By Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

JAY STREET — It is often said that the best offense is a good defense. In anticipation of crime trends, Brooklyn prosecutors are preparing initiatives that go head-on against the problems of gang violence and real estate and mortgage fraud.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes sat down with the Eagle recently to discuss actions being taken by his office during the nationwide economic downturn. Hynes and Brooklyn prosecutors are cracking down on mortgage fraud and gang activity, while keep communities across the borough informed about these issues.

Re-Directing Gang Activity

One concern for law enforcement is that offers of easy money from gang activity could be more attractive to Brooklyn youths during the current economic downturn.

Large, dangerous gangs still exist in Brooklyn, including Los Niños Malos, La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), the Crips, the Bloods, the Latin Kings and a variety of Caribbean gangs, according to Deanna Rodriguez, head of the Gang Bureau at the Brooklyn D.A.’s office.

“Gang violence is up,� Rodriguez said. “When there are less and less things for kids, it makes kids more susceptible to gang recruitment.�

The Gang Bureau has existed for about 15 years and Rodriguez said that Brooklyn has the leading prosecution in the state against gangs. She works in three areas — the prosecution of crimes, community outreach with organizations like Mothers Against Gangs (MAG), and by helping rehabilitate gang members in the alternative-to-incarceration program, Project Re-Direct.

“One thing [D.A.] Joe Hynes did better than anyone was realizing gang prosecution is a specialty,� Rodriguez said. “It’s a subculture that not everybody sees. You need to have an expertise — someone to explain to jurors that it’s not just a random murder; it’s retaliation; it’s gang-related.�

With support from MAG, D.A. Hynes targeted storeowners selling gang clothing that was sometimes purchased by unsuspecting children, who could be beaten up walking down the street for wearing a gang’s symbol.

“The most disturbing, insulting thing was that [the storeowners] knew what they were doing,� Rodriguez said. “They were making money off the blood of our children.�

This summer, MAG is working with churches to make safe havens for kids, and safe gang-free paths for kids walking to school.

“Gangs will intimidate kids to join. They’re so tired of getting beat up all the time, they eventually succumb,� Rodriguez said. “Law enforcement can only do so much. We need to get communities to help.�

For Project Re-Direct, gang members who are sometimes arrested for serious or violent felonies are given a chance to return to society through participation in group classes and community service. “It’s a deprogramming of the life they’ve lived,� Rodriguez explained.

“One of my main objectives, in terms of public safety, is making sure that a gang member drops his flag and never goes back.,� Rodriguez said.

Fighting Real Estate and Mortgage Crimes

The numbers of real estate crimes and mortgage fraud cases have noticeably increased lately, as economic confusion leads to uncertainty in real estate values and homeowner fears.

D.A. Hynes reached out to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer about a year ago for assistance in fighting these types of crimes, when Hynes first realized that Brooklyn was facing an epidemic.

“It was clear to me a year ago that we were reaching a crisis level,� Hynes said. “I told [Schumer] that we were experiencing what can only be described as an epidemic.�

In March, the specialized Real Estate Crimes and Mortgage Fraud unit began fighting the predators who try to bilk Brooklynites out of their property and savings. The specialized unit has full-time staff members dedicated exclusively to combating these types of crimes. The D.A.’s office also started a hotline for real estate-related crimes, which Hynes said has been ringing off the hook since February.

“We’ve had hundreds and hundreds of calls. We redirected resources, reassigned people from the rackets division,� Hynes said. As a result of that work, the D.A.’s office recently announced eight real estate fraud indictments and 80 open cases.

Looking forward, Hynes said that it is possible that his model for a special unit focusing on mortgage fraud could possibly be replicated in other states, with the support of federal legislation that Sen. Schumer is supporting.

This unit came at the right time, according to Richard Farrell, chief of Mortgage Fraud and Real Estate Crimes Unit, who has seen the large increase in these types of cases.

“I and other [Brooklyn prosecutors] have literally been the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike,� Farrell explained. “This issue had gotten to such level that it needs a dedicated unit to deal with it.�

Brooklyn’s fight with real estate and mortgage scams sometimes involve defending against out-of-state scammers — predatory lending organizations, for example, that cold-call homeowners with deceptive offers of big loans. Farrell explained, however, that the Brooklyn D.A.’s office can prosecute those organizations.

“So long as the crime is committed with the knowledge and intent that it will affect people in Brooklyn, we can prosecute here,� Farrell said. “If it affects a house in Brooklyn, we have jurisdiction.�

Brooklyn likely attracts scammers because, as Farrell explained, “Relatively, [real estate] values here are still very high.�

Farrell has handled real estate crimes and mortgage fraud for years, and during the recent huge increase, he’s encountered a huge variety of scams.

One man who was arrested earlier this year had forged a deed that said he was the owner of a 39-story co-operative housing unit, where he had lived and even been president of the co-op board — almost two decades prior. He tried to take out multi-million dollar mortgages on the building before being caught.

Another man who was indicted recently met people in foreclosure, and told them he was an appraiser from their bank. He simply slipped documents in front of them and got the homeowners signatures down.

“It was a classic rush job,� Farrell said. “He said it was all a formality — but it’s the deed� that has been signed over.

To stop these types of bare-bones deceptions, D.A. Hynes wants more community education on these issues.

“P.T. Barnum famously said that there’s a sucker born every minute,� Hynes said. “Most of the fraud is preventable.�

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