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Bronx Local News: Car Thieves Scammed Buyers on Social Media with ‘Hot’ Cars

Eight Men Charged in Years-Long Stolen Car Scheme Affecting More Than 100 Buyers  Bronx Voice  November 14, 2025  NYC LOCAL NEWS - Federal and local authorities say they’ve shut down a long-running stolen-car ring that hit New York City streets hard and stretched its impact all the way down the East Coast.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced charges against eight men accused of stealing more than 100 cars and selling them to unsuspecting buyers—often people who thought they were simply getting a good deal online. According to the allegations in a newly unsealed federal complaint, the group targeted mostly Honda, Acura, and Jeep vehicles parked on the streets of the Bronx and Queens. Investigators estimate the scheme caused millions of dollars in losses. Six of the eight defendants were arrested and taken into federal court in Manhattan to face the charges. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton emphasized that New Yorkers dese...

Bloods Gang Member Charged with Bronx Execution

Gerry Mazzella was gunned down by a gang member in what family call a case of mistaken identity.


By Dan Gesslein

Bronx Voice

November 4, 2022 


BRONX - The feds charged a gang member with murder for executing a man on a Bronx street. Prosecutors said the defendant gunned down the victim to further himself in the gang which is an offshoot of the Bloods.   


Family members said Gerry Mazzella was a former pot dealer who turned his life around. Mazzella worked at a Bronx bagel shop and had plans of moving out of the city, when he was shot in the back of the neck in 2021. Friends believe he was the mistaken target. 


Prosecutors said that on June 3, 2021 Shakoor snuck up behind Mazzella and shot him point blank in the back of the neck. 





Prosecutors say Jaleel Shakoor shot and killed Mazzella as a way to move up in the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation (“Gorilla Stone”), an offshoot of the Bloods Street Gang. The US Attorney’s office for the Southern District charged Shakoor with racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, murder with a firearm, and illegal possession of ammunition.




“As alleged, the defendant committed a murder as part of his gang membership: he shot Gerry Mazzella from point-blank range, killing him,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “With these charges, we continue our daily work of investigating and prosecuting those who perpetrate these senseless acts. We hope this prosecution brings some measure of comfort to the victim’s loved ones.” 




The Gorilla Stone gang ran a drug distribution operation throughout the Bronx as well as in the jails and prisons in NYC and throughout the state. The gang sold drugs and committed robberies to enrich themselves. They also attacked rival gang members including assault and murder. 





Shakoor was charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of death or life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison; one count of murder through use of a firearm, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of death or life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison; and one count of possessing ammunition after a felony conviction, which carries a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison.



NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said: “This case is an outstanding example of what the NYPD and our law enforcement partners can accomplish when we strike back at the relatively few people responsible for spreading violence and fear in New York City.  Together, we remain committed to thwarting gang activity in all its forms, and to reinforcing the severe consequences that await anyone who dares to jeopardize safety in our neighborhoods.”


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