Leader Of Violent Drug Crew Sentenced To 30 Years For 2016 Murder

Leader Of Violent Drug Crew Sentenced To 30 Years For 2016 Murder

The following press release was published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys on Oct. 31, 2017. It is reproduced in full below.

Rashod Lewis Murdered a Robbery Victim on Webster Avenue in January 2016

Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that RASHOD LEWIS was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood to 360 months in prison in connection with his use of a firearm in the murder of Nelson Dubon on Jan. 21, 2016. LEWIS previously pled guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein to one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of narcotics trafficking. LEWIS murdered Dubon in the course of a robbery on Webster Avenue in the South Bronx, which Lewis and other members of the violent street crew “YNR" committed as part of that crew’s drug business.

Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said: “Rashod Lewis, a leader of a violent drug trafficking and robbery crew, shot and killed Nelson Dubon after Dubon tried to assist other victims of Lewis’ robbery. Yesterday Lewis received the lengthy prison term his vicious crime deserves."

According to the charging documents filed in the case, as well as statements made during the sentencing proceeding and earlier court appearances:

Since at least 2012, a group of young men and women living in the vicinity of 188th Street and Webster Avenue, and referring to itself as “YNR," engaged in a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and heroin. LEWIS was a leader of YNR and personally participated in multiple drug-related armed robberies. Those incidents included an armed robbery of a narcotics dealer and others located inside a billiards club on Jan. 21, 2016, during which Lewis and his codefendant Kenneth Rudge shot and killed Nelson Dubon. On that date, Lewis and four other members of YNR entered an after-hours club located near Park Avenue and 187th Street. There, the crew threatened and assaulted a narcotics dealer before turning on the patrons of the club. Lewis and others brandished handguns, while another YNR member beat patrons with a pool cue. Dubon, who attempted to assist other victims of the robbery, was shot first by Lewis and then by Rudge, and later succumbed to his wounds.

Rudge is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Wood on Jan. 25, 2018.

In furtherance of this violent drug crew’s activities, LEWIS stored multiple firearms, including a Mac-11 subcompact machine gun, in an apartment on Webster Avenue. LEWIS also supplied and directed numerous underlings, including minors, in the sale of heroin and crack cocaine on Webster Avenue.

In addition to the prison term, LEWIS, 26, of the Bronx, New York, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.

* * *

Mr. Kim praised the outstanding work of the NYPD and ATF for their investigative efforts and ongoing support and assistance with the case.

The prosecution of this case is being overseen by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew C. Adams and Sarah Krissoff are in charge of the case.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys

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