Brazen young thugs who terrorized Times and Herald squares Easter night by “wilding” and firing off gunshots shamelessly boasted about their criminal antics on Twitter.
“42ND WAS LIVEEE WE . . . WAS GOING CRAZY OUT THERE,” bragged a punk who calls himself Badboy_Butta in a tweet posted hours after mayhem in which four people were shot.
Another Twitter user, who calls himself “_650K,” tweeted, “WENT MOBBING ON 42 . . . WAT YU DOIN TODAY” after a buddy asked what he did Easter night, according to the Web site DNAinfo.com.
DA CY ON HAND AS PUNKS FACE JUDGE
The frightening gang rampage in Midtown by packs of young men has authorities worried about a return of New York’s “bad old days” — when crime rates dramatically spiked in the ’70s and ’80s.
Police had arrested more than 30 people by Monday on charges ranging from gang assault to disorderly conduct.
Yesterday afternoon, cops also busted a Bronx drug dealer suspected of shooting two 19-year-old women from Brooklyn on West 34th Street during the violence. The two — who were not seriously injured — were innocent bystanders, cops said.
The suspect, Rayvon Guice, 20, was charged with assault and weapons possession. Guice, who has a tattoo on his neck that reads, “God’s Gift,” has eight prior arrests, including on weapons and drugs charges, police sources said.
In September 2008, he was busted for assault and weapons possession after allegedly shooting a man in the leg in The Bronx.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said cops “have leads in the second shooting,” which occurred on West 41st Street when two groups of troublemakers passed each other.
Times Square on Easter has become a magnet for gang members who stare each other down, often after visiting the New York Auto Show at the Javits Center.
But Sunday’s outbreak of violence shocked the city and raised questions of whether the NYPD has reduced manpower too much even before a projected cut of 2,000 officers this year, and whether the years of steeply declining crime rates are over.
Among more than 20 defendants arraigned as of early last night were Leroy-Jama Wigfall, 19, who was charged with second-degree assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct for allegedly injuring the wrist of a cop during the bust.
Another man, Philip Coker, 30, had allegedly told cops, “I’ll f- – – you all up” before he was charged with resisting arrest, menacing and disorderly conduct, according to authorities.
Other defendants yesterday said they were picked up by cops without having committed any crime.
Additional reporting by Brad Hamilton, John Doyle and Murray Weiss