BRONX D.A.: DRUG TURF WAR ENDS IN DEATH & SOON, 25-TO-LIFE

DRUG TURF WAR ENDS IN DEATH

AND NOW 25-TO-LIFE

(Bronx, NY – April 16, 2015) – Bronx County D.A. Robert Johnson announces that a Supreme Court Jury has found 22-year-old EUGENE “GINO” GRAHAM guilty of Murder in the 2^nd Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2^nd Degree for the killing of 23-year-old ELIJAH GREEN, shot to death in the McKinley Houses in the early hours of the morning on February 4^th, 2012.

GREEN’s body was found in the 14^th floor stairwell of 730 East 163^rd Street after what was a turf war over drug sales. He and GRAHAM had known one another for nearly a decade, but the relationship soured when the victim and a witness began to sell drugs on the defendant’s turf in the McKinley Houses.  In the months prior to the deadly shooting, GRAHAM and another person had threatened GREEN and the witness about their drug-selling activities.

After a month-long trial and two days of deliberation, the jury delivered its verdict early this afternoon and convicted GRAHAM of Murder 2, a Class A-1 Felony, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2^nd Degree, a Class C Felony.  When he is sentenced next month before Supreme Court Justice Troy Webber, Graham faces 25 years-to-life behind bars.

The case against EUGENE GRAHAM was prosecuted by Senior Investigative Assistant D.A. Thomas Kapp and A.D.A. Aaron Spolin of the Bronx D.A. Gangs/Major Case Bureau.