Uptown drug gang Trinitarios ripped apart in bust; 34 members face barrage of federal charges
BY Michael E. Miller and Wil Cruz
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Tuesday, March 10th 2009, 11:53 PM

Cops dealt a crippling blow Tuesday to a fast-growing Washington Heights drug gang that has recently ratcheted up the violence, branching into murder to protect its turf.

Thirty-four members of the Trinitarios, including three of its leaders, were charged with a slew of crimes, including drugs, weapons and murders, law enforcement officials said. Police recovered 20 pounds of marijuana, $2,000 and, during the 20-month investigation, several handguns, including three 9-mm. weapons, a .45-caliber and a .357 magnum.

Cops said the mostly Dominican gang, which also operated in the Bronx, had become more brutal recently.

"Over the last couple of years, they've started to delve into more and more violence," said Capt. Gerry Farrell, commanding officer of the Bronx gang squad. "What started out as slashings and stabbings with knives and machetes has escalated to shootings and homicides."

The U.S. attorney's office Tuesday handed down an indictment that charged 41 members - authorities were still seeking seven more - with commandeering a four-block stretch in Washington Heights to sell cocaine, crack and Ecstasy, among other crimes.

"Members of the Trinitarios ... committed and conspired, attempted and threatened to commit acts of violence to protect and expand their drug-trafficking operation," according to the indictment.

The bust included the arrests of Jonathan Feliz, Reynaldo Montilla and Amantino Ramos, three of the gang's alleged leaders. Prosecutors said Feliz, the boss, ordered a cohort to kill off a rival drug dealer, a plan that ultimately failed.

There are some 250 documented members of the Trinitarios in the city and scores of others who have not been accounted for, Farrell said. The gang came onto authorities' radar after a fatal Thanksgiving 2006 shooting in Manhattan.

The arrests did little to ease Washington Heights residents.

"It doesn't make me feel safer at all," said Vera Marino, 44. "There's always going to be some left on the outside. They can't arrest everybody."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/03/10/2009-03-10_uptown_drug_gang_trinitarios_ripped_apar.html

It's a shame that these miscreants have hijacked the name "trinitario" and have made it synonomus with the worst aspects of our community.

Contrale !! Que frescos usando un nombre asi para esa vagbabunderia!!

For what it's worth I've never had any problems on the stretch these guys are alleged to have controlled, and I am there very often. In fact until I read this news today I would have described those blocks as amongst the cleanest in the often shady 'East of Broadway' side of the Heights.

Also for some real laughs check out this post on a blog hosted by the NY Times. It is a good example of why bloggers are not the same quality as journalists... not even bloggers who work or established publications.




http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/uptown-drug-ring-is-disrupted-official-say/


Sure sure, beginnings in the 1800s ....maybe cell 1800 at Rikers

LOL..Obviously Al Baker is an idiot who just writes without checking his sources. I guess if I started a gang and name it "The Sons of Liberty", after a group of patriots who organized against British colonial rule in the American colonies, this clown would find a way to tie both organizations to each other based on name alone. Que payaso. For the record the trinitarios, the gang that is, originated in New York State's prison system and has nothing to do with the historical Trinitarios, which was founded by JP Duarte.

How much do you want to bet most, if any, of those idiots didn't even know who the "Trinitarios" were?.

Let's hope those asquerosos told the authorities it was the name of a rope they were going to use to hang themselves!.

From my opinion, gangs are STUPID, A WASTE OF TIME, POINTLESS, and so on. To think that my fellow dominicans are into this type of shit is bothersome, why waste precoius lifetime on selling drugs, killing others, and gaining territory for a worthless number, sign, and color, BULLSHIT......im glad they got busted. GANGS SHOULD BE ELIMINATED.

it truly is a shame that a whole bunch of idiots have to go out and do such horribles crime and smear the name of our community, that as we all know doesn't need any more put downs, and to top it all off they have to go and take the name of our founding fathers original group that stood and still stands for the complete opposite of what those idiots were doing

Yep! It's only a matter of time before the USA gets done wiping themselves with this trash and it ends up in DR! From what I understand the USA Ships about 200 per trips not sure how often??? But the bottom line is; we end up with these good for nothing so-called Dominicanos...

Too Late, There are a lot of these gang members out there...
And honestly there all UN educated Bafoons those guys give shame and it's shows how low Dominicans are going...
Lack education , crime,drugs, teen pregnancy........