Drugs and Guns Are Killing New York–Two Thirds of Murder Victims Are Black, Drugs Involved
Edgar Sandoval, Rocco Parascandola, and Larry Mcshane, New York Daily News, December 2, 2010
It’s late Saturday night, sometime after 3 a.m.
A black man with a history of drug crimes, somewhere between 25 and 40 years old, is hanging on the streets with a gun-toting pal.
That man is the New Yorker most likely to be murdered in 2010.
A Daily News review of the latest NYPD crime statistics shows drugs are a factor in at least half of city homicides–and two out of three victims are black.
Stats through Tuesday reveal 49% of all murder victims are involved with drug use and/or drug sales. The figure is 53% for murder suspects.
The numbers say 67% of murder victims are black, with 25% Hispanic and just 4% white.
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Much of the data mirrors past years, when black men were most often targeted in fatal shootings.
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The stats also showed 65% of killings occur outdoors; only 10% of murder suspects were women, and 77% of victims knew their killers.
The last figure underscores what police have maintained for years: There’s little chance of a law-abiding New Yorker dying at the hands of a stranger.
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NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the department was still focused on derailing the deadly drug trade.
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