Miami ‘44 Demons’ gangster gloated on Instagram from crime scene. It sent him to prison
Marcos “J-Bang” MartinMorgado was an unlikely member of a Brownsville street gang known as the “44 Demons.” He was born in Cuba, lived in Spain and played high school basketball in the suburban enclave of Miami Springs.
But the allure of the Miami streets — and a gloating Instagram post from the scene of an assassination attempt — has landed the 23-year-old a new home: prison.
A Miami-Dade judge on Thursday sentenced Martin-Morgado to life in prison for the attempted murder of a fellow gang member in December 2019. Among the evidence jurors saw was an Instagram post showing Martin-Morgado, preening with two guns, at the shooting scene. “I say I won’t tell a soul wat I did for the streets,” he wrote in the post.
“The evidence in this case was overwhelming,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ramiro Areces said. “The manner in which this crime took place was cold and calculated.”
The shooting happened early in the morning on Dec. 30, 2019, in the area of Northwest 44th Street and 29th Avenue, in the “Brown Subs” area described by police as one of the most violent in MiamiDade County. Officers rushed to reports of over a dozen shots — and found Michael Dwight Nicholson, 25, with 15 bullet wounds. He survived.
Miami-Dade Police’s Northside gang unit and the State Attorney’s Gun Violence Reduction Initiative
arrested Dykwon Dye, 21, and Martin-Morgado on attempted murder charges.
Nicholson testified that the three men had been hanging out on the porch of an abandoned home, talking about their aspirations to become rappers. That’s when he heard a gunshot — Martin-Morgado had missed a point-blank shot to the back of Nicholson’s head. As he ran for his life, the two gunmen peppered their friend with bullets.
“This attempted murder was done in a particularly cruel manner,” Assistant State Attorney Khalil Quinan told the judge.
Quinan and prosecutor Natasha Moghadam tried the two men over seven days in April. Jurors also heard that the two men were mad at Nicholson because he had stopped selling drugs for them, and that cellphone records also suggested the men were at the scene. The Instagram photo was posted two weeks after the shooting, and featured Martin-Morgado, a demon emoji over his face, in front of a distinct red car at the abandoned house.
“Both defendants posted multiple ‘gang’ photographs, showing off firearms, wearing like colors, posting gang hand signs, or showing off tattoos. The defendants were brazen, making it known to all that they are shooters of 4400 and ready for a shooting at any opportunity — often posting pictures of themselves brandishing firearms or exhibiting the length of their magazines,” Quinan wrote in his sentencing memo.
Jurors convicted MartinMorgado and Dye of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, in furtherance of a criminal gang. Dye will be sentenced at a later date.
Prosecutors and detectives asked for a life sentence.
“Marcos, I never did anything to you for you to try to kill me. You will also have plenty of time in jail to think about how your privileged self tried to live that fast gang life and what you did to me,” Nicholson said in a letter read to the judge. “I’m only alive, because you didn’t spend enough time at the gun range. If you were a better shot I’d be dead.”
At Thursday’s sentencing, defense attorney Marcia Giordano Hansen asked for 20 years for MartinMorgado, who is a Spanish citizen, starred as an athlete at Miami Springs High and had never before been arrested. After he graduated, Martin-Morgado worked as a mechanic, which is how he met Nicholson and Dye.
“He got caught up in the wrong life, but he’s not somebody who couldn’t be rehabilitated,” Hansen told the judge. “He has a loving family.”
His supporters crowded the gallery. Martin-Morgado’s father showed off a collage of childhood and sports photos of MartinMorgado. His former boss, a construction contractor, pleaded for a second chance for his one-time employee. A longtime friend insisted MartinMorgado was not a monster. “I love you, bro,” said the friend, Giovani Amat, clenching a fist and staring down the prosecutor as he walked back to the gallery.
Quinan, the prosecutor, argued that Martin-Morgado’s privileged background made his actions — going into a poverty-stricken neighborhood to inflict violence — even worse.
“The evidence is what the evidence is — he put a gun to the back of someone’s head and pulled the trigger,” Quinan said.
That sparked an outburst from Amat, who stood up and walked into the aisle, only to be greeted by police officers, who handcuffed him. He was charged with threatening a law-enforcement officer. Like his friend, he also was put behind bars.