Bronx gang member charged with 2021 murder over drug dealing dispute

A member of the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation gang was charged with the pointblank shooting of a drug rival in the Bronx in 2021, according to a Manhattan federal indictment unsealed Friday.

Jaleel ‘Midnight’ Shakoor, 27 of Highbridge shot victim Gerry Mazzella in the neck at point blank range on June 3, 2021 to ‘maintain and increase his position’ within the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation gang, prosecutors said.

Mazzella who went by “Jay”, was gunned down on W. 165 St. near Woodycrest Ave., just a block from his home, over a drug dispute, cops said.

Mazzella, a young father and pot dealer, who had just started a new job at a bagel shop and had plans to move to Long Island, died over a month later from the gunshot wound, cops said. The victim’s family told the Daily News he had never been involved in selling marijuana.

Manhattan federal prosecutors charged Shakoor, who was already in federal custody on a 2021 gun charge, with murder in aid of racketeering, murder with a firearm, racketeering conspiracy, and possessing ammunition after a felony conviction.

Prosecutors said Shakoor, who goes by the nickname, ‘Midnight’ was a member of the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation gang, a subset of the Bloods gang, from at least 2020 to 2022.

After his death, Mazzella’s girlfriend told the Daily News, “He had nothing to do with it. It was some people he was breaking away from and they had this beef. He didn’t have beef with anybody.”

Mazzella’s girlfriend remembered him as a “good person” with a “vibrant personality.”

“With these charges, we continue our daily work of investigating and prosecuting those who perpetrate these senseless acts,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “We hope this prosecution brings some measure of comfort to the victim’s loved ones.”

Shakoor’s lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, declined to comment on the case.