Authorities on Wednesday announced a massive takedown of “WOOO” and “CHOO” — two rival Brooklyn street gangs whose “primary activity” was to track each other down and open fire “in a game of one-upmanship,” prosecutors said.
Thirty-four alleged members of the crews were hit with a 122-count indictment on various charges that include attempted murder, assault, gun possession, robbery, burglary and rape.
WOOO (which stands for We On Our Own) and CHOO (whose name prosecutors couldn’t parse) have terrorized the areas around Brownsville and Flatbush for years, in some cases using underage girls as “holsters” to hold their guns while they hunted rival gangsters, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.
“They tend to recruit, abuse, and utilize young women,” Gonzalez said. “They recruit them into the gang, they have the young girls carry their firearms, their handguns for them.”
They believe that the police are less likely to stop the young women,” he said.
Two accused WOOO members, Jayquan Wise, 19, and Tyquan Ellison, 20, are also charged with raping a 14-year-old girl — and Ellison is charged with sex trafficking for allegedly forcing the teen to have sex with Wise.
But it was the gunplay between the two gangs that made them a widespread public menace, authorities said.
In one shooting on Nov. 25, Gonzalez alleged that 19-year-old WOOO member Shan Mason shot an innocent woman — then bragged about it in a self-made video and in text messages.
I hit the lady in the face — bang!” he can allegedly be heard saying in the video. He also texted that he was “on the run” and “real life don’t care,” prosecutors allege.
In another incident in July 2018, two innocent bystanders were shot on Fulton Mall after a WOOO member left Brooklyn Supreme Court and got into an altercation with a rival.
The NYPD’s gang squad had been investigating the gangs since February 2018.
For reference Brooklyn Rappers POP SMOKE AND FIVIO FOREIGN ARE WOOO'S
Cops target notorious rival Brooklyn gangs ‘WOOO’ and ‘CHOO’ in major takedown
Thirty-four alleged members of the crews were hit with a 122-count indictment on various charges that include attempted murder, assault, gun possession, robbery, burglary, and rape.
nypost.com
