Controversial Manhattan DA Alvin Brag has admitted on Tuesday that his own Harlem neighborhood is in “crisis” amid a surge in street violence.
Bragg who is accused of being soft-on-crime revealed that in the two anti-gun rallies he attended over the weekend crimes occurred around the same time or shortly after each.
“I still live in Harlem, in the upper part of the borough, which is really in the middle of a crisis,” Bragg said.
“I was at an anti-gun rally on Saturday, and then I left and found out that a few blocks away at almost the exact time, there was another shooting,” Bragg added.
In a virtual talk with the nonprofit Coro New York Leadership Center in Lower Manhattan, Bragg revealed that despite the controversy dogging his office, he has made it “my No. 1 priority” to get more guns off the streets.
To make this a reality, Bragg tapped a top prosecutor last month to serve as a gun violence prevention czar, the first time that post has existed at the Manhattan DA’s Office.
“So, that’s really at the top of our list, are guns, meeting the moment, and I think that’s a core law enforcement issue,” he said.
“But also, the reason I was out at those rallies is that’s also our civic-minded groups,” he added.
Bragg became a media sensation in a negative way after he issued a memo to his prosecutors ordering them to stop seeking prison time for scores of criminals and to downgrade felony charges in cases including many armed robberies and drug dealing.
The order drew outcry and criticism from many sectors of the community forcing him to reverse several of his most controversial stances.
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