A Queens gang member was found guilty of gunning down a fellow Latin King in 2017 as he ran for his life in a Woodhaven playground.
Photo by Robert Stridiron
A Latin Kings gang leader from Queens was found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn of the 2017 murder of a fellow gang member at the London Planetree Playground in Woodhaven and Ozone Park border.
Jonathan “Jayo” Garcia, 29, was convicted of gunning down Joshua “Monster” Flores, a 23-year-old from West Tremont Avenue in the Bronx, as he ran for his life. The jury reached the guilty verdict following a four-day trial in Brooklyn federal court before U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni.
According to court filings and evidence presented in court during the trial, on May 18, 2017, Garcia brought a firearm to a meeting with other Latin King members with whom he had been arguing and who intended to revoke his gang membership. During the meeting that took place inside London Planetree Playground, Garcia began to argue with other gang members. When the argument escalated, one of Garcia’s associates fired a warning shot into the air, and the gang members ran for cover. Garcia then grabbed the handgun from his associate and shot at the fleeing Latin Kings, hitting Flores as he tried to escape. The bullet traveled through his back, into his jaw. He was transported by private means to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
The murder elevated Garcia’s status with the Latin Kings, including the gang subset known as the Black Mob, with whom Garcia committed additional crimes in the years following the murder, according to federal prosecutors.
The Latin Kings is a racketeering enterprise that operates in Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island, according to the feds. In order to enrich the enterprise, protect and expand its criminal operations, enforce discipline among its members and retaliate against members of rival gangs, members and associates of…
Read the full article here
