Nicolas Vargas Jr., a 22-year-old Black man, was shot in the head and killed on August 31, 2018, near an IHOP around 232nd Street in the Bronx. What began as a late-night street killing was later tied by federal prosecutors to a broader pattern of gang violence carried out by Own Every Dollar (OED), a subset of the Trinitarios operating around Washington Heights.

Federal prosecutors built the killing into a racketeering case alleging that OED used shootings, attempted murders, and drug trafficking to maintain power. In court, authorities said Jowenky Nunez Jr., also known as Juju, murdered Nicolas; Nunez was among three men convicted in a 2025 federal trial that presented Nicolas’s death as one of several murders connected to the defendants.

The convictions placed Nicolas’s death within a larger chain of violent acts rather than an isolated incident. If anyone knew Nicolas, his movements that night, or has information about the OED network, please come forward with what was seen or heard.