Drugs and Guns are Killing New Yorkers: Most Murder Victims Are Black, Drugs Involved

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.

In 12% of city slayings, drugs are the exclusive motive. Police say that figure is much higher when other factors such as previous disputes and criminal histories of victims and suspects are included.

Much of the data mirrors past years, when black men were most often targeted in fatal shootings.

Tony Fields, whose barbershop sits in the city's most lethal precinct, never noticed much change around his East New York business. "It's not that complicated," said Fields, 44. "Lots of guns and drugs equals a high murder rate. Get rid of the drugs. Get rid of the guns. Get rid of the murders."

Retired Correction Officer Tony Armstrong, 47, said the neighborhood's reputation for mayhem was nothing new.

"I'm not surprised that we have the highest murder rate," he said. "It's East New York."

The Rev. Al Sharpton said the homicide numbers were unsurprising and unacceptable.
"The most racially biased thing we could do would be to act like it's normal - that we are helpless to change things," Sharpton said. "We are not. But we need to change the culture. It breaks my heart when I see kids wearing Scarface T-shirts instead of Malcolm X T-shirts. That's making the culture of dealing drugs acceptable."

Kevin Eason is a freelance editorial cartoonist and Illustrator from New Jersey. His brand of satire covers news events in politics, entertainment, sports and much more. Follow him on Facebook.