Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that LAQUAN PARRISH, a/k/a “MadDog,” a/k/a “Quanzaa,” pled guilty today to racketeering and firearms charges in connection with his leadership of the “2Fly YGz” (“2Fly”) gang, a violent street gang that operated in and around the Eastchester Gardens public housing development (“ECG”) in the Bronx. As part of his guilty plea, PARRISH admitted his involvement in a shootout with rival gang members on August 7, 2012, during which three victims – including a 14-year-old girl caught in the crossfire – were shot in a Bronx park. PARRISH faces a maximum term of life in prison, and will be sentenced before United States District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on May 10, 2017, at 3:00 p.m.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “For far too long, Laquan Parrish and his cohorts with the 2Fly street gang terrorized the Bronx with violence, robberies, and drug dealing. Today’s guilty plea by one of 2Fly’s leaders, Laquan Parrish, to federal firearms and racketeering charges, including an admission to a shootout in which a 14-year old girl and two others were shot in a Bronx park, makes the community around Eastchester Gardens safer. That is why we bring these cases – to make our neighborhoods free from gang violence and drugs – and that is what today’s plea helped achieve.”
According to the Indictment and other documents filed in the case, as well as statements made during the plea proceedings:
PARRISH was a leader of 2Fly, a subset of the “Young Gunnaz,” or “YGz” street gang, which operates throughout New York City. 2Fly is based in the Bronx, within and around ECG and in an area called the “Valley” or the “V,” which is in the vicinity of Gun Hill Road. ECG is a rectangular complex of residential buildings bordered by Burke, Adee, Yates, and Bouck Avenues, in the middle of which is a playground. The gang war between 2Fly and rival street gangs has led to an enormous amount of fatal and non-fatal violence between 2007 and 2016 in the Northern Bronx, including shootings, stabbings, slashings, beatings, and robberies. Members and associates of 2Fly controlled the narcotics trade at ECG, which took place in the open air at the playground and in apartments at ECG. 2Fly primarily sold marijuana and crack cocaine, but also sold powder cocaine and prescription pills, such as oxycodone. 2Fly members and associates stored guns at the playground or in nearby apartments or cars in order to protect the narcotics business and for protection against rival gangs.
As part of his involvement in 2Fly, PARRISH participated with other 2Fly members in a shootout with rival gang members on August 7, 2012, in a public park in the Bronx. Three victims were shot, including a 14-year-old girl caught in the crossfire.
PARRISH was arrested in this case as a result of a multi-year investigation by the New York City Police Department’s Bronx Gang Squad (the “Bronx Gang Squad”), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Violent Gang Unit (“HSI”), the New York Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), and the Joint Firearms Task Force of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) into gang violence in the Northern Bronx. On April 27, 2016, the Indictment was unsealed, charging 57 members and associates of 2Fly with racketeering conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy, narcotics distribution, and/or firearms charges. To date, 42 of these defendants have pled guilty.
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PARRISH, 27, of the Bronx, New York, was brought from state custody into federal custody on April 27, 2016. PARRISH pled guilty today to one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and one count of firearms possession, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. The mandatory minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding work of the NYPD’s Bronx Gang Squad, HSI, DEA, and ATF.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Rachel Maimin, Micah W.J. Smith, Hagan Scotten, Jessica Feinstein, and Drew Johnson-Skinner are in charge of the prosecution.