the Tenth Street Gang and the Seventh Street Gang — have waged a bloody war on Buffalo’s West Side for years

the Tenth Street Gang and the Seventh Street Gang — have waged a bloody war on Buffalo’s West Side for years, police say.

Over the past three years, one violent retribution attack has followed another, causing grief for many families and making people afraid to walk the streets in some neighborhoods.

Thursday, cops and federal prosecutors attempted to put a stop to the violence by filing criminal charges against 35 alleged members and associates of the two gangs.

The charges were announced by U. S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. and leaders of the FBI, State Police, Buffalo Police and other law enforcement agencies.

“These are exactly the type of people we need to take off the streets to make neighborhoods safe again,” said Richard

W. Kollmar, special agent in charge of the Buffalo FBI office.

“Countless homicides, countless shootings — they have terrorized entire neighborhoods on the West Side,” said Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda, who said he believes the arrests will make some neighborhoods safer.

Hochul said the individuals charged include six alleged members of the Seventh Street Gang and 29 associated with Tenth Street, which has been the dominant gang on the West Side for more than 20 years.

Crimes alleged include four murders, 10 attempted murders, numerous assaults and scores of drug deals, prosecutors said in court papers. Most of the alleged Tenth Street associates who were charged on Thursday had been previously charged with related crimes in an indictment last September.

Identified as members of the Seventh Street Gang — also known as Checko’s Crew — are: Efrain “Checko” Hidalgo, Thomas Rodriguez, Kasiem Williams, Esteban “Rudolfo” Ramos-Cruz, Jordan Hidalgo and Juan “Puchongo” Torres.

Efrain Hidalgo, Williams, Ramos-Cruz and Torres are accused of taking part in the August 11, 2009, murder of Eric Morrow, a member of the rival Tenth Street Gang.

Buffalo police said Morrow, 21, of Kamper Street, was shot in the chest and leg while standing next to the porch of a home on Auburn Avenue near West Avenue. Thirteen days after that shooting, the indictment charges that Williams tried to murder Saul Santana, a member of the Tenth Street Gang.

Police charged that Santana had shot and killed Anthony “Act” Colon, a 20-yearold Seventh Street gangster, while Colon was walking on Ullman Avenue on July 26, 2009.

The 29 defendants accused of racketeering crimes in the Tenth Street case are: Santana, Kyle “Bow-Wow” Eagan, Tony Peebles, Cody Busch, Matthew Deynes, David Deynes, Nourooz Ali, Efrain Barreto, Charles “Pingy” Watkins, Desmond Ford, Jimmarlan Sessions, Omar Hernandez, Justin Augus, Melvin Medina, Miguel Moscoso, Hector Rodriguez, Jimmy Sessions, Derrick Yancey, Johnathan Serrano, Michael Bobbitt, Brandon Bobbitt, Renal Velasquez, Daniel Colon, Douglas Harville, Jairo Hernandez, Matthew “Matt Nasty” Smith, Chazity Fluellen, Michael Hernandez and Benjamin Medina.

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