UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Press Releases

More Than 40 Gang Members From Newburgh and Poughkeepsie Sentenced to Prison For Racketeering, Violence, Narcotics, and Firearms Offenses

July 14, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced today the last sentencing of gang members and narcotics distributors as a result of a long-running investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) in Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, New York. 26 of the defendants were convicted of being members, associates, and co-conspirators of the violent street gang the Young Gunnaz (“YG”), including YG leader Kashad Sampson. 12 of the defendants were convicted of being members and associates of the violent street gang the Double Nine Grim Reapers (“Grimz”), including Grimz leaders Jeremy Williams, Randy Jones, and James White. U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas imposed the sentences in the YG case, United States v. Kashad Sampson, et al., 22 Cr. 640, and U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern imposed the sentences in the Grimz case, United States v. Jeremy Williams, et al., 22 Cr. 641. RODNEY GEORGE, a defendant in the Sampson case, was the last in this series to be sentenced and received 108 months in prison.

“For years, members and associates of the Young Gunnaz and the Double Nine Grim Reapers brought shootings, armed robberies, narcotics trafficking, and fraud to communities across the Hudson Valley,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Today’s final sentencing marks the end of a years-long prosecution that removed over 40 of these violent gang members and drug traffickers from our streets. No gang should get to claim a block, a neighborhood, or a city as its own, and this Office will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to dismantle violent criminal organizations and protect the communities they prey upon.”

As alleged in the Indictments, other court filings, and statements made during court proceedings:

Since at least 2018, the Grimz has been a brutally violent street gang. The Grimz was founded by co-defendants Jeremy Williams, a/k/a “Dubs,” and Randy Jones, a/k/a “Nickelz,” and has hundreds of members across New York State, including throughout Orange County, Dutchess County, and the New York State prison system. The Grimz is a highly organized and efficient street gang with an organizational commitment to violence that strictly enforces its internal laws and celebrates gun violence. The highest-ranking members and leaders of the Grimz, like co-defendants James White, a/k/a “Infared,” and Octavious Griffin, a/k/a “Tate,” have so-called “serial numbers” within the Grimz, which include the name of a 9-millimeter firearm.

Since at least 2019, the YG has been a violent street gang that operated through New York State and engaged in large-scale narcotics trafficking, wire fraud, armed robberies, and shootings. For the most part, the YG defendants were part of the PlayBoyGzz subset of YG, which was led by, among others, co-defendant Kashad Sampson, a/k/a “Shoca.” Like the Grimz, senior members of YG glorified violence and demanded action from its members.

For years, the Grimz and YG terrorized communities in this District and demonstrated a complete disregard for human life. The Grimz defendants were responsible for multiple armed robberies and shootings in the City of Newburgh, including the November 3, 2020, attempted murder of a rival gang member. During that attempted murder, which involved co-defendants Justice Jackson, a/k/a “Tweak,” Tyrell Simon, a/k/a “Rello,” a/k/a “Insane,” Thomas Rodriguez, a/k/a “Tom Tom,” a/k/a “Checks,” and others, Rodriguez shot a rival gang member multiple times while the rival gang member sat in his vehicle. The rival gang member survived after receiving life-saving medical treatment at two different hospitals. The Grimz were also responsible for trafficking large amounts of deadly narcotics, like crack cocaine and heroin, on the streets and for trafficking K2, a synthetic cannabinoid, within the New York State prison system.

The YG defendants were responsible for at least approximately 13 shootings, three armed robberies, and a large-scale narcotics trafficking conspiracy responsible for flooding the streets with fentanyl, heroin, crack cocaine, and other drugs. In addition, some of the YG defendants also participated in a widespread scheme to defraud the New York state unemployment insurance program during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, these defendants made just over $1,000,000 through this scheme and caused at least one of their victims to fall into financial ruin because, as a result of YG’s fraud, the victim lost her total disability social security payment.

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The counts of conviction and sentences imposed on the defendants in the Sampson and Williams cases are contained in the chart below.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, City of Newburgh Police Department, New York State Police, Town of New Windsor Police Department, Town of Newburgh Police Department, New York City Police Department, and Nassau County Police Department. Mr. Clayton also thanked the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, the New York City Department of Correction, Correction Intelligence Bureau, the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General, and the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department for their assistance in the investigation.

This case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer N. Ong, Ryan W. Allison, and Margaret N. Vasu are in charge of the prosecution.

United States v. Kashad Sampson, et al., 22 Cr. 640 (KMK)

Defendant	Age	Counts of Conviction	Sentence
Kashad Sampson, a/k/a “Shoca”	27	Racketeering Conspiracy Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	200 months in prison Five years’ supervised release
George Delgado, a/k/a “Groc”	26	Racketeering Conspiracy Assault with a Deadly Weapon in Aid of Racketeering Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime	144 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Gabriel Roman, a/k/a “Gabe”	26	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence Aggravated Identity Theft	160 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Dallas Archer, a/k/a “Muggas”	29	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime	90 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Bruce Allen, a/k/a “Bam”	28	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of aDrug Trafficking Crime Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	154 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Syncere Tatum, a/k/a “Syn”	25	Racketeering Conspiracy Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	160 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
John Lalanne, a/k/a “JJ”	27	Racketeering Conspiracy Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	120 months in prison Four years’ supervised release
Raekwon Jackson, a/k/a “Tree”	26	Racketeering Conspiracy Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	170 months in prison Four years’ supervised release
Bashir Mallory, a/k/a “BG,” a/k/a “Bear”	22	Racketeering Conspiracy Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	140 months in prison Five years’ supervised release
Mekhi McDonald, a/k/a “Khi”	22	Racketeering Conspiracy Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	168 months in prison Four years’ supervised release
Christopher Tate, a/k/a “Bag”	23	Racketeering Conspiracy Narcotics Conspiracy	140 months in prison Four years’ supervised release
Kristopher Burgess Cunningham, a/k/a “KG”	32	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime	90 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Dejon Scott, a/k/a “Red Dot”	30	Racketeering Conspiracy	60 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Davon Waddell, a/k/a “Spotem,” a/k/a “Light Skin Day Day”	28	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in	164 months in prison Four years’ supervised release Furtherance of a Crime of Violence Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence
Zyrell Williams, a/k/a “Zabb”	21	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime	96 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Demetrius Ware, a/k/a “Doom Doom”	21	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime	90 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Antonio Pittman, a/k/a “Ant”	24	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	84 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Daquan Cueto	24	Racketeering Conspiracy	108 months in prison Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime Three years’ supervised release
Christopher Johnson, a/k/a “Brisko”	32	Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence and Drug Trafficking Crime Hobbs Act Robbery Narcotics Conspiracy	144 months in prison Four years’ supervised release
Harry Pimentel	24	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	130 months in prison Four years’ supervised release
Eric Steadman, a/k/a “Little Man”	25	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	120 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Donald Leid, a/k/a “Big Lip Day Day”	32	Narcotics Conspiracy Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence and a Drug Trafficking Crime	94 months in prison Five years’ supervised release
Tevin George, a/k/a “Tev Roc”	32	Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	84 months in prison Five years’ supervised release
Devin Williams, a/k/a “Twin,” a/k/a “Dev”	29	Racketeering Conspiracy	54 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Dante Johnson, a/k/a “D Rose”	28	Racketeering Conspiracy	60 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
George Tatum, a/k/a “Buddy”	48	Narcotics Conspiracy	140 months in prison Five years’ supervised release
Coleridge Lewter, a/k/a “Korrupt”	45	Narcotics Conspiracy	72 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Rodney George, a/k/a “Taco”	49	Narcotics Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime	108 months in prison 5 years’ supervised release

United States v. Jeremy Williams, et al., 22 Cr. 641 (PMH)

Defendant	Age	Counts of Conviction	Sentence
Jeremy Williams, a/k/a “Dubs”	37	Racketeering Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime	300 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
James White, a/k/a “Infared”	47	Racketeering Conspiracy Narcotics Conspiracy	300 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Messiah Jackson, a/k/a “Two”	25	Racketeering Conspiracy Narcotics Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime	210 months in prison Five years’ supervised release
Justice Jackson, a/k/a “Tweak”	25	Racketeering Conspiracy Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	180 months in prison Five years’ supervised release
Octavious Griffin, a/k/a “Tate”	39	Racketeering Conspiracy Brandishing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	234 months’ imprisonment Five years’ supervised release
Markell Williams, a/k/a “15”	25	Racketeering Conspiracy Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	204 months in prison Five years’ supervised release
Tyrell Simon, a/k/a “Insane,” a/k/a “Rello”	25	Racketeering Conspiracy Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence	180 months in prison Five years’ supervised release
Joshua Hendrick, a/k/a “Hendrix”	26	Racketeering Conspiracy	121 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Elijah Briggs, a/k/a “Eli”	29	Racketeering Conspiracy	87 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Shamell Williams, a/k/a “Mello Trend”	33	Racketeering Conspiracy	87 months in prison Three years’ supervised release
Thomas Rodriguez, a/k/a “Tom Tom,” a/k/a “Checks”	34	Racketeering Conspiracy Attempted Murder and Assault with a Dangerous Weapon in Aid of Racketeering Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence Narcotics Conspiracy Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime	360 months in prison Five years’ supervised release

Source: DOJ Press Release.

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