Signs of concern have emerged as two uniformed officers from the Bronx have been captured in a photograph, seemingly displaying hand gestures associated with the Mac Baller Brims. This group, a subset of the Bloods, is recognized as one of the most dangerous gangs in New York City. The image has since gone viral, prompting an investigation by the NYPD, as reported by The Post.
The undated photograph, which appears to have been taken at a McDonald’s, features two masked police officers posing with an unidentified young man. One officer is seen pointing his fingers downward, with his middle finger crossed over his ring finger, a gesture known to be the hallmark of the Mac Baller Brims.
The second officer is also depicted making what appears to be a gang sign, bending back his index finger while extending the other three fingers. These hand gestures have drawn significant attention and concern regarding their implications.
Eric Sanders, a lawyer with a background as a former NYPD officer, confirmed the authenticity of these signs, raising further questions about the situation and the motives behind the officers’ actions.
The other cop also flashes an apparent gang sign, bending back his index finger and holding his other three fingers out.
Lawyer and former NYPD officer Eric Sanders said the signs were authentic.
“Those are Mac Baller Brim signs,” he said. “Those cops need to be modified.” He was referring to disciplining the cops by putting them on desk duty, or “modified” assignment.
Retired NYPD Assistant Commissioner of Youth Strategies Kevin O’Connor agreed the cops were trying to make gang signs, but not doing it very well.
“It looks like they’re trying to make Blood signs,” he said. “The one on the right is trying to make the Mac Baller sign.
”You have to look at the context of the picture,” he said. “The kid is in blue so were they messing around with him?” The Bloods embrace the color red, and their archrivals, the Crips, use blue.
The disturbing photo was posted May 4 on Instagram by a user called michaelclancy1312. The account didn’t respond to requests for comment and it wasn’t clear who originally posted the image.
“Officers kitted out in balaclavas and beanies, throwing gang signs and posing like street enforcers with a civilian in a fast-food spot,” an X user called BrooklynP8triot wrote, reposting the picture.
“This isn’t community policing; it’s cosplay for the very criminals they’re supposed to deter.
“NYC, @NYCMayor, and @GovKathyHochul — who exactly are you hiring for the NYPD?” the post continues.
Rank and file officers were disgusted by the snap, which has collected hundreds of reposts and likes on X.
“It’s a complete disgrace,” one Bronx cop said of the photo. “Taking a picture like this even as a joke sets a bad image and diminishes the department’s long efforts of combating gangs.”
But a law enforcement source said the cops were just joking around.
“They saw a kid they know and they were messing around in the photo. They had no idea it would go viral,” said the source.
One of the cops, identified by sources as Shane Cruz, has been on the force since 2024, and was working at the 43rd Precinct in Soundview until February when he was transferred to Brownsville’s 73rd Precinct in Brooklyn, online records show.
The identity of the second officer, who also works at the 43rd Precinct, was not known because his shield isn’t visible in the photo.
Cruz, who couldn’t be reached for comment, was not transferred because of this incident, a law enforcement source said.
“This incident is under internal review,” a police spokesman said, citing an Internal Affairs Bureau probe.
The Mac Baller Brims formed in the Bronx in 2001 and are the largest subset of the West Coast Bloods gang. They are known for racketeering, dealing drugs, and murders, shootings and armed robberies.
They have long been considered one of the city’s most violent gangs.
The Mac in the gang’s name is a tribute to high-ranking member O.G. Mack, who established the Bloods in 1993. Baller is slang for a high-ranking gang member or drug dealer. Brims indicates the gang’s ties to the original New York Blood Brim gang.
In 2023, the Mac Baller Brims were indicted in connection with a string of brazen gunpoint robberies at lower Manhattan smoke shops in Chelsea, Union Square and the West Village, prosecutors said.
In 2019, 13 defendants were charged in connection with Mac Baller Brims violence, including murders and shootings, in and around the Mount Hope section of the Bronx between 2017 and 2019.
The Drug Enforcement Administration called the gang “a criminal enterprise” that “engaged in such acts to preserve and protect their power, territory, and profits.”
Former NYPD detective Michael Alcazar, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the department would likely look into the officers’ histories as a result of the viral photo.
“If you’re throwing up gang signs while in uniform that’s basically conduct unbecoming an officer,” Alcazar said.
“If they lied about any kind of criminal history and they uncover that in fact these [officers] were gang members, they could potentially be terminated,” he said. “That being said, it’s a different generation. They might just be throwing up gang signs because they saw it on a rap video.”
The department has lowered requirements for new police officers in recent years to deal with waning recruitment.
Rules preventing candidates with minor marijuana arrests from joining the NYPD were thrown out in 2021 when the drug’s use became legal in the state. But police officers are not permitted to smoke pot and are randomly tested, or “doled,” for all drugs.
They also aren’t permitted to associate with known criminals.
And last year, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch reduced the number of college credits required for candidates from 60 to 24, in hopes of addressing a growing hiring crisis that saw 29% of applicants disqualified in 2023.
