A set of gang-related indictments last week was notable for zigzagging across Long Island, from a murder at a Farmingville nightclub to a shooting outside of Lee Zeldin’s Shirley house, to an armed carjacking in Wantagh, to East Hampton. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced on Dec. 12 that the gang, called No Fake Love, or NFL, has been broken up.
The investigation and indictments — 148 in all — covered 31 separate criminal incidents, the D.A. reported, including a murder, six shootings, six armed robberies, eight loaded handguns, 15 stolen vehicles, seven stolen French bulldog puppies, 18 defendants, and 100 search warrants. All that appeared to be missing in the holiday season announcement was a partridge in a pear tree.
A new agency operating within Mr. Tierney’s office, the Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, was among the Suffolk County police teams addressing the Island’s NFL problem. The agency was created in January to focus on gun violence.
That’s where the Town of East Hampton comes in: Two defendants, David Trent and Corey Foggy, both 18 years old, were arrested on June 8 by county police in Brookhaven and found to be in possession of a 2015 BMW 3 Series that was stolen in East Hampton on May 7. Police also recovered a .9mm pistol that had been used in a gang-related shootout in Mastic on June 4.
Among numerous other charges, Mr. Trent was also indicted in the December 2021 murder of Jorge Mauricio Sevilla Barrera outside the Minx nightclub in Farmingville, the most serious of the many crimes attributed to the NFL gang. The other defendants, all of whom are between the ages of 15 and 27, face charges ranging from gang-related conspiracy to attempted murder.
The French bulldog puppies have never been recovered.