Founder And Leader Of “Bmb” Street Gang Pleads Guilty To Racketeering Conspiracy

  Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that NICO BURRELL, a/k/a “Zico Nico,” pled guilty today to racketeering conspiracy in connection with his leadership of the “Big Money Bosses” gang (“BMB”), a violent street gang founded by BURRELL that operated primarily on White Plains Road from 215th Street to 233rd Street in the Bronx.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said: “For far too long, under the leadership of Nico Burrell, the BMB street gang has terrorized citizens of the Bronx through violence, robberies, and drug dealing. With Burrell’s guilty plea today, the community around White Plains Road is safer.”

According to the Indictment and other documents filed in the case, as well as statements made during the plea proceedings:

BURRELL was a founder and leader of BMB, a subset of the “Young Bosses,” or “YBz” street gang, which operated throughout New York City. Between 2007 and 2016, members and associates of BMB committed numerous acts of violence against rival gang members in the Bronx—including murders, attempted murders, and armed robberies—and sold crack cocaine and marijuana. As part of his leadership of BMB, BURRELL attempted to shoot a rival gang member on February 11, 2009, but hit an innocent bystander instead. BURRELL also sold significant amounts of oxycodone and, during pretrial detention in this case, assaulted a witness.

BURRELL was arrested in this case as a result of a multi-year investigation by the New York City Police Department’s Bronx Gang Squad (the “Bronx Gang Squad”), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Violent Gang Unit (“HSI”), the New York Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), and the Joint Firearms Task Force of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) into gang violence in the Northern Bronx. On April 27, 2016, the Indictment was unsealed, charging 63 members and associates of BMB with racketeering conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy, narcotics distribution, and/or firearms charges. To date, 55 of these defendants have pled guilty.

BURRELL, 25, of the Bronx, New York, was arrested on April 27, 2016. BURRELL pled guilty today to one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Kim praised the outstanding work of the NYPD’s Bronx Gang Squad, HSI, DEA, and ATF.