"They had military uniforms go in. It was very quiet, very coordinated. They had an FBI helicopter and everything," Linton Kilpatrick said.
Kilpatrick, who had witnessed the raid, said the special agents had blocked off both ends of Lorillard Place and then moved in with strategic precision.
"I think they threw smoke inside. And they went in, but there were no shots fired. Everything went quiet," he said.
Suspicious of a dangerous situation, law enforcement sources say the team took necessary precautions.
As seen from NewsCopter 7, after the raid a number of agents and NYPD officers were still at the active scene. A spokesperson for the FBI says several people have been arrested as part of what sources tell Eyewitness News is an ongoing investigation to break up a gang turf war.
According to authorities, undercover officers made more than $2,000 in crack purchases during a year-long investigation.
They started buying one or two bags of crack at $10 apiece back in August 2012, and quickly bought bigger. Once day they bought more than 50 bags of crack.
The suspects, including Juan "Poopie" Rosario, Eric "E" Hernandez, Michael "Macho" Ramierez, and McCarthy "Gutta Loc" Hernandez were all arrested. A ninth suspect, Justin "Spade" Lopez, was already on Rikers Island on an unrelated charge.
The reputed gang members were operating out of a quiet house and battling other gangs for control of the block, officials said.
