Bronx Gang Member Convicted Of 2011 Murder Of Bolivia Beck

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that KAREEM DAVIS, a/k/a “Reem,” a member of a violent, Bronx-based street gang known as “Killbrook,” was convicted of the April 2011 murder of Bolivia Beck, as well as participating in a racketeering conspiracy.  DAVIS was convicted following a one-week trial before U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield. 

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “A unanimous jury convicted Kareem Davis of killing Bolivia Beck as she was meeting her boyfriend’s grandparents, more than eight years ago.   We hope today’s verdict brings some solace to the victim’s family, while also taking a violent offender off the street.”

As reflected in the Indictment, documents previously filed in the case, and evidence introduced at trial:

From at least in or about 2007 through in or about October 2017, DAVIS was a member of Killbrook, a violent street gang based in the “Down the Block” section of the Mill Brook Houses.  Killbrook members were responsible for narcotics trafficking, shootings, robberies, and murder.  In or around 2007, a violent rivalry started between Killbrook and “MBG,” another gang based in the “Up the Block” section of the Mill Brook Houses.  This rivalry involved numerous shootings and acts of violence, including a shooting at a baby shower in the Mill Brook community center. 

On April 18, 2011, Bolivia Beck and her boyfriend, a member of MBG, were walking through the Mill Brook Houses.  As Beck and her boyfriend approached her boyfriend’s grandparents, DAVIS and a co-conspirator fired multiple times, aiming for the boyfriend but instead striking Beck in the head with a single bullet.  The shooting occurred in broad daylight.  Beck died two days later from the gunshot wound. 

DAVIS, 30, was found guilty of one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison; and one count of murder through the use of a firearm, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.  DAVIS is scheduled to be sentenced on April 16, 2020.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the New York City Police Department.