The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced the sentencing of Shpendim Haxhaj, also known as “White Mike,” marking the conclusion of a case involving seven members of the Young Bronx Money Getters (YBMG) gang. The group operated in areas including the Bronx, Long Island, Upstate New York, and Connecticut.
Haxhaj received a 35-year prison sentence for his involvement in crimes linked to YBMG, notably a murder-for-hire conspiracy that resulted in Isael Lagares’s death on August 16, 2019. He had previously pled guilty to charges including conspiracy to commit murder for hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering. U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla handed down his sentence after accepting his plea on August 7, 2023.
“For more than a decade, the YBMG gang terrorized communities in the Bronx, Long Island, Upstate New York, and Connecticut with drugs, guns, and senseless violence,” stated U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Among YBMG’s many victims was Isael Lagares… The seven members of this incredibly violent gang have now been convicted and sentenced for their crimes.”
According to court documents and trial evidence from co-defendant Yeltsin Beltran’s case:
From approximately 2006 until about 2021, YBMG was involved in criminal activities centered around narcotics trafficking and violence to generate revenue and maintain its influence. Activities included selling heroin, cocaine, marijuana; using firearms; promoting gang affiliations via social media; and engaging in shootings related to drug operations.
On August 16, 2019, Haxhaj and Boris Beltran hired an individual who fatally shot Lagares while he was with others on a residential street in the Bronx.
Additionally noted were other incidents such as Ivis Perdomo shooting two people at a nightclub on December 23, 2019; Jeremy Cedeno firing at an opposing gang member on June 7 that year.
Clayton commended efforts by federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI and DEA alongside local police departments that contributed to dismantling this criminal network. Prosecutors Christopher Brumwell et al., from the Office’s Violent & Organized Crime Unit handled prosecution duties throughout proceedings.
