A teenage Bloods gang member, a sex offender and an alleged cop assaulter hiding under a bed were nabbed Wednesday in a multi-agency raid in Newark — led by the US Marshals with newly minted Interim New Jersey US Attorney Alina Habba in tow.
The Post witnessed the arrest of Zakiyy Houser, 18, a gangbanger with a history of weapons charges wanted for aggravated assault after an incident in which he allegedly shot two people in Newark last month.
Houser’s lengthy rap sheet includes a string of juvenile offenses across Essex County, New Jersey, among them conspiracy, possession of burglary tools, criminal trespass, burglary and theft by unlawful taking, according to records.
His prior weapons charges — spanning New Jersey communities including Elmwood Park, Livingston, Newark, Verona and West Caldwell — include possession of a prohibited weapon and hollow-tip bullets and unlawful possession of a handgun.
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Twenty-two agents from the US Marshals, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement were joined by Habba — President Trump’s former attorney — who got a front-row seat to the action.
“I can’t believe how many cases you guys are juggling … Unbelievable, unbelievable. God bless you guys, thank you for letting me see what you do every day. Truly it was an honor,” Habba said to the Marshals while decked out in a cap and one of the agency’s bulletproof vests.
Houser was nabbed wearing a blue Amazon vest at the Pennington Court apartments on South Street in Brick City — with Habba helping haul him out in cuffs.
Habba said his fellow Bloods member was a 14-year-old who recently shot and killed a 26-year-old Newark detective who was attempting to arrest him, and that she’d be charging the teen as an adult.
“The message is very clear: if you’re a child, I don’t care. If you shoot a cop, you’re getting tried as an adult. I have no tolerance for violence and we’re gonna clean up New Jersey,” she said.
Also busted in the Wednesday raids was Darius Torres, 22, a sex offender wanted by the Lehigh County Sheriff’s Office for failure to appear in court following an arrest for possessing child pornography and obscene materials.
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The agents also collared David Bogar, 26, who was being sought by the Union County Sheriff’s Office for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer after he rammed a cop car with his vehicle and fled the scene. They found him hiding under a bed in his Newark apartment building.
When asked by The Post why Habba, who lives in New Jersey, felt she needed to accompany the agents, she said it was an essential part of her job.
“I can’t do my job if I don’t understand what these guys do every day. They do the legwork, they go get the bad guys. They put so much time and energy into doing it, and now it’s the US attorney’s job to make sure that we get them locked up and that they go to jail for a longtime,” Habba said.
“In the state of New Jersey I can commit that while they’re all here doing their job, I’m gonna go back to the office and make sure my team is doing their job to support them in what they do.”
As for whether she’d rather be out on the streets or in the cozy confines of the Oval Office, Habba laughed and said “Don’t get me in trouble with President Trump. I have the greatest life. Honestly, this has been truly an honor, today was special.”
Habba was named as New Jersey’s interim top prosecutor late last month, replacing John Giordano, whom Trump nominated to be the US ambassador for Namibia.
