‘Operation Drilly’ Leads to 20 Arrests After NYPD Used Gang Members’ Drill Music Videos to Identify Them

Last week it was announced that 20 people had been indicted over various crimes as part of “Operation Drilly” by the Bronx district attorney.

According to a press release from the DA, those arrested are accused of participating in 32 crimes over the last three years, including shootings and stabbings, and are said to be members of the G-Side/Drilly gang.

For the past ten months, many of the suspected gang members involved in the drill music scene were under investigation in the Bedford Park and Fordham neighborhoods. On Thursday, New York City Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell and District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced the arrests and 82-count indictments, claiming that 18 weapons were confiscated in the process.

“If you YouTube some of their videos, you can see that they call people out directly,” Deputy Chief Jason Savino of the NYPD Gang Suppression Unit said. “They make fun of incidents of individuals that have perished prior to gunfire, opposing gang members. And a lot of the times what we’ll see, immediately thereafter, is a little spread of violence. And that’s what we saw predominantly throughout this case.”