Drug Trafficker Who Ordered Midtown Hit Sentenced To 85 Years

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A drug trafficker who hired a hit man to murder a rival on a Midtown street in broad daylight is facing 85 years in state prison, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced.

Lloyd McKenzie, 39, was sentence to 85 years to life on Thursday for the 2012 drug killing, prosecutors said in a press release. McKenzie was convicted of hiring a man to gun down Brandon Woodard on a Midtown Manhattan street on December 10, 2012.

On December 10, 2012 McKenzie arranged a meeting with Woodard on West 58th Street near Seventh Avenue, prosecutors said. McKenzie drove a gunman to the location in a rental car and waited for Woodard to arrive, prosecutors said. The gunman, who was never arrested, exited the car and shot Woodard once in the back of the neck. McKenzie and the gunman then fled the scene in the rental car, prosecutors said.

"This interstate drug conspiracy ended with an execution-style killing on a Midtown street in broad daylight," Vance said in a statement. "These perpetrators were on the run for several years, until justice – and excellent investigative work – caught up with them."

In addition to being convicted of second-degree murder, McKenzie was also convicted with operating as a major trafficker in a bi-coastal drug operation that imported cocaine from Los Angeles to Queens, prosecutors said. Three of McKenzie's accomplices in the drug ring, Darryl Mason, 53, Lature Irvin, 45, and Michael Wisdom, 41, were also convicted of conspiracy for their roles in the trafficking operation.

Between August and December of 2012 the four men shipped large quantities of cocaine from Los Angeles to Queens and then sold the drugs in New York City, prosecutors said. Mason and Irvin worked on the West Coast to package and ship cocaine to Queens addresses provided by McKenzie and Wisdom, prosecutors said. When Mckenzie and Wisdom received the cocaine it would be resold in the city, prosecutors said.

"This brazen killing left two young children without a father and a loving mother without her son. I hope this conclusion will bring a measure of comfort to Brandon Woodard's family and loved ones," Vance said in a statement.

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