Yiddish-Speaking Street Gang Called ‘The Forks’ Linked To NYPD Bribery Scandal

The Borough Park business man at the center of a massive NYPD bribery investigation — which has taken down several top cops who patrolled our area — allegedly used his police connections to quash assault charges against his nephew and his entourage of Yiddish-speaking teen gangsters, reports the New York Daily News.

As we’ve reported, Jeremy Reichenberg is accused of showering members of law enforcement with “gifts” in exchange for favors. In the fallout, Deputy Inspector James Grant, former executive officer of the 68th Precinct, has been stripped of his badge and gun and placed on modified duty, and Brooklyn South Deputy Chief Eric Rodriguez — once commanding officer at the 70th Precinct — was transferred out of his command. Detective Michael Milici of the 66th Precinct was also questioned in the FBI probe.

Reichenberg’s nephew Shlomo and his gang, who call themselves the Grouplech, Yiddish for “Forks,” were never charged for two brutal 2012 attacks, according to the article.

Both victims described their ordeals to the Daily News in detail. One victim, 45-year-old Micha Kaplan, said the 66th Precinct refused to take the attack — which landed him in the hospital — seriously:

The alleged beatdown started after the teens cut him off as he was driving in Borough Park.

At a red light, Kaplan rolled down his window and complained to the driver of the Chevy Impala.

That didn’t go over well.

Kaplan says the teens tailgated him for 20 blocks. The confrontation came to a head when one of the teens got out the car and tried to open Kaplan’s passenger side door. When Kaplan got out to close the door two of the teens started to punch and kick him, police records show.

During the attack they allegedly yelled “Litvak!” the Yiddish term for Lithuanian Jews, who are not Hasidic.

Kaplan, who works in real estate, went to Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. He spent four days there with internal bleeding.

After his release, he did some research in the community, and identified several of the teens he believes attacked him. They included Reichberg’s nephew, who was with the group at the time, but did not hit Kaplan.

But police from the 66th Precinct didn’t care, Kaplan says.

“They were squashing it 100%,” Kaplan said. “They told me I was unable to identify the guy and that my witnesses were no good. They never tried to make an arrest.”

Read the full Daily News report here.