SNITCHES GET STITCHES! THE CODE OF THE STREETS!

Bloods gang members at Rikers Island have launched a campaign of beatings and death threats to silence fellow inmates set to testify in a murder trial, sources said.

As many as nine potential witnesses have been attacked or threatened by Bloods who fear key gang leaders could be convicted, two sources said.

Several Bloods members - and three former Rikers correction officers - go on trial this summer for the October 2008 beating death of inmate Christopher Robinson, 18.

"The Bloods leadership has passed down orders to go after anyone they think might testify," said one law enforcement source with knowledge of the case. "They want to keep those guys off the stand."

The case made headlines in 2009, when correction officers Michael McKie, Khalid Nelson and Denise Albright were accused of ceding control of their jail wing to a "Lord of the Flies"-style gang that killed Robinson over a commissary card.

The Bloods' interest in the case revolves around a dozen inmates who also were charged, including three reputed gang members accused of manslaughter: Anquant Bryant, Joseph Hutchinson, and Shaddon Beswick, all 18.

At least three other reputed Bloods - including convicted killer Robert Denis, 18 - face conspiracy charges.

Lawyers for the teens did not return calls for comment.

Several defendants are high in the gang's New York hierarchy, overseeing cliques such as the Gorilla Stone Bloods and Desperado Bloods, sources said.

"This case is a very big deal to them, because it would deplete the leadership," the law enforcement source said.

The Bronx district attorney's office has kept its witness list a secret, but the gang's massive network has managed to locate and beat down witnesses locked up there and in other prisons, prosecutors said.

"The fear is that witnesses will start changing their minds instead of taking another beating - or worse," a source in the DA's office said.

Prosecutors had refused to hand over evidence to defense lawyers on the case until last week, fearing more witness identities would be leaked. Judge Steven Barrett told the lawyers he would kick them off the case if they divulged those names to clients.

A Correction Department spokesman said the agency is working closely with the DA to "ensure that all necessary and appropriate measures are being taken to ensure the security of the defendants and the safety of the witnesses."


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