NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A man was sentenced to 28 ½ years-to-life in state prison for his role in a conspiracy to commit a retaliatory murder which resulted in the 2019 fatal shooting of an innocent bystander on the Lower East Side, prosecutors announced Friday.
Anthony Lopez, 34, was found guilty on all counts, including one count of murder and one count of conspiracy in the death of 35-year-old James Weeks, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. said.
Additionally, Christopher Vazquez, 33, was sentenced to 25 years-to-life in state prison on Oct. 9, 2024, after he was convicted of murder, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a weapon. David Young, 23, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison on Dec. 18, 2024, after pleading guilty to manslaughter, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a weapon.
Malik Facey, 25, was convicted of all counts, including murder and conspiracy, on Dec. 13, 2024, for shooting Weeks. He is expected to be sentenced on April 4th.
Lopez, who ran a crew out of NYCHA’s Samuel Gompers Houses, had an ongoing feud with a rival who lived in NYCHA’s Lillian Wald Houses. On April 18, 2019, Lopez was shot three times, near Pitt and Delancey Streets, and he believed the rival to be responsible.
Following the shooting, Lopez began orchestrating a plan to hire someone to murder the rival in a retaliatory shooting, officials said. The feud further intensified when Lopez began posting about seeking revenge for the shooting on social media.
In April 2019, he posted a picture of himself recovering and captioned it with lyrics from a 50 Cent song, writing, "Better watch how you talk, when you talk about me ‘Cause, I’ll come and take your life away," authorities said.
A rapper himself, Lopez filmed a music video in May 2019 in which he stated, in substance, "Try to come for the streets on drip, you get hit with the streets on grip," prosecutors said.
Facey attempted to purchase a firearm on June 15, 2019, and on June 22, at approximately 3:22 a.m., he texted Lopez, offering to murder someone for him for approximately $1,000 or $2,000. Lopez accepted Facey’s offer and both defendants met up a few hours later, as well as a few days later, police said.
Just hours before the fatal shooting, on July 12, 2019, Lopez connected with a group of individuals and associates, including Vazquez, through several phone calls and text messages to continue plotting the murder. Lopez also met up with the co-defendants prior to the shooting.
Lopez ordered a taxi for Face, who was dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, so he could meet up with Vazquez and Young near the Gompers Houses. When Facey arrived, Vazquez and Young changed into hooded sweatshirts before hailing a cab to travel to the Wald Houses.
In the early morning hours of July 13, 2019, the crew arrived in the area behind an apartment building near East Houston Street and Avenue D, and walked by Weeks, who was hanging out with a group of friends.
At approximately 2:40 p.m., Weeks left his friends, walking towards his car that was parked nearby. From approximately 150 feet away, Facey fired several shots towards Weeks who was struck in the face by one of the bullets, causing him to fall to the ground.
The crew fled the scene and Weeks was eventually transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Following the fatal shooting, police said the crew downloaded the Citizen app to keep tabs on any public reports about the incident and later that afternoon, He was eventually transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead texted the group of associates a screenshot of an Instagram story posted by the rival about Weeks’s death, which stated, "INNOCENT BYSTANDER."
Facey and Vazquez were both arrested in July 2019. Young was arrested in September 2019. Lopez called and visited each of them while they were incarcerated and continued to actively plan the murder of his rival, even after killing an innocent bystander.
In one instance, on Jan. 17, 2020, Lopez called Facey, who was in jail. During the recorded call, Lopez stated, in substance, "This is YM Bape. I got a heavy cash app on someone in your crib right now. I’m not talking about no $100, no $200. Right now, I got four bands on the cash app, right now. I need it to happen, gangster," and "Four band on the cash app – I send half up front, when it gets done, I send the other half, gangster."
Lopez was arrested in December 2021.
"Anthony Lopez went to great lengths to seek retribution and bloodshed, and his fixation ultimately led to the death of a completely innocent man," said D.A. Bragg. "I hope the significant state prison term that Lopez will serve gives Mr. Weeks’s family a sense of justice and peace. Combatting gun violence continues to be my top priority, and we are laser-focused on shootings involving retribution and retaliation."