MANAHTTAN SUPREME COURT — A crew of alleged crack dealers charged with plying their wares on a busy Harlem block terrorized the residents and those who attended its churches and its schools on a daily basis, a prosecutor told the jury responsible for deciding their fates.
Alleged ringleader Jaquan Layne, 21, his brother Jahlyl Layne, 18, Habiyb Mohammed, 31, Jonathan Hernandez, 19, and Jeffrey Brown, 19, face between 25 years to life in prison for their alleged drug slinging, gun running and conspiracy charges, prosecutors said.
They were allegedly part of a youth gang that took over a portion of West 137th Street between Lenox and Seventh Avenue as their turf — a block that also houses the Abyssinian Baptist Church, a neighborhood center and Harlem Hospital — prosecutors said.
"West 137th Street — where the defendants sought to control with their guns, their violence and their crack trade — is home to many hardworking men and women," Assistant District Attorney Christopher Prevost said during opening arguments Tuesday morning in the case against five alleged gang members.
"They armed themselves with loaded handguns and they engaged in armed conflicts with other rival street gangs," the ADA said of the accused dealers.
Prevost said Jaquan Layne, 21, was the ringleader of the crew, and added that they believe he continued his reign of terror even from inside his jail cell at Rikers Island. Jurors at trial are expected to hear Layne on tape giving "direction, encouragement and involvement" to his underlings as they deal crack and use firearms, prosecutors said.
They say he was also caught on tape making calls to his then-15-year-old girlfriend Afrika Owes in which he allegedly complained that he was not getting enough of a cash kickback from the dealers who worked for him.
Owes, a former prep school student who was accused of toting a 9mm handgun in her purse for the crew, was initially charged as part of the DA's sweep of 14 alleged gang members. She later entered into a plea deal and served a stint at Rikers Island, but was recently released so she could begin her senior year of high school.
After a high-profile push by her fellow parishioners at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, including a bid to use church funds to bail her out, Owes was allowed to strike a deal under which she promised to stay out of trouble and remain in school in exchange for a youthful offender status. That would mean her case would be sealed and would not appear on her permanent record, under the terms of the agreement.
Jurors are expected to hear recorded phone calls, and police witnesses will interpret street lingo, so that they may understand that the crew was conducting business.
In order to prove the conspiracy charge, prosecutors will have to show that the alleged dealers agreed to act together to run their illicit street business.
But lawyers for the defendants said their clients were unfairly classified as a gang and that there was no conspiracy involved in any illicit dealings they may have had.
Franklin Rothman, who represents Jaquan Layne, said his client was nothing more than a "wannabe" kingpin, as evidenced by phone calls from Rikers during which he was begging for cash.
"Much of the time he's on the phone talking to people from jail, he's begging for money — I need 10 bucks, I need 20 bucks," Rothman said.
"As much as he's got a big mouth, as much as he's a wannabe, as much as he quotes lines from a rap song, he's nothing," the attorney added.
The trial continued with testimony from the prosecutor's witnesses on Tuesday afternoon.
