Own Every Dollar Gang Member Pleads Guilty To 2019 Murder

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the guilty plea today of JERRIN PENA, a/k/a “Rooga,” a/k/a “Perry,” in connection with his criminal activities as a member of the violent gang Own Every Dollar (“OED”), including the 2019 murder of Hector Cruz.  PENA pled guilty today to several charges, including racketeering conspiracy, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry J. Ricardo. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “On April 14, 2019, Jerrin Pena murdered Hector Cruz, an innocent bystander to gang violence.  That murder is just one of the many acts of violence that members and associates of Own Every Dollar have committed that have terrorized Washington Heights and surrounding communities.  This Office will not stop its pursuit of dangerous gangs, and violent gang members will be apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

As alleged in the Indictment and statements made in public filings and public court proceedings:

PENA is a member of the violent gang OED, a subset of the Trinitarios gang based in and around the Washington Heights area of Manhattan.  The Indictments in this case charge 24 members and associates of OED with numerous violent crimes, including five murders and 15 attempted murders.

On April 14, 2019, in the early evening, PENA and others drove to West 135th Street in Manhattan to shoot at members of a rival gang.  PENA exited the car and shot at a rival gang member on West 135th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.  He missed the rival gang member but struck bystander Hector Cruz—then age 57—in the liver.  Cruz died of the gunshot wound approximately one month later.

PENA also pled guilty to an attempted murder on February 28, 2023, when he and several other inmates stabbed another inmate in the Metropolitan Detention Center; a gunpoint robbery of a drug dealer on January 22, 2022, in the vicinity of Riverside Drive and West 145th Street in Manhattan; conspiring to traffic more than four kilograms of fentanyl; and trafficking firearms from Pennsylvania to New York.

13 other OED defendants have previously pled guilty in the case, including MAYOVANEX RODRIGUEZ, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a 2022 murder.

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PENA, 23, of New York, New York, pled guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of attempted murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of Hobbs Act robbery, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of narcotics conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; and one count of firearms trafficking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. 

The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.  PENA is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken on March 4, 2025.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding work of the New York City Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah L. Kushner, Kevin Mead, Alexandra S. Messiter, and Ashley C. Nicolas are in charge of the prosecution.