Long Island Bloods Gang Member Found Guilty In Fatal Shooting: DA

MINEOLA, NY — After two days of deliberation, a Nassau jury found a Bloods gang member from Hempstead guilty Monday of the murder of a 21-year-old man and the attempted murder of another back in November 2020, District Attorney Anne Donnelly's office said.

Twenty-seven-year-old Floyd McNeil, who goes by the nicknames, "DOT" and "Diddy DOT," was found guilty of second-degree murder and attempted murder, as well as first-degree attempted assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, according to Donnelly's office.

He is currently serving a sentence of 25 years a June 2022 conviction for attempted murder in connection with a shooting in Hempstead, Donnelly's office said.

She described McNeil as "an exceptionally dangerous gang member who has left a trail of destruction in Hempstead and Freeport.”

“This defendant senselessly murdered a 21-year-old man, and nearly killed another, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said. "Our communities are undoubtedly safer now that McNeil has been found guilty of murder by a jury of his peers. Our condolences are with the family of Taffarie Haughton and everyone else impacted by this defendant’s violence."

In November 2020, 21-year-old Taffarie Haughton and a second 19-year-old victim were at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Freeport, and they went inside the park's bathroom and were followed by several Bloods who had been attending a gang meeting in the park, prosecutors said.

When Haughton and the other person tried to leave the park, the exit was blocked by numerous members of the gang, including McNeil, and he and his co-defendant, Christopher Anderson, then began firing at the pair, shooting them both, according to prosecutors.

Haughton was struck twice, once in the chest with the bullet piercing his lung and heart, and also once in the left foot, prosecutors said, adding that he was taken to Nassau University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

The other victim was struck once in the shoulder and taken to Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital where he was treated for his injuries, according to prosecutors.

Seven shell casings were recovered from the scene, prosecutors said.

McNeil and Anderson were both arrested in June 2022.

Anderson, who pleaded guilty in June to second-degree murder and attempted murder, was sentenced in August to 22 years to life in prison.

His attorney, Don Rollock of Mineola, told Patch he and his client are "obviously disappointed" with the outcome of the trial.

Rollock plans to appeal the conviction based on some legal issues that might make it possible for it to be overturned.

McNeil faces a maximum of 65 years to life in prison when he appears back for sentencing on Jan. 31.