NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Bronx gang member was found guilty on five counts that include racketeering in connection to the shooting of a 12-year-old boy on a playground.
Nicholas Joseph, 23, also known by the nicknames “Gotti” and “Finesse,” was convicted by a jury Wednesday following a seven-day trial.
“Nicholas Joseph participated in a violent gang for years and carried out a shooting in a playground next to an elementary school, seriously injuring a 12-year-old child,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss. “Now convicted of his crimes, Joseph will no longer be able to inflict harm on the people of this city.”
Between about 2014 and 2020, an indictment said Joseph was a member of the Castle Hill Crew, a racketeering enterprise that operated in the Castle Hill Houses, located in the Soundview section of the Bronx.
Crew members committed and threatened to commit acts of violence in order to “enhance its criminal operations,” including murder, distribution of narcotics, fraud and obtaining and using firearms, officials said.
On about Nov. 19, 2015, Joseph and others stabbed a rival gang member in the head and back, according to an indictment.
Then in April 2017, Joseph shot at rival gang members near the Story Playground in the Bronx, during which a 12-year-old playing basketball was injured. The bullet ruptured the boy’s intestines and arteries, his mother told NBC New York.
An indictment also says in July 2020, and then again later in the year, Joseph illegally possessed firearms and ammo.
Joseph was convicted Wednesday on racketeering conspiracy, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in aid of racketeering, using and carrying a firearm during, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of, a crime of violence and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The first two counts carry a maximum prison term of 20 years each, while the third count has a mandatory consecutive prison term of 10 years, and a maximum of life. The last two counts carry a maximum term of 10 years each.
Joseph is due to be sentenced on Jan. 5, 2022.