25 charged in MDC-Brooklyn assault, contraband crackdown
Federal officials have charged 25 people in a dozen cases involving alleged smuggling and violence at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center.
A former corrections officer is among those charged for allegedly attempting to smuggle vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana and cigarettes into the facility in the protective vest he was wearing. He resigned from the Bureau of Prisons two days later.
Fifteen inmates were charged for violent assaults against other inmates. Prosecutors say a Feb. 22 fight sent five to the hospital, including one with 18 stab wounds. Security cameras captured inmates in the melee holding sharp weapons, including one about a foot long.
A suspected MS-13 gang associate is accused of trying to smuggle 18 cellphones and marijuana to fellow MS-13 gang members.
"The safety and security of our federal detention facilities is paramount," U.S. Attorney John Durham said. "As alleged, in several separate charging instruments, inmates viciously attacked fellow detainees, a correctional officer betrayed his duty by attempting to smuggle drugs into the facility, several inmates orchestrated elaborate contraband smuggling operations, and yet another inmate continued to engage in fraud schemes while detained. These actions undermine the order and security of MDC-Brooklyn and endanger everyone within its walls."
In addition, five people were charged with conspiring to smuggle marijuana, a scalpel, cigarettes and a phone charger into the MDC by throwing a line out a window that another person would tie to package of contraband to be pulled back up.
Another inmate was accused of pulling out a ball of ceramic scalpels from a bag of Doritos and stuffing them into his shirt while in the MDC's visiting area.
News of the charges comes after an "interagency operation" in October to crack down on contraband at the jail.
High-profile inmates at MDC-Brooklyn include Luigi Mangione and Sean "Diddy" Combs. R. Kelly and Sam Bankman-Fried have also been held there over the years. None of those higher-profile inmates are involved in the current case.
MDC-Brooklyn is the only federal jail in New York City. Notorious for its horrible conditions -- inmates won a $10 million class action settlement after enduring frigid conditions during an eight-day blackout in 2019 -- the waterfront industrial complex houses 1,200 inmates.
