Plot By Bloods & Crips To Assassinate Cops Uncovered In New York Drug & Gun Ring Bust

A massive gang takedown in Queens uncovered a rare alliance between Bloods and Crips and a ruthless plot to assassinate cops, authorities said Friday.

The revelations came as law enforcement unveiled the chilling results of long-running "Operation Under Siege" - 104 suspects, dozens of guns, two slayings and piles of drugs and cash.

The sprawling case was built on wiretaps - including recordings of gang associate Keith Livingston, who blabbed about plans to protect his drug turf by killing cops on patrol.

"He intended to position himself on rooftops and shoot police officers who were compromising his business in Far Rockaway and South Jamaica," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

"Before his deadly plans could be carried out, detectives arrested him and seized a defaced 9-mm. Hi-Point rifle, among other weapons."

Livingston's plot was only one facet of an investigation that began two years ago when police and prosecutors began looking into a drugs-and-guns network in Far Rockaway.

By Friday, they had arrested 104 people, closed two murder cases, and exposed ties between Far Rockaway Crips and the Bloods in South Jamaica.

The Crips, working to lock up the drug trade at four housing projects, bought cocaine, heroin and marijuana from a gang that should have been their enemy.

"The Bloods in South Jamaica aren't loyal to the Bloods in Far Rockaway, who were feuding with the Crips," a law enforcement source said. "That's what made this so unusual."

In fact, some of the Bloods in Far Rockaway were actually part of four Crips sets known collectively as Flocc - the last "c" standing for Crips.

One of the Flocc leaders was charged with shooting at an occupied NYPD car in January during an altercation with members of a Bloods set known as "Klick Klack." The cops were not hurt.

Livingston was arrested in September after he was heard on his cell phone complaining he was fed up with cops on foot patrol along Sutphin Blvd. in South Jamaica.

The officers were part of Operation Impact, an NYPD initiative that floods crime-ridden areas with rookie cops.

"[He] was unhappy with the fact that the police were out there, aggressively doing their job," said Deputy Chief Robert Boyce, head of the NYPD's Gang Division. "He stated that he wanted to shoot a police officer, to get them out of the way, from a rooftop."

Police secured a warrant and arrested Livingston hours later at his home on 160th St., recovering two guns, including the camouflage Hi-Point.

Livingston, charged with gun possession and conspiracy, is being held on $250,000 bail. His lawyer did not return a call.

The Livingston recordings are among thousands of hours of wiretap evidence amassed by the operation.

"It's tedious work. It's laborious work," Kelly said. "But it was extremely fruitful in this case."

Other top suspects collared in the probe include Gquan Lloyd, 23, the Crip who allegedly helped merge the four sets "mainly to corner the narcotics trade."

He was charged with gun possession. His lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Farrad Smith, 23, who worked as a corrections officer for a year before getting fired, was also busted on a weapons rap. Under his mattress, police found a 9-mm. handgun allegedly stolen from another corrections officer and a loaded AK-47.


Source: NY Daily News