Inmates stabbed, slashed during massive gang-related brawl at MDC Brooklyn federal jail

At least 20 inmates were involved in the gang-related melee, with some requiring treatment outside the federal jail, sources say

September 15, 2026 05:15 PM

By John Annese
New York Daily News

NEW YORK — A massive gang-related brawl this month at the troubled MDC Brooklyn federal jail resulted in several inmates stabbed and slashed, and days of lockdowns, sources with knowledge of the melee told the Daily News.

The federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed the fight broke out at about 7:25 a.m. Sept. 6 inside the Sunset Park lock-up.

“Several incarcerated individuals were medically assessed and treated for minor injuries at the facility, while other incarcerated individuals sustained injuries requiring outside medical treatment,” BOP spokesman Donald Murphy told The News Monday.

No jail staffers were hurt bringing the fight under control, he said.

Murphy wouldn’t say how many inmates were injured or hospitalized, citing a pending investigation. Sources tell The News that members of the Trinitarios gang battled another gang on the seventh floor of the jail’s west building, and at least 20 people were involved in the fight.

Previous violent episodes at MDC led the BOP to form an “urgent action team” in 2024 to address staffing shortfalls, contraband and other issues in the jail.

The jail, which houses confessed CEO-killer Luigi Mangione and ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, is notorious for its dire conditions and violence — including a pair of bloody, minutes-long fights in the summer of 2024 that ended in the stabbing murders of Uriel Whyte and Edwin Cordero, both 37.

On Feb. 22, 2025 , inmates wielded shivs, blades and other objects in a wild unit-wide fight that lasted about five minutes and resulted in at least 10 inmates stabbed or slashed, including Karl Jordan Jr ., who’s accused of fatally shooting Run-DMC co-founder Jam Master Jay. Jordan was found guilty by a jury in the cold case slaying, but a judge overturned that conviction.

This year, the jail saw two more deaths — an inmate who died of a suspected drug overdose, with pills found near him, in a solitary confinement cell on July 21; and a Mexican national transferred to the U.S. in a cartel case who was found hanging in his cell on April 18.

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