Judge sentences leader of Harlem gang to 20 years

A judge shocked his courtroom Tuesday when he turned the sentencing of five violent Harlem drug dealers into a lecture on parental responsibility...

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From New York Daily News

A judge shocked his courtroom Tuesday when he turned the sentencing of five violent Harlem drug dealers into a lecture on parental responsibility.

“Gun violence in Harlem is the responsibility of that community,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin said before sending Jaquan (Jay Cash) Layne, 21, the leader of the W. 137th St. gang, away for at least 20 years.

“If you do nothing, you are complicit,” he said as he urged families to do more to turn their kids from crime.

“If your relative is not doing homework, if you are not going to their school and talking with their teachers, then you contribute to your child’s and your community’s destruction.”

“If your relative has money, jewelry and nice clothes but no job, your relative is in the drug business,” he added.

Layne was convicted last month of running his drug enterprise from behind bars at Rikers. He recruited teens, including preppy gun moll Afrika Owes. She was just 15 years old when she carried guns for Layne, her then-boyfriend.

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