Key figure in gang killing freed; DA disappointed
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Eight years after the gangland killing of Charles “C.J.” King, one of the five men convicted in connection with the execution on a Midtown street has been released from prison. Rondy “Ski” Russ, 31, was released from Clinton Correctional Facility on June 18 after serving six years of the six-to-12year prison sentence he drew in 2012 for his role in the Feb. 9, 2010, shooting death of King.
Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright said he was “surprised and disappointed” to learn that Russ, who Carnright believes originally was tasked with carrying out the hit, was released after serving only the minimum sentence.
“The nature of the allegations ... couldn’t find to be more serious, and this was not his first rodeo,” Carnright said.
King, 21, was gunned down in broad daylight on Cedar Street in Midtown Kingston in a hit that authorities said was planned from inside the Ulster County Jail by Jarrin “Phat Boy” Rankin. King was shot in the back of the head by Rankin’s half-brother, Trevor “Little T” Mattis.
Authorities said Rankin ordered the hit on King to prevent him from testifying that in 2009 he witnessed Rankin, a member of the Sex Money Murder subset of the Bloods street gang, shoot rival gang member Curtis Williams, who was a member of the Crips.
In the weeks following Rankin’s 2009 arrest for shooting Williams, Russ — acting at Rankin’s direction — set out to find King, who also testified in grand jury proceedings against Rankin.
At one point in mid-January 2010, Russ brandished a box cutter while demanding King’s father tell him C.J. King’s whereabouts.
Russ subsequently was jailed for a probation violation, and Mattis took over the gang’s efforts to track down, and ultimately kill, King.
Carnright said he believed Russ would have been the one to carry out the hit on King had he not ended up in jail.
“To me, but for him catching that charge, he would have been right there,” Carnright said.
Rankin, who ordered King’s execution, was convicted of conspiracy and three counts of criminal possession of a weapon (stemming from an unrelated case) and sentenced to 25 years to 271/2 years in state prison.
He is serving his sentence at Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg and will be eligible for parole in August 2035.
Jermaine “Maino” Nicholas, who prosecutors said allowed gang members to meet at his home to plan the killing and set it in motion by calling Mattis to alert him of King’s whereabouts on the day of the