In unusual move, police release flier to 'shame' alleged gang members

Boston Police flyer

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

Commissioner Edward F. Davis said today that the Boston Police Department released photographs of 10 unidentified young men because he believes they should be shamed for allegedly belonging to a gang that he contends bears responsibility for the death of 14-year-old Nicholas Fomby-Davis.

"We are doing this because we believe the community can play a role in making the individuals who are responsible for the execution of a 14-year-old boy outcasts in their own neighborhood,’’ Davis said in a telephone interview.

The Police Department distributed the unusual flier, which features what appeared to be mugshots of the 10 males, in Nicholas’s neighborhood in Dorchester and to media outlets yesterday. The flier does not give the names of the individuals or the gang to which they allegedly belong. Davis said he does not want to validate the gang by disclosing its name.

The flier is believed to be the first of its kind printed by the Boston police, according to Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the department. It does not name the individuals or the gang they allegedly belong to; Davis said he does not want to validate the gang by disclosing its name. He declined to say whether the individuals have criminal records.

The individuals do not face charges in connection with the slaying, and Davis said the flier is not a wanted poster.

But he said the individuals are "absolutely high on our list of targets’’ for possible "legal action.’’

The flier asks people to contact the police if they know the whereabouts of the youths.