Latest news with #FederalDefenders
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Gun dealer to judge: Don't punish me for keeping shank in violent MDC Brooklyn jail
A gun trafficker says he shouldn't get a longer sentence after being caught with a makeshift weapon in his cell at MDC Brooklyn – because the federal lockup is so violent he needs it for protection. Federal prosecutors want Raymond Minaya, 29, to spend more than 15 years behind bars for his role in a gun-dealing ring — six years more than the ring's leader received — in part because of the sharpened metal rod and cell phones found stashed in his jail cell last year. Minaya's lawyers essentially called the contraband a necessary reality in MDC Brooklyn, pointing out that guards found the weapon last November, just a few months after a string of violent attacks and two murders at the troubled Sunset Park lockup. 'Possessing an object to protect himself against the well-documented dangers of the MDC cannot fairly be said to be evidence that Mr. Minaya has not accepted responsibility for his conduct or withdrawn from criminal activity,' wrote Jeffrey Dahlberg and Mia Eisner-Grynberg of the Federal Defenders on Wednesday. 'Mr. Minaya did not use or threaten to use the object, nor was he ever seen brandishing it; it was merely inside his cell, arguably as a deterrent to others or as emergency protection given the recent violent incidents there.' And the cell phones, they argue, can be the only way to reach family members due to the frequent lockdowns at the jail. Several federal judges — including Brooklyn Federal Court Judge William Kuntz, who's scheduled to sentence Minaya on Tuesday — have railed against the notorious conditions at MDC Brooklyn and have shaved months or years off some defendants' sentences to account for the conditions inside. The jail currently houses Sean 'Diddy' Combs and alleged CEO-killer Luigi Mangione. Prosecutors have a different perspective on Minaya's motives: the Gorilla Stone Bloods member has a long history of violence and rule-breaking behind bars when he served time in state prison, including three separate assaults on inmates, they argue. 'The government expects that the defendant, like many other MDC inmates, will use those conditions as a reason for this court to impose a lesser sentence,' prosecutors wrote in a letter to Brooklyn Federal Court William Kuntz. 'But he cannot simultaneously contribute to the dangerous conditions at the MDC and then claim them as a reason he should be granted leniency.' Photos on his contraband phone show bags of pot and him smoking on a video call with other inmates, prosecutors note. 'Additional images appear possibly related to a contraband smuggling scheme, including images of pellets, money transfers, and dried leafy substances,' federal prosecutors wrote in a Tuesday filing. Minaya and three other men were busted in 2023 on charges they sold more than 50 firearms to an undercover cop in Brooklyn, making the sales in a crowded waterfront park and on a playground. Minaya sold 12 of those guns personally, including one weapon used in a 2021 shooting at a Bedford-Stuyvesant family day celebration that left eight people wounded. All four suspects took plea deals last year. The ringleader, David McCann, was sentenced to nine years, while accomplice Tajhai Jones got just over eight years. The remaining defendant, Calvin Tabron, awaits sentencing.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Yahoo
Federal prison officials say ‘no evidence' of maggots in MDC Brooklyn food despite photo shared with News
The federal Bureau of Prisons on Monday denied that the MDC Brooklyn jail served infested food over President's Day weekend, after the Federal Defenders released a photo showing what appeared to be maggots on a tray of black beans and baked potatoes. The Daily News first reported on the photo last week, which the Federal Defenders of New York said was taken by an inmate inside the troubled Sunset Park jail on Feb. 16. On Monday, a Bureau of Prisons spokesman said inmates weren't served black beans or baked potatoes on Feb. 16, and called claims of maggot-infested food 'inaccurate.' 'While we cannot attest to the authenticity of the image you reference, I can say there is no evidence of the presence of 'maggots' in any of the food at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) Brooklyn as claimed,' BOP spokesman Emery Nelson said Monday. Nelson said that based on his conversations with MDC staff, the day's menu included oven brown potatoes, which 'are sliced potatoes and are not whole/baked potatoes' and items like shredded chicken. Inmates were not served beans. 'It is important to note that while black beans were served to the inmate population on Friday, February 14, 2025, and baked potatoes were served on Saturday, February 15, 2025, these items were not served on the same day or in the same meal,' he said. Deirdre von Dornum of the Federal Defenders said Monday she doesn't buy the BOP's response. 'I would ask, on behalf of all the people detained at MDC, that MDC staff do a thorough check of all beans and grains stored at the facility and ensure that any infested items are thrown away,' she said. 'My clients regularly report receiving food — including dairy products — long past the stamped 'use by' date, so my faith in the accuracy of BOP's representations is low.' Defense attorneys and federal judges have for years decried the conditions at MDC Brooklyn, which houses alleged CEO killer Luigi Mangione, fallen hip hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs, and crypto scammer Samuel Bankman-Fried. In March and April of last year, several inmates brought complaints about maggots infesting their meals, after one inmate, Joseph Elias, complained in court filings that he was served maggot-infested beans while in the special housing unit, or SHU. The Bureau of Prisons told federal prosecutors handling his case that jail staff found 'one bag from a particular manufacturer that showed the presence of weevils,' and that the staff had gotten rid of all the beans from that manufacturer. Elias' lawyer, Michael Robotti, countered that his clients found maggots in his meals four times, including after they supposedly got rid of the tainted food. On April 4, the Federal Defenders listed similar complaints from eight other SHU inmates, as well as two inmates in another unit, of finding maggots in their sloppy joes, shredded chicken, black beans and chickpeas.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Yahoo
New photo shows maggot-infested food in MDC Brooklyn jail, where Diddy and Luigi Mangione are held
A recent photo taken inside MDC Brooklyn, the federal jail that houses Luigi Mangione and Sean 'Diddy' Combs, shows what looks to be a maggot-infested meal served to an inmate over the President's Day weekend — evidence that a 'serious sanitation issue that threatens the health of our clients' sanitation persists at the notorious lock-up, according to inmate lawyers. The gag-worthy snapshot, provided to the Daily News by the Federal Defenders of New York, shows potatoes stuffed with lumps of beans, each lump crawling with what appear to be tiny white maggots. It's not the first time inmates have brought complaints about maggots infesting their meals at the Sunset Park jail. In March 2024, one MDC inmate, Joseph Elias, complained through his attorney that he was served maggot-infested beans while he was locked up in the special housing unit, or SHU. After Elias spoke out, the Bureau of Prisons told the federal prosecutors handling his case that jail staff found 'one bag from a particular manufacturer that showed the presence of weevils,' and that the staff had tossed all the beans from that manufacturer. But Elias' lawyer, Michael Robotti, called the weevil explanation 'highly suspect,' especially since he found maggots in his meals four times, including after they supposedly got rid of the tainted food. On April 4, the Federal Defenders catalogued similar complaints from eight other SHU inmates, as well as two inmates in another unit, that they were finding maggots in their sloppy joes, shredded chicken, black beans and chickpeas. One inmate told his lawyer he 'will eat them because he does not want to go hungry and considers them to be 'protein' – tries not to look too closely or think too much about it, doesn't think it is going to change,' according to a court filing. The photo provided by to The News was taken Sunday, Deirdre von Dornum of the Federal Defenders said. 'MDC assured us almost a year ago that it had thrown out all the infested food, including photo, taken on Sunday of a President's Day weekend, shows there is once again a serious sanitation issue that threatens the health of our clients,' she said. Defense lawyer Sabrina Shroff called the infested food a regular occurrence, not a 'one-off,' despite the hopes of judges and attorneys last year. Defendants hoard and barter food behind bars, or rely on sandwiches from the visiting room vending machines to avoid meals that will make them sick, she said. 'Our clients are forced to eat on the margins — the white bread, the rice, food you can check to avoid bugs and vermin,' she said. 'Many hoard bread, as the potatoes are made with powder and over-watered. They give you 'shredded chicken' which they serve three days in a row. Each day they add in the leftover vegetable of the prior day and mix it into the chicken. 'Nothing about this is anywhere close to bearable — the humane standard is a pipe dream at MDC Brooklyn,' Shroff said. Bureau of Prisons spokesman Benjamin O'Cone would not comment about specific complaints about maggots, citing 'privacy, safety, and security reasons,' and said that MDC Brooklyn 'provides nutritionally adequate meals, prepared and served in a manner that meets established Government health and safety codes.' MDC has long been plagued with violence, serious understaffing, medical mistreatment, and grim living conditions. Two inmates were stabbed to death over a six-week period last summer. In 2019, the jail lost power for eight days in the dead of winter, and in 2021, defense attorneys highlighted complaints of no water or hot food, spotty electricity and low staff levels.
