Ultra-Violent L.I. Gang Member Found Guilty Of Multiple Felonies

A high-ranking Roosevelt gang member was found guilty of multiple violent felonies on Thursday, bringing an end to his five-week-long trial.

Eric Smith, a Crips street gang member also known as “Esama” and “Esco,” was found guilty of 11 crimes, including murder in-aid-of racketeering, racketeering, Hobbs Act robbery, and conspiracy to murder rival gang members. Smith faces a mandatory term of life imprisonment.

"The defendant’s crimes and those of his fellow gang members demonstrated a disregard for human life and the safety of citizens of the Roosevelt community," said Acting United States Attorney Bridget Rohde. "The defendant took a young man’s life because of his allegiance to a violent street gang. Such gangs like the Rollin’ 60s terrorize communities through violence and drug dealing. This office, together with our law enforcement partners, will remain vigilant in bringing gang members to justice."

Smith was a ranking member of the Rollin’ 60s set of the Crips, a Roosevelt-based gang that engaged in murder, attempted murder, narcotics trafficking and firearms trafficking to maintain control of the Roosevelt community for nearly a decade. Smith, who nicknamed himself “Esama da Bomba” in reference to Osama Bin Laden, bragged on social media and to fellow gang members about being the gang’s “top shooter.” Smith lived up to this title, prosecutors said. In accordance with the gang’s “on sight” rule, which required members to attack the rival Bloods in Roosevelt whenever possible, using whatever means available, Smith participated in a dozen shootings of rival gang members or their homes. Smith shot a man outside a busy nightclub in Freeport and brazenly shot at rivals on residential streets. In addition, Smith participated in a half-dozen robberies with his fellow gang members to acquire cash and drugs to sell on the streets.

Among the crimes Smith was convicted of was the Dec. 15, 2010 murder of 19-year-old James McClenic, a member of the rival Bloods street gang. That night, Smith drove through the streets for hours, hunting for McClenic. At approximately 6:20 p.m., Smith found McClenic sitting in a parked car in a crowded gas station on Hempstead Turnpike in Hempstead. With innocent bystanders standing nearby, Smith, wearing a black ski mask and armed with a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, crept alongside the vehicle in which McClenic was a passenger, and opened fire into the car at close range. Smith fatally shot McClenic in the neck.

In the wake of the murder and after attempted retaliation by the Bloods against Smith and his fellow Crips, Smith and the leader of the Rollin’ 60s Crips, Raphael Osborne, dispatched younger members of their gang to retaliate. The younger Crips, acting at Smith’s direction, fired more than a dozen shots into the home of McClenic’s grieving family on the day of his burial.

Smith was also convicted for his role in two robberies that he committed with the aid of fellow members of the Rollin’ 60s in the fall of 2010. The first robbery involved Smith and a fellow gang member stealing crack cocaine and cash from a victim he pistol-whipped in an effort to force the victim to disclose the location of the drugs. In the second robbery, Osborne directed Smith and fellow Rollin’ 60s members to the home of a drug dealer where Smith and a fellow gang member robbed the dealer of cash and drugs at gunpoint.

"The subject in this case had such little regard for human life he took pride in killing people and terrorizing the community, so much so that he nicknamed himself glorifying one of the world’s worst terrorists, Osama bin Laden," said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney. "Our FBI Long Island Gang Task Force won’t rest until we search out and stop every gang member who believes they are above the law and can get away with being such immoral criminals."

The government’s investigation has led to the arrest and conviction of more than 20 members and associates of the Rollin’ 60s Crips, including its founder Raphael Osborne who was sentenced in January 2017 to three life sentences plus 135 years. To date, 10 gang members have been sentenced.

Photo: U.S. Attorney's Office