NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Bronx gang member was sentenced Wednesday to over 21 years in prison for the 2009 murder of a 22-year-old gang rival, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams announced.
Steven Brown, 42, previously pleaded guilty before District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, who imposed Wednesday's 260-month sentence. Brown's sentence was ordered in addition to a 115-month sentence that he previously served for a related narcotics offense in Pennsylvania.
According to court proceedings and the indictment, Brown, also known as "BI," was part of the Taylor Avenue Crew criminal enterprise that operated in and around the Bronx from 2007 to and including 2015, selling crack cocaine around Taylor Avenue in the Bronx.
The Taylor Avenue Crew controlled crack cocaine sales within this area by prohibiting and preventing non-members, outsiders, and rival narcotics dealers from distributing crack cocaine in the area controlled by the Crew — often using acts of violence against rivals.
The Crew, would also ally with nearby gangs in the Bronx, including the Creston Avenue Crew, another Bronx criminal enterprise that operated from at least 2003 up to and including 2011. Members of that gang would sell cocaine and marijuana primarily in and around Creston Avenue in the Bronx.
Prosecutors said the Taylor Avenue Crew and the Creston Avenue Crew would often assist each other's members by carrying out acts of violence at the request of leaders of their respective crews.
One such act of violence was the murder of Derrick Moore.
As violence escalated between the Taylor Avenue Crew and a rival gang in August 2009, Brown, who led the Taylor Avenue Crew ordered the killing of Moore. Brown ordered the hit with the assistance of the Creston Avenue Crew, whose members shot and killed Moore.
"More than a dozen years ago, Steven Brown, the leader of a violent drug crew, ordered the killing of rival street crew member Derrick Moore," Williams said in a statement. "This prosecution and today’s sentence show that our office is committed to curbing gang violence and making our neighborhoods safer for the law-abiding residents who make their homes there."
Brown was also sentenced to five years of supervised release and $6,445 in restitution.