Francesco Gonzalez, 23, was fatally shot in the head while asleep next to his girlfriend in a residence on Stanley Avenue in the New Brighton neighborhood of Staten Island on June 22, 2021. The killing was tied to internal violence within the Gorilla Stone Mafia, a faction of the Bloods of which Gonzalez had been a former member.

Investigators focused on John Pena, known by street names including Tragedy, Don Tragg, Last Don, and Money Baggz, who was identified as a leader of the Gorilla Stone Mafia. Prosecutors alleged Pena was involved in Gonzalez’s killing and in an earlier March 10, 2021 killing of 26-year-old Mark Bajandas. Writings recovered from Pena’s cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center were introduced at trial and were described as taking credit for both killings, including a line referencing Gonzalez’s head wound.

After a seven-day federal trial in Brooklyn, a jury convicted Pena on six counts, including racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, and conspiracy to distribute narcotics; the convictions carry a mandatory life sentence. Does anyone have further information about Gonzalez’s life in Staten Island or the incident that night?