Brooklyn Gang Member Convicted of Racketeering and Two Murders

A federal jury in Brooklyn returned a guilty verdict today against Frank Smith, also known as “Fresh,” a member of a Coney Island-based street gang known as “Rival Impact,” on charges of racketeering and two counts each of murder-in-aid-of racketeering and causing a death through the use of a firearm.  The verdict followed a three-week trial before United States District Judge Frederic Block.  When sentenced, Smith faces two mandatory terms of life imprisonment for the murders of Terrance Serrano and Rashawn Washington.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the verdict. 

“With today’s jury verdict, Frank Smith has been held accountable for murders and drug dealing arising out of his allegiance to a violent Brooklyn street gang,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “This Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to work tirelessly to dismantle violent street gangs and to eradicate the menace they pose to our communities.”  Mr. Donoghue thanked the agents and detectives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, and the New York City Police Department for their outstanding investigative work on the case.

Between January 2000 and January 2014, Smith was a member of the Rival Impact street gang, a racketeering enterprise based at the Mermaid Houses in Coney Island.  For more than a decade, the gang engaged in heroin and crack distribution and violence, including murders, attempted murders, robberies and assaults.  Rival Impact had been at war for some time with members of “Thirty-O,” a street gang based in and around the Coney Island Houses.  After a Rival Impact gang member Vincent Carmona was slain by “Thirty-O” crew members,  Smith plotted killing members of Thirty-O, specifically Terrance Serrano and Rashawn Washington, whom he believed shot Carmona.  On October 4, 2010, Smith and a Rival Impact gang member drove to East 19^th Street in Manhattan where they found a parked car belonging to Serrano and Washington.  After Serrano and Washington approached and entered the car, Smith ran to the car and opened fire, killing both men sitting inside.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime & Gangs Section.  Assistant United States Attorneys Maria Cruz Melendez, Jennifer M. Sasso and Josh Hafetz are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendant:

FRANK SMITH (also known as “Fresh”)
Age:  33
Brooklyn, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 16-CR-346 (FB)