California Inmate-led Long Island Gang Bust Nets 31, DA Says
A California federal prison inmate accused of leading a Long Island street gang from 2,500 miles away was among 31 reputed members and associates arrested for their roles in the murder of a schoolteacher, conspiracies, and 18 shootings over the past three years, authorities announced Thursday.
Latique “La Brim” Johnson was indicted on charges of ordering the Bloodhound Brim Street Gang — a Bloods affiliate based in Bay Shore, Coram, Mastic, and Riverhead — to establish itself as the most violent gang in the area in retaliation for the murder of one of its members, according to investigators.
“Unfortunately, the violence that these alleged gang members and associates inflicted upon our community ended up taking the life of Kimberly Midgette, a 44-year-old schoolteacher,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said of the 2023 fatal shooting in Hempstead.
Prosecutors said charges in the 103-count indictment covered 34 incidents, including three armed robberies, a conspiracy to commit murder, and the recovery of 12 loaded handguns. Johnson allegedly communicated his orders to the gang through two suspected local leaders, 26-year-old Jussiah “Lokko” Herbert of Copiague and 27-year-old Oumar “Dollo” Barry of Hempstead, who deposited money that the gang made from robberies and drug sales into Johnson’s prison account, which had a balance of $31,000, authorities said.
The string of shootings started on Aug. 23, 2021, seven hours after a member of the gang was gunned down, with the suspected killer’s North Amityville home the target, but there were no reported injuries, according to investigators. In the months and years that followed, gang members also allegedly shot at the homes of rival gang members in Brentwood, Bay Shore, Central Islip, and Mastic, with many of the shooting ocurring on the same day.
Midgette, the schoolteacher, was fatally shot in a case of mistaken identity in a drive-by shooting on April 1, 2023, authorities said. Alleged gang members were in a stolen car when they opened fire on the vehicle she was sitting in, killing her and wounding a passenger, prosecutors said. The gunmen were promoted up the ranks of the gang for the killing, according to investigators.
The following month, members of the gang allegedly shot a marijuana dealer in the back at close range with a .45 caliber pistol while robbing the victim, authorities added. That victim survived following extended hospitalization.
The joint investigation included investigators from the Suffolk sheriff’s office, federal Homeland Security Investigations agents, Southampton Town Police detectives, and the U.S. Marshals, who together executed more than 100 search warrants leading up to the arrests. Leading the probe were investigators with Suffolk prosecutors’ gang task force, the Suffolk police gun crime reduction unit, and a Riverhead Town Police detective.
Barry was arrested in December and pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and ordered held without bail. Ten of the other suspects were arraigned Thursday with the remainder pending.
Johnson, the 44-year-old Bronx native who was the gang’s founder, was previously sententenced to 30 years in federal prison after being convicted of racketeering, narcotics conspiracy, and firearms charges.
