Trinitarios gang members charged with carjackings, 2022 Queens murder: feds
A crew of Trinitarios gangbangers brought violence and death to the streets of Queens, committing several shootings, carjackings and a 2022 murder, the feds alleged Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn accused a quartet of the New York-based Dominican American gang’s alleged members in an indictment unsealed on Wednesday.
Two of the suspects, Amaury Guzman, 24, and Jonathan Rodriguez, 22, are accused in the Nov. 20, 2022 killing of Tao Wu, who was shot to death during a botched BMW carjacking on 37th St. near Parsons Blvd. in Flushing.
The charges came to light in a superseding criminal indictment unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court on Wednesday.
Guzman, Rodriguez and others stole a Mercedes-Benz sedan from a driveway in Carteret, N.J., then headed to Flushing, where they found the 25-year-old Wu sitting in a parked BMW 440 coupe, prosecutors allege.
Rodriguez got out of the Mercedes and approached Wu, who drove off — so Rodriguez opened fire, hitting Wu in the back, the feds allege.
Wu crashed into a sidewalk and flipped the car upside down, and the carjacking crew sped off, authorities allege.
Medics rushed Wu to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Queens, where he died. Cops were initially unaware he had been shot, but an exam at the hospital revealed the fatal bullet wound, police said shortly after the killing.
Wu lived a mile away from where he was killed.
He was slain as part of a four-day crime spree in Queens which started on Nov. 19, 2022, when Guzman, Ruffi Fernandez, 26, and other unnamed accomplices tried to rob a pot dealer in Queens, approaching the victim in a car and shooting his passenger in the neck the feds allege.
The passenger survived, but needed surgery to remove the bullet, according to prosecutors.
Guzman and Rodriguez struck again three days later, riding with their buddies in the Mercedes they stole from Carteret, according to the feds. They found a man parking a BMW X5 on Kent St. near 80th Dr. in Jamaica Estates, tackled him to the ground, and robbed him at gunpoint of his car, his cellphone, and two envelopes with nearly $14,000 cash, the feds allege.
The crooks sped off in both luxury sedans, but the victim was able to track his phone using an app on his wife’s phone. When police caught up with them, the BMW crashed into the Mercedes as they tried to escape, according to court documents.
Police found Rodriguez and two other suspects near the scene of the crash and arrested them, but Guzman got away, the feds allege.
His reign of terror continued for months after that. On Dec. 12, 2022, he joined Fernandez and another gang member, Ian Diez, 19, and tried to carjack a Range Rover driver on Sanford Ave. and 150th St. in Murray Hill, the feds say. Fernandez fired a shot as the driver fled, missing the victim but lodging a bullet in his center console, according to the feds.
And on Feb. 1, 2023, Guzman and his pal rolled up to 73rd St. near Grand Ave. in Maspeth in a stolen Dodge Charger, then pistol-whipped the owner of a Ford Mustang and took his ride, the feds allege.
Authorities caught up with Guzman last February, linking him to an iPhone found at the scene of the Nov. 22, 2022 carjacking and car crash.
Diez and Fernandez were arrested by the feds in June. Fernandez was released on $150,000 bond, while the others have been locked up without bail since their arrests.
“The defendants repeatedly and violently terrorized the community with multiple shootings and armed carjackings,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Wednesday. “Members of our community should not have to live in fear of gun violence in their homes, on the streets, or in their cars.”
Guzman and Rodriguez could face life in prison if convicted, while Fernandez faces up to 20 years, and Diez up to 15.
Their lawyers did not return messages seeking comment Wednesday.
