BROOKLYN: Dylan Cruz, a member of the Red Lane Gorillas of the Bloods street gang, is being charged for his role in two murders and attempted murder of a rival gang member in Hempstead, and several year-long conspiracies to murder members of a rival “set” of the Bloods gang, announced the Department of Justice on Friday.
Cruz engaged in a violent gang war against rival gangs, including the Crips and the 5-9 Brims set of the Bloods, in Nassau County and Brooklyn, according to the defendant’s statement.
“Dylan Cruz’s senseless, callous violence took the lives of two innocent young men and devastated their families, all because of suspected offenses against his fellow gang members and associates,” Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said.
The first incident dates back to November 17, 2010 when Cruz also shot a rival Crips gang member in Roosevelt that leaving the man paralyzed. Another incident was when Cruz murdered Anthony Richard, whom he wrongly suspected of assisting the Crips in the 2010 murder of a member of their gang, on July 15, 2012. Cruz followed Richard to Baldwin Harbor, waited until he parked his car, and then fired 15 shots into his vehicle, killing him, prosecutors said.
Just over two years later on October 14, 2014, Cruz murdered Ehrik Williams in Hempstead in the mistaken belief that Williams had robbed one of his associates . Cruz walked up behind Williams in broad daylight and fired multiple shots at him, killing him.
He also conspired to kill members of the 5-9 Brims and on February 20, 2016, shot and seriously wounded a rival gang member and an innocent female bystander in Queens, according to prosecutors.
Cruz pleaded guilty to racketeering in December of 2021 along with co-defendant Richard Michel who is awaiting sentencing.
By Rabia Gursoy [1010 Wins]
