Gorilla Stone Mafia gang member convicted of NYC murders said he felt ‘like death’

A Gorilla Stone Mafia gang member nicknamed “Tragedy” has been convicted of murdering two Staten Island rivals, shooting one in the head as the man slept next to his girlfriend.

John Pena, 32, apparently admitted to being murdered twice in 2021 in rap lyrics he wrote from his jail cell. According to a statement from U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, he felt “like death” when he “left his brains on those sheets.”

Pena killed Mark Bajandas and Francisco Gonzalez while leading the Gorilla Stone Mafia, a subgroup of the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation and the Bloods street gangs, Peace said.

“As the evidence showed, Pena was obsessed with revenge against rivals and wanted to maintain his leadership position in the Gorilla Stone Mafia gang by any means necessary,” Peace wrote in the statement.

“Killing a man as he slept in his bed and shooting another man with a dozen bullets are shocking examples of Pena’s ruthlessness,” he continued. “Today’s sentence ensures that he will spend the rest of his life in prison for his direct role in the extreme violence and drug trafficking that ravaged a Staten Island community.”

The group operated out of Stapleton Houses, a social housing project on the island.

A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Pena — also known as “Tragedy,” “Don Tragg,” “Last Don” and “Money Baggz” — of racketeering and murder in aid of racketeering, as well as various weapons and drug offenses.

According to the federal government, the ruling means Pena could receive a mandatory life sentence.

Pena was accused of shooting Bajandas, a former gang member and alleged rival also known as “Drama,” a dozen times at close range on March 10, 2021, following a memorial service for another fallen gang member.

Three months later, Pena shot Gonzalez three times in the head while he slept next to Pena’s ex-girlfriend on the night of June 22, 2021, federal authorities said.

While Pena was awaiting trial in the Metropolitan Detention Center, he wrote the dark text that was later found by police.

“Kuz, I turn all my opponents into ghosts / Francisco, I mix them N / Mark / A… shhh / I gotta chill… they don’t know / Lately how I feel / Like the dead man / When I see them, I steal his soul,” he wrote.

He also appeared to take credit for Gonazalez’s murder, saying he “left his brains on those sheets, man, what was he thinking?”

According to federal authorities, Pena was also involved in the sale of marijuana, crack and heroin.

“Gang activity, particularly the carrying and indiscriminate firing of illegal weapons on our streets, instills fear in the daily lives of New Yorkers,” NYPD Interim Commissioner Tom Donlon said in a statement.

“It is critical that we and our law enforcement partners continue to target and dismantle these criminal groups, and that we work to prevent the violence that so often accompanies their activities.”