Federal prosecutors said a 52-year-old Bronx man, Dwight Reid, and a 41-year-old Brooklyn man, Christopher Erskine, have been sentenced in federal court for their years-long leadership of the Untouchable Gorilla Stone National Bloods Gang (Gorrilla Sone).

 

Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced on Tuesday, Nov. 26, that Reid, a/k/a “Dick Wolf,” and Erskine, a/k/a “Beagle,” were both sentenced to 35 years in prison, respectively, for their leadership of what was described as “a brutally violent street and prison gang that operates across the country.”

 

Prosecutors said Reid, the gang’s highest-ranking member and the gang’s founder and prison leader, had already been sentenced on May 21, and Erskine, the gang’s street leader, also known as the “Sun,” who is the gang’s second highest-ranking member, was sentenced on Nov. 26. The sentencings were imposed by the Hon. Judge Philip M. Halpern following a nearly three-week trial last year, in which Reid and Erskine were convicted of racketeering and narcotics offenses.

 

In the context of the announcement, Williams said Reid and Erskine were “ruthless” and “responsible for terrible violent acts and trafficking dangerous narcotics” across the country and State, including throughout the New York State prison system. “Reid and Erskine’s convictions and lengthy sentences, as well as our successful prosecution of many of the gang’s most senior and violent members, send an important message to gang leaders that they will be convicted and sentenced to significant terms in prison,” he said.

 

According to the indictment, public court filings, and statements made in court, Reid founded Gorilla Stone, which reportedly has many members across New York State, including throughout New York City, Westchester, Upstate New York, and in the New York State prison system, and all over the country, including in Florida, over 20 years ago.

 

They said Gorilla Stone is comprised of various sets (or “Caves,” as they are called by gang members) and is a highly organized and efficient street gang with an organizational commitment to violence that strictly enforces its internal laws.

 

They said among Gorilla Stone’s acts of violence are:

• a September 2020 broad daylight murder of a teenager on a busy Poughkeepsie street;
• an Oct. 24, 2020 gang-related shooting outside of a Miami, Florida strip club, in which two rival gang members were shot and seriously wounded, requiring one to be airlifted from the scene;
• multiple shootings and attempted murders, including an Aug. 8, 2018 shooting in Brooklyn, New York, July 5, 2020 gang shootings at a house party in Miami, Florida, and a July 20, 2020 drive-by shooting in New Rochelle, New York;
• a June 12, 2020 gunpoint drug-related robbery in Peekskill, New York; and
• a vicious Jan. 12, 2018 face slashing of a rival gang member on 125th Street in Manhattan outside a subway station.

 

As for the gang’s sources of revenue, prosecutors said in addition to some more traditional sources such as the proceeds of nationwide narcotics trafficking both inside and outside of prisons, Gorilla Stone is deeply involved in several fraud schemes that are well organized and sophisticated, and net a significant amount of money for the gang, including a fraudulent unemployment benefits scheme during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

They said Reid and Erskine were convicted after trial of racketeering and narcotics offenses, and all 21 defendants in the Gorilla Stone case who appeared before Halpern have been convicted. They said 18 have been sentenced and three have been convicted and are awaiting sentencing. They said the 18 defendants, including numerous “Godfathers” and “Godmothers,” who have been sentenced by Halpern to date are:

• Reid, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison;
• Brandon Soto, also of The Bronx, a/k/a “Stacks,” who was sentenced to 35 years in prison;
• Erskine, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison;
• Ahmed Walter, a/k/a “Ammo,” who was sentenced to 235 months in prison;
• Godmother Naya Austin, a/k/a “Baby,” who was sentenced to 234 months in prison;
• Godfather Donavan Gillard, a/k/a “Donnie Love,” who was resentenced to 19 years in prison;
• Godmother Brinae Thornton, a/k/a “Luxury,” who was sentenced to 210 months in prison;
• Jarrett Crisler, Jr., a/k/a “Jayecee,” who was sentenced to 207 months in prison;
• Caswell Senior, a/k/a “Casanova,” who was sentenced to 188 months in prison;
• Robert Woods, a/k/a “Blakk Rob,” who was sentenced to 188 months in prison;
• Godfather Brandon Nieves, a/k/a “Untouchable Dot,” who was sentenced to 110 months in prison;
• Jamal Trent, a/k/a “Trap Smoke,” who was sentenced to nine years in prison;
• Dezon Washington, a/k/a “Blakk,” who was sentenced to 97 months in prison;
• Roberta Sligh, a/k/a “Trouble,” who was sentenced to eight years in prison;
• Jordan Ingram, a/k/a “Flow,” who was sentenced to eight years in prison;
• Stephen Hugh, a/k/a “Chino,” who was sentenced to seven years in prison;
• Isaiah Santos, a/k/a “Zay,” who was sentenced to seven years in prison; and
• Shanay Outlaw, a/k/a “Easy,” who was sentenced to three years in prison.

 

They said three additional defendants have pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing: Godfather Deshawn Thomas, a/k/a “Don,” Godfather Walter Luster, a/k/a “Shells,” and Neiko Crudup, a/k/a “JhitRilla.”

 

Williams praised what he said was the outstanding investigative work of the FBI Westchester County Safe Streets task force, comprised of special agents and task force officers from the FBI, U.S. Probation, NYS Police, NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the NYPD, Westchester County Police Department, Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Rockland District Attorney’s Office and the Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, Greenburgh, White Plains, Peekskill, Ramapo, and Clarkstown Police Departments.

 

The case is being prosecuted by the Southern District of New York’s White Plains division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shiva H. Logarajah, David R. Felton, Kathryn P. Wheelock, and Courtney L. Heavey, with the assistance of paralegal specialists, Shannon Becker and Liam Ronan, are leading the prosecution.