With the annual NY Auto Show opening today, the NYPD is having its yearly worry that gangs will take part in a violent ritual on Easter Sunday. A "high-ranking cop" told DNAinfo's Murray Weiss, "The top item on our plate this weekend is the car show. There will be hundreds of extra officers on duty, particularly from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. when the car show lets out."
Over the years, Easter Sunday has become an unofficial "Gang Initiation Day," with the Auto Show drawing gang members (and wannabes) to midtown Manhattan. In 2006, 200 gang members reportedly flooded Times Square, with three stabbings and, in 2010, four people were shot. The 2010 violence was so bad that Mayor Bloomberg called it a "wilding."
According to the Daily News, the NYPD is scouring Facebook and other social media for chatter about gang members' possible Times Square plans. DNAinfo adds, "Sources say even executives involved in the [auto] show avoid the Midtown area. Many are forsaking the neighborhood altogether, staying at hotels in Downtown Brooklyn rather than near the Javits or Times Square."
