Sunday, July 13, 2008

Machete Mania

A Dominican weed dealer who grew up in Bburg told me that when he was a kid in the 80s, Dominicans, as the newcomers to the neighborhood, were often picked on. This changed one day when a Dominican gang showed up at the local high school and attacked their foes with machetes.

The more things change...

MACHETE MANIAC HACKS 2 MEN IN WILLIAMSBURG

By JOHN DOYLE and LARRY CELONA

Posted: 4:16 am
July 13, 2008

A man wielding a machete sent two men to the hospital early yesterday in Williamsburg - in the latest of an explosion of assaults in the gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood.

The man approached a group of people at South Third Street near Bedford Avenue at about 2 a.m. and started swinging, police sources said.

A 26-year-old man suffered a wound to the arm, and a 19-year-old was cut in his right shoulder.

Earlier in the evening, the assailant and friends had clashed with the attacked group at a feast, the sources said. Both injured men were listed as being in stable condition at Woodhull Hospital.

There were no arrests as of last night.

The last five weeks have seen another five slashings in the neighborhood, mainly in its eastern section.

Two of those bloody attacks took place at Graham Avenue and Devoe Street. The others were knifings on Flushing Avenue and Humboldt Street, Berry and South Eighth streets, and Borinquen Place and Grand Avenue.

According to the latest NYPD figures, felonious assaults in Williamsburg are up 21 percent this year, from 96 to 116 as of last July 6.

Just within the past month, the number of arrests in the area has skyrocketed from 14 to 29.

NYPD Assistant Chief Michael Collins said yesterday that he couldn't say how many of those assaults were stabbings or slashings.

"It's a spike we are looking at now," he said.

5 comments:

Jack Lauterback said...

http://jackgoesforth.blogspot.com/2008/03/bloody-face-and-nyc.html

I got attacked in a bar called the Black Betty on Metropolitan Ave. Nevertheless, the Williamsburg area is one of the favorite places I've ever been. I dream daily about living in Brooklyn.

Did you/do you have many ugly stories from your time there?

Robot Boy said...

Oddly enough, the Dominican dealer I mentioned has an historic connection to Black Betty. I had some good times there, back in the day.

I indeed have a lot of gritty Bburg stories. My blog covers some of them.

You should move to Brooklyn. Why not? You're young. There's always a bartender gig around, that's for sure.

Jack Lauterback said...

I want nothing more than to live in Brooklyn/NYC. Unfortunately I have some, err, debts that have ot be taken care of and the cost of living in Richmond is miniscule compared to NYC.

If I can get on my feet and find the capital to do it, I'm there in a heartbeat.

Historic connection? He may have been the one who sold me "pharmaceuticals" that night in the Betty bathroom.

Robot Boy said...

Ese, if it's more than 20 large and not student loans you should declare bankruptcy. It's not like you're going to buy a house in the next decade (it's not like anyone is going to buy a house in the next decade). We were not born to murder our youths paying debts.

Robot Boy said...

That's the horrible thing about NYC now. It's very difficult to find cheap housing. Another burden on the young and ambitious, at least those who don't have trust funds.