Jason Soto, also known as “Twin,” a leader of the Cypress Gangsta Crips (CGC), a subgroup of the Eight Trey Crips based in the Cypress Hills Houses of East New York, was convicted today by a federal jury in Brooklyn of all three counts of a superseding indictment charging him with murder in-aid-of racketeering, causing the death of CGC leader Shakim Rivera through the use of a firearm on February 22, 2015, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine in late 2024. The verdict followed a two-week trial before United States District Judge Ramón E. Reyes. When sentenced, Soto faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, James C. Barnacle, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the verdict.
“Today’s verdict sends a message not only to the residents of the Cypress Hills Houses who were terrorized by Soto and his Crips gang, but to all communities, that law enforcement will hold these criminal enterprises accountable for their violent crimes, especially cold-blooded murder as in this case, no matter how long it takes,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “It is a priority of the Administration and our Office to eradicate local and transnational gangs that operate with no regard for human life and flagrantly violate the law.”…