17 Queens men charged in series of violent home invasions

By David Brand

Seventeen Queens residents were indicted in federal court Tuesday on charges related to a string of alleged armed robberies and other violent crimes, including home invasions targeting properties that displayed Indian flags.

The indictment, unsealed in federal court for the Eastern District of New York, alleges that the 17 men were members of a Southeast Queens-based Bloods set known as the Makk Balla Brims. 

Federal prosecutors said the defendants broke into at least two homes with Indians flags because they believed the residents kept gold and cash inside. One defendant allegedly posed as a UPS deliveryman to enter a home, where co-defendants restrained two young girls inside at gunpoint and stole money and electronics in 2017. The team of thieves used the same delivery trick to rob a second home, prosecutors said. 

The group of men also allegedly robbed a Jamaica barbershop at gunpoint, broke into various other homes, tortured one home invasion victim by burning him in the legs and shot another in the stomach.

The defendants “committed numerous, violent armed robberies, victimizing families in their homes and employees and patrons of local businesses, including a barber shop,” said U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.