A Queens gang leader on trial for killing a rival to avenge the theft of popular drill rapper Shawny Binladen’s garish gold chain was found guilty in the 2019 murder.
A jury found Christian Acevedo, the leader of the Bloods-affiliated Wood City Gang, guilty on Monday of murder in aid of racketeering and causing death through the use of a firearm, after a three-week trial in Brooklyn Federal Court.
He now faces a mandatory life prison sentence for the killing.
Acevedo, 28, who goes by the nickname Essay, opened fire on a Dodge Charger parked outside a deli on Springfield Ave. and 140th Ave. in Laurelton on Aug. 26, 2019, killing 21-year-old David Hutchinson, a member of the Snow Gang.
Acevedo and Hutchinson had been battling each other for years, but the bullets that day were meant for a different Snow Gang member in the car, Dontaye Goines — who earlier that day chased Shawny Binladen in a Queens music studio and stole his gold “YTB” chain.
The rapper, whose real name is Kayshawn Joseph, was second-in-command in Wood City and the face of the gang, according to prosecutors. YTB stands for “Yellow Tape Boyz,” another name for the gang.
Shawny Binlanden has gained an audience in recent years, with NPR running a lengthy profile describing him as the “King of Samples,” a reference to the sample drill genre of rap music.
The theft of the chain left Wood City humiliated, with Snow City members bragging on social media about their new swag.
“New Chain Alert!” Goines wrote under a photo he posted of himself wearing the stolen bling, according to court documents filed by the prosecution.
Prosecutors contended that Acevedo, who was locked up from 2013 to 2018 on a grand larceny conviction,…
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