimes that harmed local businesses, injured robbery victims, and killed an innocent man," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman said in a statement.

In addition to the 2014 murder, gang members were also accused of an attempted murder in 2015 on Sherman Avenue and a 2016 shooting on Academy Street and Nagle Avenue, federal prosecutors said. The gang also ran a burglary operation targeting pharmacies in the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods as well as in the Bronx.

The six gang members in custody are expected to be arraigned in federal court on Sept. 21, prosecutors said.

Photo by Renee Schiavone/Patch