Brooklyn narcotics cops stormed into Crown Heights on Friday morning, rounding up 35 alleged gang members in a raid meant to clean house prior to Monday’s J’Ouvert celebration.
Those arrested are members of the Franklin Avenue Family Crew, a Crips-affiliated drug and gun gang known to pedal heroin and cocaine on Eastern Parkway, along the West Indian Day parade route, officials said.
The roundup by Brooklyn South Narcotics cops netted a haul of 10 handguns, three pounds of pot, some heroin and a kilo of cocaine, officials said.
Last year’s pre-dawn J’Ouvert celebration ended in tragic violence, when two other gangs, from the nearby Ebbets Field Houses, went to war near the dancing revelers.
Lawyer and innocent bystander Carey W. Gabay, 43, an aide to Governor Cuomo, was struck in the head by a stray bullet, and died days later.
“This was a concentrated effort to execute this case prior to J’Ouvert,” said NYPD Capt. Joseph Matzinger.
A fifth suspect in Gabay’s shooting was arrested in California on Thursday.
Friday’s arrests were the result of a four-month investigation; 14 of those arrested have already been charged in a sealed indictment, sources said.
The investigation was sparked by the broad-daylight double-shooting in March of a 14-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man at Franklin Avenue and President Street, officials said. Those shootings were linked to a beef between the Franklin Avenue Family Crew and rival gang Folk Nation.
A month later, the same two rival gangs were responsible for another mid-afternoon shooting on April 22 at Union Street and Franklin Avenue, officials said. All four victims survived.
The 35 arrested at nine Crown Heights locations Friday face charges including conspiracy to distribute narcotics and weapons possession, officials said.