Five Jersey City men were sentenced to at least 51 months each for a gang-related stabbing that was in retaliation for a prior gang assault, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Yahsier Brown, 21, was sentenced today to 51 months in prison, Jaylen Boone, 22, was sentenced on May 2nd to 56 months in prison, Jamil Bowens, 22, was sentenced on April 5th to 53 months in prison, Divine Abraham, 22, was sentenced on March 3rd to 51 months in prison, and Jermaine Jennings, 22, was sentenced on January 4th to 57 months in prison, Sellinger said in a statement.
All of the defendants are from Jersey City and were also sentenced to three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark.
On August 3rd, 2020, Brown, Jennings, Abraham, Bowens, Boone, and three others, all of whom are associated with a street gang operating in and around the Curries Woods Public Housing Complex in Jersey City – identified as “Curries Woods” or the “Tay Tay Shrimp Gang” or the “Sharks” – assaulted a rival gang member in retaliation for a prior gang-related assault.
As the victim was walking down a street in Jersey City, Brown, Jennings, Abraham, Bowens, Boone, and the others approached in two cars, parked in the middle of the street, and violently assaulted the victim, who was punched, kicked, and stabbed and suffered life-threatening injuries.
Sellinger credited the special agents and task force officers of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Newark Field Division, the Jersey City Police Department, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Hudson County Department of Corrections with the investigation leading to sentencings.
This investigation was conducted as part of the Jersey City Violent Crime Initiative (VCI).
The VCI was formed in 2018 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Jersey City Police Department, for the sole purpose of combatting violent crime in and around Jersey City.
