Dominicans Don't Play

Dominicans Don't Play (DDP) is a Dominican-American street gang started in Manhattan, New York in the early 1990s. They are known for primarily using machetes and knives as weapons. DDP is located across New York City, particularly in Brooklyn and The Bronx.

Recruiting

Recruiting efforts have been pursued via websites such as YouTube and MySpace^[2] as well as in schools.^[3] Members have to be at least in their teen years to become active members in the gang.

Drug trafficking

The gang holds a large share of the cocaine market^[4] due to an association with the Colombian crime cartel,^[4][5] and as such, many members of the group have been arrested for drug-related crimes.^[6] Members have drawn the interest of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement^[7] and some have faced deportation hearings.^[8] The DDP has also drawn the interest of the US Marshals.^[9]

Throughout the group's relatively short history as a gang they have been involved in numerous violent altercations in New York,^[10] New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, and Spain.^[11]

Gang sets

Bones

There is an offshoot of the DDP gang known as "Bones"from the bronx ,^[12] which was discovered following an attempted murder of a rival gang member.

Dominicans For Life

Another offshoot of the DDP gang is DFL, short for Dominicans For Life. DFL was discovered by the beads similar to those used by DDP, with the exception of the use of black, along with the use of a similar hand sign.^[12]

Notable criminal acts

Pelham and murder

A scuffle between DDP and the Bloods^[1] at Pelham Prep High School in the Bronx on March 11, 2005 resulted in the stabbing of two teenage boys.^[13]

Coney Island arrests

A contingent of 47 gang members who were allegedly planning to wreak havoc on the Coney Island boardwalk were arrested.^[14] One of those arrested had a gun and eleven had machetes.^[14]

February 20, 2007 murder

On February 20, 2007 an 18-year old boy was stabbed 21 times in Boston's Back Bay MBTA station by a gang of teenagers as part of their jumping in process. The man subsequently quit the gang, and the DDP code orders that past members must be killed.

Murder of Jose Rosario

15 year-old Jose Rosario, better known as "Ness", was killed outside of a deli in Hackensack, New Jersey. The boy was killed by a member of the Trinitarios.

Murder of Marviel Martinez

On April 13, 2005 fifteen-year-old Alex Ramirez, a member of the DDP off-shoot Bones, was charged with second-degree murder after witnesses said he slashed 16-year-old Marviel Martinez (rival gang member Trinitario) in the neck and then thrust the blade deep in the teen's back Tuesday morning at the Jerome Avenue IRT 183rd Street station.^[15]

Murder of Mark Tyrell

A 16 year old, Mark Tyrell, was stabbed in March 2007 outside of Pizzaria in Union Square.^[16] Mark Tyrell has gotten into a fight with members of the DDP which forced him to be transferred to Chelsea.^[17]

December 2006 murder

A brutal fight amongst almost 50 teenagers^[18] in Union Square left one teen dead (Tasihawn Bellevue) and two others injured.^[19] Police Commissioner Kelly said it was a "planned confrontation": Some Washington Irving High School female students were "insulted," so they enlisted their boyfriends at Science Skills High School to defend their honor.^[20] Taishawn Bellevue was killed during this altercation.^[19][21][22] Taishawn was an aspiring basketball player known as baby lebron, as his Myspace page is littered with LeBron James wall papers.^[20][23]

Commissioner Kelly also suggested that the fight was gang-related, as some Washington Irving students are members of DDP - Dominicans Don't Play.^[24] Other students who were based at Science Skills students could been members of no gang .^[24] An official who spoke to the NY Times, someone whistled to start the fight and the girls' contingent from Science Skills had 15 people "with no plans for a confrontation and found themselves outnumbered."^[20] Police reviewed surveillance footage from a nearby store that captured the fight. The around 50 teens involved used belts, pieces of wood, and bats during the altercation. 16-year-old Francisco Baez is charged with murder, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon.^[19] after two people picked him out of a line up.^[25] He later confessed to the crime as a result of being identified.^[26]

Other incidents

In 2004 several people associated with DDP were arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a River Edge, New Jersey man after the North Hudson Dominican Day Parade in August 2003. They have had an ongoing feud with other area gangs, including the sets affiliated with the United Blood Nation and the Trinitarios, a group comprised also of Dominican youths.^[27] There was a recent arrest of three members of the DDP by the FBI.

On January 1, 2007 3 members of the gang DDP were arrested in New York City. They were wanted for multiple charges relating to a shooting incident at a restaurant in which the three subjects fired several rounds killing one person and critically injuring three. They were arrested in NY with a .38 caliber hand gun.^[9] Other incidents include a large brawl in Manhattan's Union Square.^[21][22]

There have been incidents of individuals who have been attacked with machetes after being asked if they were members of the DDP.^[28] Some attacks have been deadly.^[29]

Potential for expansion

They are currently the second largest gang of Dominican descent behind the Trinitario Gang.^[30] The group has limited potential for nationwide expansion and is largely confined to areas with significant Dominican populations in particular Washington Heights, Chelsea,^[31] Florida, Atlanta, Boston and New Jersey.^[32] It is the fastest growing gang in the Bronx,^[33][34] and amongst the largest in New Jersey.^[35] They are considered to have the largest concentration of Dominicans of any neighborhood in the United States, combined population of Dominicans residing in New York and New Jersey totals around 1.2 out of an overall US Dominican population of 2.3 million as of 2001.^[36]

In other countries

Spain

On March 7, 2006 Spanish Police in Madrid noted a growing gang presence of the Latin Kings and DDP.^[11] Spanish police report 130 documented DDP members, making them the largest in Spain. DDP is the largest and most violent street gang in Spain. The gang has become the most prominent gangs in Madrid.^[11][37] On November 5, Spanish security forces arrested 40 DDP members, all of them between 16 and 29 years old. The security forces confiscated 5 guns, one grenade, one machete, ammo, 3 baseball bats, 400 grams of cocaine, and 200.000 euros in cash.^{[citation needed]}

Gang rivalries

• Trinitarios ^{[1][24][38][39][40][41][42][42]} - DDP's biggest rival gang since formation in the 1990s.

See also

• List of gangs in the United States

References