Gorilla Stone Gang Leader Gets 35 Years In Prison For Teen's Murder

PAWLING, NY — A leader of the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation Bloods Gang will be going to prison for the murder of a Poughkeepsie teenager.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Brandon Soto, aka “Stacks,” was sentenced in February to 35 years in prison for racketeering, transferring a firearm to a juvenile and conspiracy to commit arson — all arising out his leadership role in the Gorilla Stone gang.

Prosecutors said, as part of his participating in the racketeering conspiracy, Soto, 26, of the Bronx, planned and ordered a fellow gang member, who was a teenager at the time, to murder a rival gang member.

On Sept. 21, 2020, Soto drove the shooter to Poughkeepsie and provided him with the gun and directions to commit the shooting in broad daylight.

With people, including small children, nearby, the shooter shot Jalani Jones, 15, of Poughkeepsie, in the head, killing the high school student instantly.

Following the murder, Soto took numerous steps to avoid detection, including setting fire to the car that was used in connection with the murder and ordering the deletion of social media accounts associated with those involved.

He previously pleaded guilty on Oct. 27, 2022, to one count of conspiring to conduct and participate in the conduct of the affairs of a criminal enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, one count of transferring a firearm to a juvenile and one count of conspiracy to commit arson.

Williams said Soto’s sentence holds him accountable for the senseless murder of Jones, as well as for his yearslong participation in the wide range of crimes committed by the Gorilla Stone gang.

“Brandon Soto used his leadership role in the violent Gorilla Sone gang to direct a teenager to kill a 15-year-old boy, who was riding his bike down the street,” he said. “This horrific act of violence was committed in broad daylight as small children looked on just feet away.”

According to prosecutors, the Gorilla Stone gang has been a brutally violent street gang with a national presence since at least 2004. It has many members across the state of New York, including throughout New York City, Westchester County and the New York prison system.

Soto rose to a leadership role in the gang and took an active role in the gang’s distribution of crack cocaine, from which the gang made its money.

As one of the gang’s more violent members, he bragged about his access to firearms and directed that his reports in the gang commit retaliatory acts of violence, the most significant of which was his involvement in the murder of Jones.

Following Jones’s murder, Soto got a new phone number and directed another gang member to delete relevant social media accounts to avoid being caught. Days after the murder, Soto’s car, which he had used in connection with the murder, was towed.

Soto with other gang members to the lot where it was parked, stole the car from the lot and then set it on fire in an effort to avoid being caught.

Authorities said Soto’s violence went beyond the murder of Jones. He violently attacked someone on the street, punching and kicking the man in the head and body as he lay defenseless on the ground and ultimately became unconscious.

As Soto beat the man, he yelled, “You’re not Gorilla.” The incident was recorded on video, and Soto proudly posted it to his Instagram account, law enforcement said.

In addition to his prison sentence, Soto was sentenced to three years of supervised release.