S.I. druglord gets 50 yrs. for reign of terror
THE HEAD OF a drug trafficking operation that terrorized a Staten Island neighborhood for decades was punished Friday with a 50-year prison sentence.
Harvey (Black) Christian and his brother, Anthony, were convicted in 2014 for ruling their turf in the Clifton section of Staten Island with fear and violence for over 20 years.
On Friday, Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano brought down his own iron fist on Harvey Christian, 44, for his “life of crime” and a long running “reign of terror” in the Park Hill housing complex. Christian’s convictions also included two murder plots.
Christian said Friday that the dead men — Jerome (Boo Boo) Estella and Corey (Shank Bank) Brooker — were his friends and he would friends.”
He said his trial — filled with flipped underlings on the prosecution side — wasn’t fair.
“We did not kill our friends,” Christian said.
But the mayhem in Park Hill was a “matter of fact,” Vitaliano responded. “never betray my
Christian “doesn’t challenge any of that,” the judge said.
“The history of fear of good people trapped in a community wrought by drugs and guns on the streets of Staten Island.”
With little brother Anthony, 43, sentenced last July to life, the defense asked Vitaliano to spare a life term for Harvey.
Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Allon Lifshitz said the judge needed to throw away the key for Harvey, too — a man with a disregard for law that was shown when he tossed a police officer down a stairwell.
Vitaliano noted Anthony had racketeering murder convictions, but Harvey didn’t.
The case took a star turn in 2015, after the convictions against the brothers and another man who was a close associate.
A lawyer for Anthony complained he had been left in the dark about the feds looking into an allegation that one hit happened on instructions from the rap group Wu-Tang Clan.
The feds argued that the information was turned over before trial.
Besides, prosecutors said, any revelations didn’t help the defense because the witnesses still believed Anthony ordered the murder.
The 2014 conviction brought an end to Christian’s stranglehold on coke trafficking on Staten Island.
Harvey Christian and his cohorts used a building at 55 Bowen St. as their base throughout the 1990s, killing rival gang members in order to protect their turf, authorities said.
The Christian brothers’ defense lawyers argued at trial in 2014 that the cooperating witnesses in the case — all eight of them — had lied in order to get lighter sentences.