With leaders of the noted Abyssinian Baptist Church sitting behind her, a 17-year-old Harlem youth stood in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday and listened to the terms of a plea agreement that would spare her a possible 25-year prison sentence for her role in a crack-cocaine ring. Afrika Owes, a former private-school student, was then placed in handcuffs and taken by court officers to begin a 90-day jail term at Rikers Island. Under the plea deal, she will be free in time to begin her senior year of high school and apply to college. If she complies with other terms, she will be designated as a youthful offender-a status that seals the arrest. [continues 283 words]
A hip-hop disc jockey fatally shot on Staten Island early Sunday was out buying marijuana in the moments before he was slain, a law-enforcement official with knowledge of the case said. That account came from a friend of Corey McGriff who said he had been chatting on a cellphone call with the victim minutes before Mr. McGriff was shot once in the torso a few doors down from Mr. McGriff's home, the official said. During the conversation, which took place just before 2 a.m., the victim, who was known as DJ Megatron, told his friend he was out trying to buy "weed," the official said. [continues 316 words]
Five Columbia University students have been snared in an undercover drug sting dubbed "Operation Ivy League." They stand accused of selling a menu of narcotics out of fraternity houses and on-campus residences, authorities said Tuesday. Each of the five students in the apparently well-coordinated network allegedly specialized in selling a certain type of drug, authorities said. During a five-month investigation, undercover New York Police Department officers made 31 purchases from the students, totaling nearly $11,000, said Bridget Brennan, the city's special narcotics prosecutor. [continues 381 words]
A tough narcotics cop was stabbed in the shoulder by a crazed woman wielding a steak knife yesterday when he led the charge into a Queens crack den, police said. Sgt. John Roach, 40, didn't even realize he was injured until he saw blood gushing onto his bulletproof vest, sources said. "She came out from behind the door," Roach, a 17-year NYPD veteran who is a member of a family of cops, told colleagues. "It happened real quick." The incident unfolded at 6:30a.m. as Roach and a team of plainclothes cops punched open the metal door of the seedy South Jamaica apartment. [continues 174 words]