Various federal, State and City officials announced the unsealing of an indictment on Tuesday, Dec. 23, charging Ahmar Garcia, 25, a/k/a “OB,” and Raheem Patterson, 28, a/k/a “Rah Rah,” with allegedly murdering 16-year-old Nisayah Sanchez on Sept. 29, 2021 in the Belmont section of The Bronx, as a result of a gang war they said plagued the City throughout that year, and cost the lives of multiple young men and boys throughout The Bronx. 

 

They said they were also charged with an attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon which injured another victim during that same shooting, and that Patterson was also charged with an attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon that occurred on Dec. 2, 2021, when he shot at a rival gang member in Manhattan. 

 

Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Ricky J. Patel, special agent in charge of the New York field office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), joined New York City Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch to make the announcement. They said Garcia and Patterson were each brought into federal custody from New York State custody where they had each been serving state sentences for other violent crimes. 

 

They said the defendants were due to be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave on Tuesday and the case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer.         

 

“These charges stem from a violent gang war that played out on the streets of New York and ended with the cold-blooded murder of sixteen-year-old Nisayah Sanchez,” said Clayton.  “I want to thank the women and men of this Office and our law enforcement partners who never wavered in the over four years since Sanchez’s senseless murder. Our Office will bring gun-toting criminals who threaten the safety of New Yorkers to justice.”

 

For his part, Patel said, “As alleged, the defendants’ callous disregard for human life, brazenly carrying out an attack in broad daylight and then boasting about their crimes online, will not be tolerated. For too long, these criminal organizations have terrorized neighborhoods and placed innocent lives at risk, leaving families shattered and communities living in fear.” 

 

He added, “This indictment marks a decisive blow against the violent street gangs that have inflicted fear and devastation on our neighborhoods. HSI New York, the New York City Police Department, and the Southern District of New York are unwavering in our commitment to rooting out those who threaten the safety of our streets.”

 

Tisch lamented the decision by Garcia and Patterson to allegedly end a young life, devastating a family, and putting an entire community in danger. “When violence is carried out this openly, and then celebrated, it demands a decisive response,” she said. “This case shows what focused enforcement and strong federal partnerships can accomplish, and why the NYPD will continue to pursue violent gangs before they can take another life.  I thank Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for their partnership in bringing these charges.”

 

Prosecutors said that since at least 2019, two warring alliances of violent street gangs engaged in retaliatory shootings, resulting in multiple young men and boys being shot, injured, and killed. They said after each shooting, the gangs glorified their acts of violence against their rivals, taunting them for their dead gang members, and promoting their own gangs and their allies via social media and through their rap videos. They said the posts and videos in turn fueled the cycle of violence, where the rival gangs retaliated against each other for each shooting, taunt, or perceived slight.

 

They said that over the spring and summer of 2021, the two alliances engaged in a gang war that included multiple shootings against their enemies, real or perceived, and that the shootings resulted in the deaths of multiple young men and boys throughout The Bronx. They said that on one side of this gang war was an alliance consisting principally of the MacBallers, the Drillys, and the 800 YGz gangs, which historically and generally aligned, collectively or through its individual members, with the Bloods. 

They said on the other side was an opposing alliance principally including the Sev Side, Third Side, and Reyway gangs, all neighborhood sets generally aligned with the Crips. They said that on Sept. 29, 2021, in retaliation for the murders of their own gang members, and to promote their own standing in their respective gangs, members of the alliance of MacBallers, Drillys, and 800 YGz gangs, including Garcia and Patterson allegedly shot and killed Nisayah Sanchez, a 16-year-old member of the rival Sev Side, Third Side, and Reyway gang alliance.

They said this was done by sneaking up beside Sanchez and shooting him to death on a Bronx street in broad daylight, while also shooting and injuring another rival gang member. They said that a little over two months later, on Dec. 2, 2021, Patterson and another member of his gang alliance shot multiple times at a rival gang member in midtown Manhattan as the rival was leaving a restaurant.

 

Prosecutors said Garcia and Patterson, both of The Bronx, are each charged (with respect to the Sept. 29, 2021, shooting) with murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a mandatory sentence of life or death; conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and discharging a firearm during an in relation to a crime of violence, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. 

 

They said Patterson is also charged (with respect to the Dec. 2, 2021, shooting) with attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.

 

They said the minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

 

Clayton praised what he said was the outstanding investigative work of HSI and the NYPD, and thanked the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office for its assistance with the case, which is being prosecuted by the violent organizations and crimes unit of the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Southern District of New York. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael R. Herman and Patrick R. Moroney are leading the prosecution.

 

The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law. 

 

To read more on this murder and related incidents, click here and here.