You are reading

Queens District Attorney Forms Violent Crimes Bureau

Melinda Katz (Office of Queens Borough President Flickr)

June 23, 2020 By Allie Griffin

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Monday that her office has formed a violent crimes bureau to prosecute street gangs, drug traffickers and firearms dealers.

The newly-created Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau combines the former Narcotics Investigations and Gang Violence bureaus. The unit focuses on identifying organized criminal activity in Queens.

“As your District Attorney, I promised to do everything possible to rid our neighborhoods of violent gangs, gun runners and drug traffickers,” Katz said in a statement.

“My Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau will stomp out crews that profit from selling instruments of death in our communities.”

The bureau will work with law enforcement and the community to gather information on gangs and organized operations.

“This reconfigured Bureau will use every resource available to ensure criminal networks, gang activity and other organized operations run by drivers of crime are dismantled and that the drugs and weapons they peddle will be taken off our streets,” Katz said.

Katz recruited long-time prosecutor Jonathan Sennett from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office to serve as the new bureau chief. He had most recently served as First Deputy Bureau Chief of the Brooklyn DA’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Sunnyside Gardens man identified as driver who started a fatal multi-vehicle collision in Astoria: NYPD

Aug. 12, 2025 By Bill Parry

An elderly Sunnyside Gardens man was the driver who died in a horrific multi-vehicle chain-reaction collision in Astoria that killed two pedestrians on Tuesday morning, according to authorities. Andrei Coman, 84, of 48th Street, was identified on Wednesday night by the NYPD as the motorist who was behind the wheel of a 2010 Toyota Corolla that was traveling northbound on 42nd Street at a high-rate of speed, when he ran a stop sign, lost control of his car and crashed into two men standing at a coffee truck near 19th Avenue.