A superseding indictment and criminal complaint were unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging 11 members of the 5-9 Brims, a violent set of the Bloods street gang, with crimes related to their participation in a criminal enterprise that made money through narcotics trafficking and financial scamming, and maintained its power through acts of violence, including
“These violent street gangs simply want to make money with as little effort as possible, which is why they’re venturing into unique criminal territory for gangs such as credit card fraud while maintaining their tried and true drug trafficking and murder activity,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney. “The work our FBI New York Metro Safe Streets Task Force is doing is extremely important to the communities where these gangs are terrorizing people. Those people don’t deserve to fear bullets flying by their homes while they sleep, or seeing people killed in the streets. They deserve peaceful neighborhoods and safe places to live.”
“The members of the 5-9 Brims are alleged to have engaged in a host of illegal activity including acts of violence and murder,” stated ATF Special Agent-in-Charge DeVito. “Thanks to great coordination and leveraging of resources with our local, state and federal partners these individuals will be brought to justice. I would like to thank the United States Attorney’s Office for their diligent work in prosecuting this case.
“Today’s takedown highlights our relentless work in stopping the violence carried out by large, established gangs and their ruthless offshoots. I commend our detectives, and federal partners, for their sustained focus on this case until all the major defendants could be arrested,” stated NYPD Commissioner Shea.
According to the indictment and other court filings, the 5-9 Brims is a set of the Bloods street gang that operates in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and elsewhere. Gang members have committed acts of violence, including murder, robbery and assault, and engaged in drug-trafficking and fraud. Between January 2012 and December 2019, the defendants committed crimes to further the interests of the gang, including earning money for the gang’s members, and enhancing the gang’s position with respect to rival criminal organizations.
During the charged period, the 5-9 Brims were feuding with a rival faction of the 5-9 Brims, known as the “Real Ryte,” whose members also operated in Brooklyn. The feud led to a series of violent confrontations and, as alleged, during this period several members of the 5-9 Brims conspired to murder members of Real Ryte. Defendant Marvin Pippins, a 5-9 Brims member, allegedly shot and killed Sean Peart, a Real Ryte member, on December 19, 2015 in broad daylight while the victim was sitting in his car in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
On August 15, 2018, members of the 5-9 Brims carried out a violent assault against a bartender at Angels night club in Flushing, Queens, who had not shown proper respect for another member of the gang.
The best friend of Bronx rapper Cardi B, Yonette Respass, A.K.A. “Star Brim,” who was serving a sentence in a federal prison at the time, commissioned her younger female members, referred to as “drops,” to “pop that bottle” on the bartenders, stating “I want hands put on them. I don’t even want no talking.” That night, Defendants Jeffrey Bush, Louis Love, Rodolfo Zambrano and three of Respass’s “drops” met at Angels where they lured one of their bartender targets across the bar, and, while holding her by the hair, beat her head and threw a bottle at her. Bush recorded the assault on his cell phone, and the video was sent to the gang member on behalf of whom Respass allegedly ordered the attack.
According to WNBC, the heavily pregnant ‘Star Brim’ won’t be arrested until she gives birth.
Throughout the period charged in the superseding indictment, members of the gang supplemented their illegal drug business by committing numerous financial frauds, including possession and use of stolen identities, fraudulent checks and access devices such as credit cards and bank account information.
Defendants Jeffrey Bush, Tyshawn Atkins, Louis Love, Marvin Pippins, James Sease, Montel Shuemake and Rodolfo Zambrano are charged in the superseding indictment with racketeering conspiracy for agreeing to commit crimes on behalf of the gang, including drug trafficking, identification and access device fraud, as well as multiple acts involving murder. Defendant Marvin Pippins is also charged with murder in-aid-of racketeering in a retaliatory act of gang-related violence for killing Sean Peart; Marvin Pippins, James Sease and Montel Shuemake are charged with conspiring to murder additional members of a rival faction of the gang. Defendants Jeffrey Bush, Louis Love, Rondolfo Zambrano, India Lane and Yonette Respass are charged with conspiracy to commit assault in-aid-of racketeering. A number of the defendants are variously charged with narcotics and firearms-related offenses. Pippins is a fugitive.
Two additional 5-9 Brims members, Jose Battle and Brian Jackson, were arrested on a complaint charging them with financial fraud.
