SCHOOLS' GANG SCOURGE
BLOODY TURF WAR HITS HS CAMPUSES

New York Post
By PHILIP MESSING

January 14, 2008 -- A murderous gang turf war has erupted in Manhattan's city high schools - even spilling out in the tony streets of Gramercy Park and Chelsea, The Post has learned.

One innocent youth has been murdered and a dozen others injured in more than half a dozen skirmishes linked to a feud between Dominicans Don't Play, or DDP, and the Trinitarios, two groups of largely second-generation Dominican teens, law-enforcement sources said.

"Both of these gangs are recruiting at schools all over New York and in New Jersey," one gang investigator said.

"The Trinitarios are considered the fastest-growing gang in New York and renowned for using machetes and violence to make a statement."

In the past three months, the NYPD has investigated confrontations between the two groups in and around Gramercy Park, Chelsea, Harlem, the Morris Heights section of The Bronx and, most frequently, in Washington Heights.

The carnage includes one youth shot and killed, three shot and wounded and at least nine others stabbed or slashed, officials said.

Margie Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said agency officials are working to stem the violence.

"In cases where there are incidents outside the school, we work collaboratively with local businesses and the local police precinct," she said.

The most recent bloodshed occurred Jan. 7 at 9:30 a.m. at West 196th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, in the shadows of George Washington HS. The streets near their campus have emerged as a gang battleground, sources say.

Several suspected DDP members approached two students, ages 16 and 15, sources said.

The group asked the pair whether they were Trinitarios, and suspected DDP member Alberny Delacruz, 17, stabbed them both, causing minor injuries, sources said. Delacruz was charged with assault.

The gang battles had turned deadly on Oct. 19, when bystander Jos? Batista, 15, was shot dead outside his apartment building on West 134th Street, which was believed to house gang members.

The culprits, suspected DDP members, also wounded an innocent 16-year-old boy.

Street-gang crime soared 37 percent over the past two years - to 713 incidents, from 520 - according to police statistics.