New York - Inside the most dangerous neighborhood in NYC

New York - This is one grand slam no one wants to hit.

The 75th Precinct in East New York, Brooklyn, leads the city when it comes to the four most violent crimes: murders, rapes, robberies and felony assaults.

Overall crime is up 8% in the precinct this year - after dropping every year since 1994.

Locals said the crime rate is nothing compared with the days when there were more than 100 murders a year in the neighborhood. Still, they worry.

"It's not safe here at all," said Jill Gordon, a 37-year-old mother of a teenage son. "I'm always on alert. My son is at the age where he is being bothered by gangs.

"We're trying to move out of Brooklyn, or at least somewhere safer."

Citywide, crime has fallen 1.5%, continuing a nearly 20-year downward trend. Hidden in the bigger statistic is a more disturbing one: Murders and shootings are on the rise.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg have publicly said they are concerned about the increase.

There were 12 murders in the 75th Precinct as of Sunday, compared with eight in the same period last year, NYPD statistics show.

And there have been two murders since then: the stabbing death of a 29-year-old man and the slaying of a woman in her Pine St. home.

Rapes are up to 27 from 16; robberies jumped to 284 from 211; and felony assaults increased to 286 from 272.

One assault victim, 57-year-old Kamal Uddin, was beaten so badly he doesn't know what month it is, his family said.

Uddin, who was wearing a traditional Muslim prayer cap when he was attacked on May 22, may have been the victim of bias, cops said.

Inspector Jeffrey Maddrey, the precinct's commanding officer, said two arrests last week in a robbery pattern should slow the rise in that category. He said all of the accused rapists knew their victims.

He said the precinct's gang problem - Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings and Trinitarios - is persistent and worrisome.

"The gang issue is definitely prevalent in this community," Maddrey said. "We do make a lot of contact with gang members. And we're out there, in the schools, trying to keep on top of the problem."

Some 400 cops staff the 75th Precinct, which covers 5.5 square miles, and Maddrey said cops from specialty units, including the gang division, are a constant presence in East New York.

Resident Julius Dennison, 63, said he adheres to a strict routine: He goes to his nursing home job during the day and heads right home afterward.

"I'm too old for this nonsense," he said, "so I stay inside when it gets dark over here."

Daily News