Thirteen alleged members of a Harlem gang have been indicted for months of violence that included nine shootings, a fatal assault on a 16-year-old and a brazen slashing inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Wednesday.
The defendants are accused of participating in a conspiracy targeting rivals throughout Harlem and Upper Manhattan in 2024. They collectively face 66 charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, officials said.
Authorities said they recovered 14 semiautomatic firearms during the investigation. Two of those charged are under 18 years old but will be prosecuted as adults.
The defendants were being arraigned on Wednesday and Thursday on the new indictment. Several had previously pleaded not guilty to earlier charges and were being held on bail, including Alfred Bernard, who is charged with murder in the fatal assault on 16-year-old Tresaun Clements. Another defendant, Shasha Davis, was remanded without bail.
Clements was not affiliated with any gang, Bragg said.
“They approached him to rob him, surrounded him, punched him,” Bragg said. “He was in a coma and later died.”
Prosecutors said the violence stemmed from an ongoing feud between the “OY” gang and rivals based in four NYCHA developments: Drew Hamilton Houses, Harlem River Houses, Douglass Houses and Polo Grounds Towers.
On the night of June 18, 2024, several defendants allegedly confronted Clements near West 148th Street and Bradhurst Avenue, asking if he was from the Polo Grounds, officials said. Bernard then punched him in the face, causing him to fall and become unresponsive. Clements later died in a hospital, authorities said.
In the weeks after Clements' death, the indictment alleges that some of the defendants celebrated the assault in a music video posted to YouTube, rapping that Clements was “punched in the face ... done,” according to officials.
The indictment details nine shootings that occurred across Harlem in 2024, including incidents in the middle of streets and at local delis, where bystanders were present. In one December shooting, a defendant allegedly fired into a deli across from the Drew Hamilton Houses, injuring an innocent bystander, prosecutors said.
In one incident, prosecutors said three defendants smuggled scalpel blades through security at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse at 100 Centre St. on Jan. 28, 2025. After spotting two rivals inside a courtroom, the defendants allegedly followed them out and slashed them near the elevator bank before court officers intervened.
One of the defendants later posted an Instagram photo of a scalpel tagged with the courthouse location, according to prosecutors.
“Street crews that show zero regard for human life have no business on our streets,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
Attorneys for the defendants, including Bernard and Davis, either did not return requests for comment, could not be reached, or had not yet been identified.
