211 BootBonehead Pleads Not Guilty in Gang Assault Case

John Young was the only one arrested in the Feb. 11 attack at a NYC bar.

NEW YORK – An associate of a street crew that openly courts neo-Nazism despite being multiracial has plead not guilty on charges he was part of a group that attacked two twin brothers because one of them had an antifa sticker on their phone outside a Lower East Side bar.

John Young, 29, of Washington, D.C., appeared Thursday in Manhattan Superior Court to be arraigned on charges of second degree gang assault, which is a class C felony, menacing, criminal mischief, and weapon possession. The charges stem from an Feb. 11 (2/11) attack at the Clockwork Bar when upon seeing one of the two brothers sporting a sticker on their cell phone for the crew NYC Antifa, six to seven persons, all allegedly wearing matching vests with patches that read “211 Crew”, attacked them both with brass knuckles and knives, even when they tried to flee. After the 211 associates ran off, officers in an unmarked car spotted the victims on the sidewalk as they tried to call 911 and was able to identify Young who was standing nearby and was immediately arrested. The victims were hospitalized and required staples to close head wounds from the attack.

No relation to a nineties prison gang of the same name, the 211 Bootboys has been called a ultra-nationalist crew that despite the fact that many of their associates are Jewish and persons of color have promoted neo-Nazi culture. They are best known for the NYC Oi! Fest, which was promoted by Dennis Davilla, a 211 Bootboy associate and member of the band Fed Up. Despite being of Cuban decent, Davilla has booked neo-Nazi bands to perform while other bands on the bill would sing covers from those bands. Last year, the Oi! Fest was forced to move venues after the original one shut their doors to them. Video from that event showed audience members doing Nazi salutes to a band whose lead singer was wearing a shirt from the neo-Nazi band English Rose. John Young is the lead singer of the Washington, DC-based hardcore band Dead Face.

On the night of the assault, Davilla’s United Riot Records held a show in Brooklyn to raise money for the legal defense of Andrew Kuklis, 41, of Patchogue, NY who was arrested in Suffolk County after police allegedly found him in possession of three handguns, an AR-15, and a dagger, as well as some marijuana. The United Riot Records website merely states that their for “good friend Andrew” was “having legal issues.”

The publicity around the assault case also prompted Vice co-founder and neo-Fascist Gavin McInnes to attempt to out the victims, accusing them of lying about what happened. “I found the brothers who made up that story about being attacked by skinheads,” McInnes tweeted, along with the pair’s names. “They said the skinheads had brass knuckles and were waving a knife around. All lies.” Police, however recovered a bloody pair of brass knuckles, but this did not dissuade McInnes who likes to boast that he and his group the Proud Boys fight antifa often, similar to the 211 Bootboys. “claims he spoke with several witnesses who told him the brothers were the aggressors and said he is justified in revealing the Columbia grad students’ identities.

“If these guys didn’t lie about neo-Nazis attacking them for nothing, then I would never consider doing that,” McInnes told The New York Post. “I’m sick of these left-wing psychopaths ruining people’s lives.”

The Proud Boys have recently been the subject of a series of articles on the NYC Antifa blog outing them. The Proud Boys responded by attacking people online they claimed to be members of the group but in truth were not involved in any way.

The New York Dept. of Corrections website notes that John Young was released from custody on $20,000 bail on March 8. He is scheduled to appear in court again on April 27^th part 51