Benton J. Campbell, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced that CARLOS GIL, a Brooklyn leader of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (“Latin Kings”) street gang, was sentenced today to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the October 14, 2001 murder of 21-year-old Jorge (“George”) Rodriguez in Brooklyn, New York. On May 11, 2007, following a two-week trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted GIL on all counts relating to the murder of Rodriguez. The jury found the Latin Kings to be a racketeering enterprise and that the murder was carried out in furtherance of the gang’s racketeering activities. The trial and sentencing proceeding were held before Senior United States District Judge Frederic Block.

The evidence at trial established that GIL was the “Warlord,” or enforcer, of a Latin Kings chapter, or tribe, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. In the early morning hours of October 14, 2001, as GIL was leaving a party in Flatbush, Brooklyn, he encountered Rodriguez outside the apartment building. GIL had previously learned that Rodriguez, a member of the Latin Kings’ Flatbush tribe, was associating with another gang in violation of the Latin Kings’ rules. GIL told a Latin Kings Flatbush tribe member who was present to kill Rodriguez, but that member refused. GIL then handed a gun to a 16-year-old junior member of the Sunset Park tribe, who shot Rodriguez to death at GIL’s command. The junior gang member later pled guilty to murdering Rodriguez and testified against GIL at trial.

The Latin Kings, a violent international street gang, originated in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1940s. The gang first appeared in New York City in the 1980s after a tribe was formed at an upstate New York state prison. The Latin Kings now have tribes in all five boroughs of New York City, as well as on Long Island. Its members engage in acts of drug dealing, gun trafficking, robbery, assault, and homicide.

Mr. Campbell thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York City Police Department, the agencies that led the government’s investigation.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lee J. Freedman and Special Assistant United States Attorney Tanisha Simon.

The Defendant:

CARLOS GIL, also known as “King Cohones”
Age: 30

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