Why just now?
Oh, yeah.
An election.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] - Gudelia Vallinas was killed in the crossfire between rival gangs in March 2021
- NYPD launched a two-year operation which seeks to bring the gangs to justice
Almost two dozen New York City gang members have been rounded up as part of a huge NYPD operation launched after a mom-of-two was killed by a stray bullet amid a brazen street shoot-out two years ago.
The gangsters, described by authorities as some of the 'most dangerous' in the Big Apple, belong to two factions of the Crips whose alliance broke apart amid a drug deal back in 2018.
In March 2021, members of the 'Rolling Crips' - a.k.a. the 'Hip Hop Boys' - and the '8 Trey Crips' - a.k.a. the 'True Cash Gettas' - were locked in a brutal gunfight in the Woodside housing projects in Queens.
The gang members were chasing and shooting at each other through Woodside houses when they shot 37-year-old Gudelia Vallinas, who lived a few blocks away on 48th Street.
Vallinas, an immigrant from Mexico, was walking home from the grocery store when she suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital.
The needless slaying of the innocent mother-of-two sparked a two-year investigation into the warring Crips factions, which ultimately led to a huge bust of 23 gang members last week.
The majority of the defendants were arraigned on an eye-watering 85-count indictment which included charges of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon.
At a press conference yesterday, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz was joined by NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell to celebrate the bust.
The Department's annual round-up of crime over the past year was published in January and it revealed that crime is up in virtually every category.
The statistics paint a bleak picture of the city's efforts to address crime that's rocketed since the pandemic - a campaign that has been touted as successful several times over the past year by Mayor Eric Adams.
However, statistics show the politician - who ran on promises of addressing violence on the city's streets and is now entering his second year as mayor - was mistaken.
The data, released by the department Wednesday, Jan 4, came exactly two weeks after Adams assured citizens that officials had taken strides in the unrest, while touting supposed gains in public safety.
Adams, who himself is a former NYPD police captain, unveiled his 'Blueprint to End Gun Violence' early last year, along with a 'Subway Safety Plan' - both of which have so far proved largely ineffective, according to the new statistics.
The data shows that rapes, robberies, and assaults are all up from last year, since hitting highs not seen in decades in both 2020 and 2021.
Rape - which rocketed in 2020 when streets were empty and unemployment rife due to unrest caused by the coronavirus - rose by 7 percent, with more than 120 occurring this year than last.
Robberies, meanwhile, rose a shocking 20 percent, despite recent measures taken by Adams, 62, to increase police presence throughout the city.
Assaults and theft throughout the city, meanwhile, show a similarly pronounced rise, with felony assaults up 12 percent - 26,039 incidents this year compared to 22,835 seen last year - and burglaries up an alarming 25 percent.
All other crime categories - including grand larceny and motor vehicle theft - showed similar rises except for murders, despite the outset of the pandemic coming now nearly three years ago.
The statistics directly contradict repeated statements from Adams that New York - which saw incidents of violence and shootings swell to historic highs in 2020 when its streets were hollowed out by lockdowns - was well on the path to recovery, the most recent of which came just last month.
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