Over 40 Gang Members Sentenced in Hudson Valley FBI Sting

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced this week the last sentencing of gang members and narcotics distributors as a result of a long-running investigation conducted by the FBI in Newburgh and Poughkeepsie.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, 26 of the defendants were convicted of being members, associates, and co-conspirators of the violent street gang the Young Gunnaz (“YG”), including YG leader Kashad Sampson.

Additionally, 12 of the defendants were convicted of being members and associates of the violent street gang the Double Nine Grim Reapers (“Grimz”), including Grimz leaders Jeremy Williams, Randy Jones, and James White.

“For years, members and associates of the Young Gunnaz and the Double Nine Grim Reapers brought shootings, armed robberies, narcotics trafficking, and fraud to communities across the Hudson Valley,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “Today’s final sentencing marks the end of a years-long prosecution that removed over 40 of these violent gang members and drug traffickers from our streets.  No gang should get to claim a block, a neighborhood, or a city as its own, and this Office will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to dismantle violent criminal organizations and protect the communities they prey upon.”

Investigating Hudson Valley Gangs

As alleged in the federal indictments, other court filings, and statements made during court proceedings:

Since at least 2018, the Grimz has been operating in the Hudson Valley "a brutally violent street gang."

The Grimz was founded by co-defendants Jeremy Williams, a/k/a “Dubs,” and Randy Jones, a/k/a “Nickelz,” and reportedly has hundreds of members across New York State, including throughout Orange County, Dutchess County, and the New York State prison system.  The Grimz is a highly organized and efficient street gang with an organizational commitment to violence that strictly enforces its internal laws and celebrates gun violence, according to the indictments.

The highest-ranking members and leaders of the Grimz, like co-defendants James White, a/k/a “Infared,” and Octavious Griffin, a/k/a “Tate,” have so-called “serial numbers” within the Grimz, which include the name of a 9-millimeter firearm, according to authorities.

Police say, since at least 2019, the YG has been a violent street gang that operated through New York State reportedly engaging in large-scale narcotics trafficking, wire fraud, armed robberies, and shootings.  The YG defendants were part of the PlayBoyGzz subset of YG, which was led by, among others, co-defendant Kashad Sampson, a/k/a “Shoca.”  Like the Grimz, senior members of YG glorified violence and demanded action from its members, the U.S. Attorney said.

Authorities say, the Grimz and YG members "terrorized communities in this District and demonstrated a complete disregard for human life."

The Grimz

The Grimz gang members that were arrested, were reportedly responsible for multiple armed robberies and shootings in the City of Newburgh.

Of those shootings, was the November 3, 2020, attempted murder of a rival gang member, reportedly involving co-defendants Justice Jackson, a/k/a “Tweak,” Tyrell Simon, a/k/a “Rello,” a/k/a “Insane,” Thomas Rodriguez, a/k/a “Tom Tom,” a/k/a “Checks,” and others, at which time Rodriguez reportedly shot a rival gang member multiple times while the victim sat in his vehicle. That rival gang member survived after receiving life-saving medical treatment at two different hospitals, according to court documents.

The Grimz were also responsible for trafficking large amounts of deadly narcotics, like crack cocaine and heroin, on the streets and for trafficking K2, a synthetic cannabinoid, within the New York State prison system, the court documents state.

The YGs

The YG defendants were responsible for at least approximately 13 shootings, three armed robberies, and a large-scale narcotics trafficking conspiracy responsible for flooding the streets with fentanyl, heroin, crack cocaine, and other drugs, according to the indictment.

Court documents also outline a widespread scheme to defraud the New York state unemployment insurance program during the COVID-19 pandemic, which some of the YG defendants allegedly participated in. The reported gang members made just over $1,000,000 off of the scheme and "caused at least one of their victims to fall into financial ruin because, as a result of YG’s fraud, the victim lost her total disability social security payment."

The counts of conviction and sentences imposed on the defendants in the Sampson and Williams cases are contained in the chart below.

This article was written based off of information from the U.S. Attorney's Office- any corrections or inquiries can be sent to Jana.decamilla@townsquaremedia.com