Trinitarios Gang Member Ramon Rodriguez Sentenced to Life Plus 20 Years for 2021 Manhattan Robbery Murder
Jamie McDonald, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Ramon Rodriguez, a/k/a "Pollo," a member of the Trinitarios gang, was sentenced to life in prison plus twenty years' imprisonment for the June 21, 2021, murder of Milton Grant during a robbery in Manhattan, New York City, New York, the attempted murder of a second man, and other racketeering and firearms offenses. Rodriguez, 22, is from the Bronx. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff presided over the trial and imposed the sentence.
According to the indictment, court documents, and evidence at trial, from at least 2018 through 2025, Rodriguez was a member of the Trinitarios and an associate of the Shooting Boys, a set of the gang that operated primarily in the Bronx and Manhattan and engaged in murders, attempted murders, robberies, drug trafficking, fraud, and witness retaliation. On June 13, 2021, Rodriguez and members of the Shooting Boys committed a robbery outside a Bronx nightclub, during which Rodriguez shot a man in the leg. Eight days later, on June 21, 2021, they committed another robbery outside a Manhattan nightclub, targeting Milton Grant for his watch; Rodriguez shot Grant in the head, killing him, stole the watch from his body, and shot at Grant's friend as he fled, attempting to kill him.
After his arrest and detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, Rodriguez continued to participate in the gang, including by repeatedly possessing weapons. On December 3, 2023, he and other gang members ambushed, stabbed, and slashed an inmate they suspected of cooperating with law enforcement. Rodriguez was convicted on February 20, 2026, after a two-week jury trial. In a separate case, he pleaded guilty to an assault that left a fellow inmate seriously injured and received a concurrent term of 10 years' imprisonment. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney McDonald said the sentence holds Rodriguez accountable for his crimes. The New York City Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dominic A. Gentile, James Ligtenberg, Frank Balsamello, Brandon D. Harper, and William Stone of the Office's Violent Organizations and Crime Unit prosecuted the cases.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于纽约 Manhattan 的 Daniel Patrick Moynihan 联邦法院入口（资料图）。Ken Lund 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: Entrance of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in Manhattan, New York (file photo). By Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
