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FBI, Homeland Security and New York police officials have charged nine defendants including gang members with a violent racketeering and extortion conspiracy in attempting to take over an entire industry designed to help victims after a fire.
The defendants, who officials said include members of the violent Bloods street gang, took control of First Response Cleaning Corp., a Brooklyn-based emergency mitigation services (EMS) company that provides clean-up services to properties damaged by fire. Officials allege that the defendants used First Response as a vehicle to extort other participants in the fire mitigation industry and used violence to assert control over the industry and the filing of false insurance claims.
“As alleged, the defendants used violence and threats of violence to seize control of the fire restoration industry in New York City, and submitted false claims to insurance companies in a scheme to ensure insurance coverage for defective restoration work,” Jocelyn Strauber, commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, said.
According to allegations in the indictment unsealed in federal district court in Manhattan on June 29, after the defendants took control of First Response in 2019, they then used force and threats of force against other EMS companies and public adjusters to exert control over the city’s entire fire mitigation industry. They threatened to kill or shoot their victims and...
WASHINGTON (TNND) — FBI Director Kash Patel clashed with a Democratic lawmaker Tuesday during a Senate subcommittee budget hearing, forcefully denying allegations that he drinks excessively on the...