Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JOSE SANTIAGO-ORTIZ was found guilty of murder, participating in a narcotics conspiracy, and firearms offenses yesterday after a one-week jury trial before the Honorable Lewis A. Kaplan.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “A unanimous jury convicted Jose Santiago-Ortiz of killing Jerry Tide in cold blood. In addition, Santiago-Ortiz was convicted of narcotics conspiracy and firearms offenses. We hope today’s verdict will bring some solace to the victim’s family, while also taking a violent offender off the street."
According to the allegations contained in the Complaint and the Indictment and the evidence presented in court during the trial:
On Sept. 11, 2010, SANTIAGO-ORTIZ shot and killed Jerry Tide in the vicinity of Jerome Avenue and 182nd Street in the Bronx. Between 2010 and November 2015, SANTIAGO-ORTIZ was the leader of a violent heroin trafficking enterprise that trafficked kilogram quantities of heroin, stamped “Flow," in the Bronx and to Rutland, Vermont. SANTIAGO-ORTIZ killed Jerry Tide in part to increase SANTIAGO-ORTIZ’s position within the Flow Heroin Enterprise. In addition, in 2015, members of the Flow Heroin Enterprise engaged in several shootings with rival drug dealers in the Bronx.
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SANTIAGO-ORTIZ, 27, of the Bronx, New York, was found guilty of one count of murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison; one count of murder while engaged in a narcotics conspiracy, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of conspiring to distribute one kilogram and more of heroin, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and one count of using firearms in furtherance of a narcotics conspiracy, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of a defendant will be determined by the judge.
SANTIAGO-ORTIZ is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 18, 2018.
Mr. Berman thanked the FBI’s New York Field Division for their work on the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shawn Crowley, Lauren Schorr, and George Turner are in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
