Feds: 2 from Huntington face charges over Southampton shooting

An alleged gang member and an associate, both from Huntington, are facing federal charges in connection with a Southampton shooting that wounded three, and one of the defendants is also accused of illegally selling a fatal dose of fentanyl, according to John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District.

Joshua Crowell, 31, also known as Twiggy, an alleged member of the Bloods street gang, and Bruce King, 26, also known as Brucey, an alleged Bloods associate, were arraigned Thursday on multiple charges in a superseding indictment including assault in aid of racketeering, Durham's office said Thursday in a news release.

Durham announced the charges in conjunction with the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office and other law enforcement agencies.

Crowell faces additional charges, including distributing fentanyl resulting in death, distributing fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury and for allegedly committing other gang-related crimes in Suffolk from 2021 to 2024.

Both pleaded not guilty, said John Marzulli, a spokesperson for the Eastern District.

Crowell’s defense attorney, Glenn A. Obedin, could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday. Tracey E. Gaffey, the defense attorney representing King, confirmed her client is scheduled to return to court on April 10, but declined to comment on his case when reached by phone.

The new charges “highlight the extreme danger that violent gangs like the Bloods pose to the people of Long Island, ranging from shootings that injure bystanders to dealing lethal drugs that claim lives and destroy families,” Durham said in the release.

They arrive nearly nine months after Crowell's June 24 indictment and arraignment on firearm possession and drug charges, including possession with intent to distribute more than 400 grams of fentanyl, according to a letter to the court from Durham on Thursday requesting Crowell and King both be kept in custody pending trial.

Crowell, previously convicted three times for narcotics-related offenses, has remained in custody since his June indictment. King has been serving a state prison sentence for separate drugs and weapons convictions, including a conviction for processing one of the firearms used in the Southampton shooting, according to the letter.

On March 2, 2021, Crowell and King allegedly traveled to Southampton, where members of a rival gang rented a house to throw a party, Durham’s office said in the release. On behalf of the Bloods, both men “began shooting into the residence with three guns, including an AK-47 style assault rifle, wounding three partygoers who were not gang members,” according to the release.

Another Bloods member, not named in the superseding indictment, was involved in the shooting, according to Durham's letter to Judge Lee G. Dunst in Central Islip.

A few weeks earlier, on Jan. 13, 2021, "Crowell and King discharged semiautomatic handguns at an occupied home in Huntington Station because they believed that rival gang members were living inside," the letter reads.

Along with other coconspirators, Crowell allegedly operated a drug trafficking network through which he sold fentanyl and other drugs, causing injury and even death, authorities said. One male customer ingested the fentanyl, stopped breathing and ultimately died, the release said.

Separately, a female customer was seriously injured and another man who allegedly purchased and ingested fentanyl from Crowell also stopped breathing, but survived due to lifesaving efforts, according to the U.S. Attorney's office release.

"These alleged gang members represent a grave threat to the safety and stability of our community,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement. “Their willingness to engage in brazen acts of violence — as demonstrated by the shooting of three victims in Southampton — shows a complete disregard for human life.”