The Bronx district attorney announced last week that 20 people have been indicted on charges over various crimes as part of what it’s calling “Operation Drilly.”
Those arrested are accused of participating in 32 crimes—involving shootings and stabbings—over the last three years, and are said to be part of the G-Side/Drilly gang, per a release from the DA.
The investigation has been ongoing in the Bedford Park and Fordham neighborhoods over the last 10 months, and many of the alleged gang members are part of the local drill music scene. District Attorney Darcel D. Clark and New York City Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell announced the arrests and 82-count indictment on Thursday, and claimed that they recovered 18 guns in the process.
“If you YouTube some of their videos, you can see that they call people out directly,” Deputy Chief Jason Savino of the NYPD Gang Suppression Unit said. “They make fun of incidents of individuals that have perished prior to gunfire, opposing gang members. And a lot of the times what we’ll see, immediately thereafter, is a little spread of violence. And that’s what we saw predominantly throughout this case.”
Those arrested have been charged with conspiracy, murder, manslaughter, attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, assault, attempted assault, and grand larceny. The crimes that some are facing charges on include a 2019 knife attack on a CUNY Prep student, a July 20 murder of a 24-year-old, a shooting at a Target in September 2020, an alleged April 2021 assault against a rival gang at Rikers Island, and a shooting at a barbershop in October.
“These defendants allegedly engaged in dozens of acts of violence, including murder and attempted murder, over the last three years, with the most recent just a few weeks ago,” Clark explained. “The defendants allegedly committed multiple shootings, some in broad daylight, killing two people and injuring innocent bystanders. These defendants terrorized residents of the Fordham/Bedford Park neighborhoods who were forced to run for their lives as bullets flew.”
The New York drill music scene as a whole has seen plenty of pushback from Mayor Eric Adams, who has previously opened up about being against “allowing music[with the] displaying of guns, violence” to stay online.
In recent months, plenty in hip-hop and beyond have rallied against the usage of music to prove guilt in court, and have pushed a proposed bill named “Rap Music on Trial” (S.7527/A.8681) with the help of Jay-Z, Meek Mill, Big Sean, and more.
“This is an issue that’s important to (Jay-Z) and all the other artists that have come together to try to bring about this change,” Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro, shared. “This is a long time coming. Mr. Carter is from New York, and if he can lend his name and his weight, that’s what he wants to do.”
