Two New York City Police officers were attacked by teenage gang members in Times Square last week, Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch say.
According to Adams and Tisch, the gang is an offshoot of a violent Venezuelan street gang, with some members as young as 12 years old.
5 alleged Los Diablos de 42 members arrested, officials say
The officers were attacked while trying to break up what Tisch called “what appeared to be a wolfpack-style robbery” while a boxing match was going on in Times Square last Friday.
“Instead, they were ambushed, pelted with scooters, basketballs and other makeshift weapons. This was a targeted attack,” Tisch said.
The officers were not seriously injured.
Officials say five individuals have been arrested, and six more are being sought. Police are examining video of the attack.
“When someone openly assaults a police officer, you are attacking our symbol of safety, and it cannot be tolerated,” Adams said.
All are said to be members of the gang “Los Diablos de 42,” or “the Little Devils of 42nd Street.” Officials describe them as a “farm team” of the Tren de Aragua gang.
Officials said that several of the alleged gang members took pictures of themselves flashing signs while in handcuffs after they were arrested.
“This country is a place for opportunities. You shouldn’t be preying on other migrants and asylum seekers. You shouldn’t be preying on innocent New Yorkers. Once you do that, you have lost your right to be here in what I believe is the greatest country on the globe,” Adams said when asked if the gang members should be deported.
NYPD Assistant Chief Jason Savino says officers have arrested 37 members of Los Diablos and Tren de Aragua.
“Of those 37, we have over 240 arrests of those 37 individuals. That’s almost six [arrests] apiece,” Savino said.
The mayor says members of Los Diablos were involved in a string of robberies in Central Park in August of 2024 and a subway robbery last November.
“When you’re surrounded by this, you’re traumatized,” Adams said.
Arrests put spotlight on fight over NYPD’s gang database
Tisch pointed out that officers were able to make several quick arrests after the Friday attack by using the NYPD’s gang database, and slammed members of the New York City Council who want to eliminate it.
“You can’t fight organized violence with blindfolds on, and without this tool, we lose the edge that keeps our city safe,” Tisch said.
There is currently a bill in the City Council to abolish the gang database, which contains about 16,000 names.
“They use really arbitrary and vague ways to categorize people as gang members,” Legal Aid Society attorney Rigodis Appling said.
Appling says the system unfairly identifies so-called gang members by their social media photos and tattoos.
“What is the harm of being on this gang database?” CBS News New York’s Ali Bauman asked.
“The worst is the heightened surveillance by NYPD,” Appling said. “If they stop you, let’s say for a simple traffic stop, it becomes more of an issue.”