Gorilla Stone Mafia leader John Pena guilty of murders he bragged and rapped about

A Staten Island gang leader named “Tragedy” couldn’t stop bragging about the two murders he committed for the Bloods — and it took a federal jury less than a day to find him guilty of the murders.

John Pena Jr., aka “Tragedy,” leader of the Gorilla Stone Mafia, faces a mandatory life sentence after a Brooklyn Federal Court jury found him guilty Tuesday of all six charges against him, including racketeering and murder for the purpose of extortion.

Pena, 32, repeatedly boasted about the two murders he personally committed in 2021 — even after being locked up in federal prison, according to evidence during the trial in Brooklyn Federal Court.

One of those repeated boasts? That he was ‘Drama Free’, referring to the murder of rival Mark ‘Drama’ Bajandas.

He rapped about both murders in a song called “Revenge is Glorious,” wrote about them in handwritten lyrics he found in a prison cell, and bragged about them to a fellow inmate at the MDC prison in Brooklyn.

Prosecutors said Pena committed the two murders to regain his power after rival gang ‘Bugatti’ devastated its ranks with a series of killings.

He shot Gorilla Stone Mafia defector Bajandas, 26, outside the Stapleton Houses on Hill St. on March 10, 2021, at a candlelight memorial for a fallen gang member, pumping more than ten bullets into the victim despite assurances he would be safe are. attend the wake.

Pena then emerged from hiding on June 22, 2021, to kill romantic rival Francisco Gonzalez, 23, while the doomed Original Stacks gang member slept next to Pena’s ex-girlfriend in her bed, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said three of Pena’s fellow Gorilla Stone Mafia were killed between December 2019 and April 2020, including one of Pena’s relatives, and the gang believed a rival crew, ‘Bugatti’, was behind the bloodshed.

After Bajandas and another member of the Gorilla Stone Mafia switched sides, Pena had to shed blood to avoid a mutiny and stay on top, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Roddin said in his closing argument.

“So he had to act. As godfather, he had to show that he deserved his power. He had to kill,” Roddin said.

The other defector, Jordan Taylor, took the stand during the Pena trial.

Another witness, jailhouse informant Tysheen Cooper, told the jury last Wednesday how Pena confided in him and relayed details about the killings.

“I waited for him to get off camera… and then I handed him out and walked away like I was John Gotti,” Pena bragged, according to Cooper – who is cooperating with authorities after pleading guilty to his role in a murder in 2016.

That was apparently a reference to Bajandas’ murder, prosecutors said, and Cooper further explained: “He didn’t say much – like slogans and things like that…. One of them was: since the day of the crime, on any day, his life has been without drama.”

As for the second killing, Pena bragged to Cooper about how he broke into Gonzalez’s home, he testified. “He used to say stuff like, ‘Yo, he must’ve been off the skinny (cough syrup) ’cause he never woke up.” I gave him a crazy time to wake up. I stood over him and watched him sleep and then I shot him and he never woke up. By the time he woke up, he was dead asleep,” Cooper said.

Pena’s rap song “Revenge is Glorious” — which appeared on YouTube in 2023, two years after his arrest — also referenced both murders, prosecutors said. His lyrics about Gonzalez include the line, “Leave his brains on the sheets, man, what was he thinking?”

The jury began deliberations Monday afternoon during the roughly two-week trial, and delivered their verdict around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.

Bajandas’ mother, Nydia Lasanta, cried after hearing the word “guilty” repeated in each of the six counts. Surrounded by family members outside the courtroom, she expressed her relief at the verdict.

“My son was a loving child and we miss him very much. It was stolen from us,” she said.

Pena’s sentencing is scheduled for February 20.

“As the evidence showed, Pena was consumed with seeking revenge on rivals and maintaining his leadership position in the Gorilla Stone Mafia gang by any means necessary,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Tuesday. man with a dozen bullets are shocking examples of Pena’s ruthlessness.”

Pena’s attorney, Sam Gregory, declined comment Tuesday.

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