'Rockstarz are up 3-0': Rival Brooklyn gangs BRAGGED about shootings on Facebook... but it only helped police to find out who was responsible

NYPD used Facebook friendships and photos to identify gang members
41 have been arrested, 8 still at large
Have been warring for three years, 'terrorizing' parts of Brooklyn

PUBLISHED: 18:12 EST, 13 September 2012 | UPDATED: 19:21 EST, 13 September 2012

Members of two warring Brooklyn gangs took to Facebook to brag about their fatal hits, and that boastfulness has landed nearly 50 of them in jail.

The New York Police Department commissioner and Brooklyn district attorney who worked through the tangled virtual web that connected the different members of the two gangs- named the Very Crisy Gangsters and the Rockstarz.

The young men friended their rivals on Facebook, but their requests were the opposite of friendly as they used their connections to post pictures proving their attacks.

One man took a picture of himself wearing a belt and a watch of the man police suspected he shot.

Cast of criminal characters: {police have identified 49 gang members that they plan to arrest in conjunction with three deaths and 12 shootings over the past three years

For the photo caption, the poster wrote 'I can’t give it back. You can’t walk no more'.

After an incident that lead to the death of a Very Crispy Gangsters prompted the most chilling post by one of their rivals: 'Rockstarz are up 3-0' one wrote, referring to the number of Very Crispy Gangsters they had killed.

'Because of these individuals’ insatiable desire to brag about what they did, these investigators were able to draw a virtual map of their activities and bring them to justice,' police commissioner Ray Kelly said at a Wednesday press conference.

The Wall Street Journal reports that all told, the police identified 49 of the alleged gang members.

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The New York Times reports that while 41 are in police custody, eight remain at large and their pictures were shown with 'Wanted' scrawled above.

In keeping with the three-person body count that the gang members boasted about, they were charged with three murders and 12 shootings over the past three years.

District attorney Charles Hynes said the gangs 'terrorized parts of the East New York community as they recklessly shot at one another in crowded parks and busy streets with no regard for innocent bystanders'.

No where was safe: One of the shootings took place near Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Brooklyn

The first shooting came when Very Crispy Gangsters member Taquan Crandell, 18, was shot and killed in September 2009 by a Rockstarz member.

Another victim was Johnny Santiago, a 17-year-old VCG member beaten to death in June of last year by 20 rival gang members.

A video of the beating was posted on Youtube, with one of the attackers wearing Santiago's belt and watch, reciting the same chilling taunt that he used in the Facebook caption.

The violence wasn't limited to gang members, as at least four others- including one police officer and one 10-year-old boy nearly killed by a stray bullet while he was inside watching cartoons- that were injured in the shootings were not associated with the gangs themselves.

The Village Voice reported that even though many of the suspects are in jail, the violence may not come to an immediate end: during a recorded call, one Rockstarz member was heard telling a VCG member the names of VCG witnesses who were scheduled to testify against the Rockstarz.

The Rockstarz member, named Brandon Matos, then 'offered to prevent the witnesses from making their court appearances'.