A Manhattan federal jury on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, found Ramon Rodriguez, 21, known on the street as “Pollo,” guilty of murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder, firearms offenses and racketeering conspiracy for his role in a 2021 robbery that left a man dead in Inwood. The verdict capped a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff. Sentencing is set for June 30, 2026.
Prosecutors say he killed a man for his watch
Federal prosecutors said the jury convicted Rodriguez of killing Milton Grant and trying to kill another man during a robbery outside a Manhattan nightclub, according to a post by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on X. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, SDNY says Rodriguez was convicted on counts that carry maximum penalties that include life in prison. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said gang violence “poses a grave threat to our communities” and praised the prosecutors and NYPD detectives who worked the case.
The victim and the scene
Grant, 34, was shot in the head on June 21, 2021, while sitting in his car after leaving a Manhattan nightclub. Video released at the time showed robbers jumping on his BMW and grabbing jewelry, police said. One of Grant’s companions was also shot but survived, according to CBS New York. The killing triggered a multi-agency investigation that federal prosecutors later folded into broader racketeering charges.
How prosecutors tied the case to the Shooting Boys
Prosecutors said Rodriguez was a member of the “Shooting Boys,” a University Heights faction of the Trinitarios that has been accused of armed robberies and other violence, allegations that were laid out when members of the set were indicted in April 2023. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, SDNY previously alleged that Rodriguez shot Grant, pulled an Audemars Piguet watch off his body and then fired at a fleeing friend during the June 21, 2021 robbery. Federal gang-enforcement officials point to cases like this as part of a broader push to dismantle violent sets, and the FBI’s gang news roundup catalogs recent Trinitarios prosecutions and related investigations.
Rodriguez is scheduled to be sentenced on June 30, 2026. Murder in aid of racketeering carries a potential life term under federal law, and the firearms convictions include mandatory minimums that must run consecutively to other penalties. The statute for violent crimes in aid of racketeering is codified at 18 U.S.C. §1959, according to the Legal Information Institute, and the consecutive mandatory minimums for firearm use during a crime of violence are set out in 18 U.S.C. §924, as listed by the Legal Information Institute. How those penalties stack up in Rodriguez’s case will be decided by the judge at sentencing…