{"id":238560,"date":"2026-05-20T21:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/238560\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T21:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:24:07","slug":"nyc-gang-boss-gets-life-for-staten-island-double-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/238560\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Gang Boss Gets Life for Staten Island Double Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feds say Staten Island gang leader John Pena bragged he \u201cwalked off like I was John Gotti\u201d after murdering a former associate<\/p>\n

The notorious leader of the violent Gorilla Stone Mafia street gang was sentenced Tuesday <\/a>to life in federal prison for two ruthless gang-related executions on Staten Island, New York. This horrifically includes a victim who was gunned down while sleeping in bed next to the defendant\u2019s ex-girlfriend.<\/p>\n

John Pena, 34, also known as \u201cTragedy,\u201d \u201cDon Tragg,\u201d \u201cLast Don\u201d and \u201cMoney Baggz,\u201d received the life sentence from Brooklyn federal Judge Ann Donnelly after prosecutors said he orchestrated murders and drug trafficking operations as head of the Gorilla Stone Mafia. Gorilla Stone is a Bloods-affiliated gang operating out of the Stapleton Houses on Staten Island.<\/p>\n

The feds said Pena personally carried out the March 2021 killing of former gang member and friend Mark Bajandas, who had defected to a rival faction. Pena shot his former friend twelve times. Officials alleged Pena later bragged about the slaying, telling others, \u201cI spliffed him and walked off like I was John Gotti.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just months later, prosecutors said Pena murdered another former Gorilla Stone member, Francisco Gonzalez, by shooting him three times in the head while Gonzalez slept in bed beside Pena\u2019s ex-girlfriend.<\/p>\n

According to the DOJ, investigators later recovered disturbing writings from Pena\u2019s jail cell at Brooklyn\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center in which he allegedly confessed to the murders and referenced leaving one victim\u2019s \u201cbrains on them sheets.\u201d More of the writings: \u201cKuz I Turn all my opps into ghost \/ Francisco I mix them N \/ Mark \/ A \u2026 shhh \/ Gotta chill \u2026 they don\u2019t Know \/ Lately how I feel \/ Like the reaper \/ If I spot em I\u2019m snatching his soul.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Credit: US District Court EDNY<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leader of Gorilla Stone Mafia, a violent gang, has been sentenced to life in prison,\u201d FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle said in a statement. \u201cThis should serve as a warning to every gangster who believes they are above the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feds also accused Pena and other gang members of trafficking marijuana, crack cocaine and heroin in Staten Island and Vermont while using intimidation and violence to maintain control over territory around the Stapleton Houses.<\/p>\n

Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n

Pena was convicted in September 2024 on multiple federal charges, including racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, firearms offenses and narcotics conspiracy charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feds say Staten Island gang leader John Pena bragged he \u201cwalked off like I was John Gotti\u201d after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[93229,98,7317,5970,26485,93230,15009,9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-238560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-bloods","tag-brooklyn","tag-drugs","tag-fbi","tag-gang-violence","tag-gorilla-stone-mafia","tag-mdc","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}