A year after a most violent summer in New York City, the tide seems to have finally turned against violent crime — and street gangs.
The murder rate plunged nearly 50%, and shootings fell by 35%, during the month of July, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea reported at an Aug. 5 briefing. That comes on the strength of hundreds of gun arrests and a number of recent street gang takedowns as police and prosecutors work together to take “the worst of the worst off the streets,” as Shea put it.
