MANHATTAN — A Staten Island man accused of being part of a drug gang in Coney Island was behind an execution-style double murder of purported rival members in Gramercy in 2010, according to federal prosecutors.
Frank Smith, 31, was charged in Brooklyn federal court on charges of murder, drug trafficking, racketeering, and unlawful use of a firearm in connection to the 2010 slaying of Rashawn Washington, 26, and Terrence Serrano, 22, according to a statement from prosecutors.
The arrest stems from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the NYPD, according to a statement from prosecutors.
Investigators said Washington and Serrano were members of a gang known as Thirty-O that was at odds with Smith’s gang, Rival Impact.
Washington and Serrano were sitting in an SUV on East 19th Street between Park Avenue South and Broadway after leaving a nightclub at about 3:57 a.m. on Oct. 4, 2010, when Smith and one or more unnamed accomplices opened fire, fatally shooting both men in the head.
Before the shooting, the NYPD had been looking for the Washington and Serrano because they had been witnesses to two separate murders in 2009, but neither men were cooperating, police said at the time.
Police told the Daily News in 2010 that the murder of Washington and Serrano were not believed to be related to the crimes they had witnessed, and according to the indictment the shooting stemmed from a beef between the rival gangs.
Smith’s gang Rival Impact sold heroin and controlled turf in Coney Island more than a decade between 2001 and 2014, with Smith’s gang often employing violence to maintain control, according to U.S. Attorney Robert Caper of the Eastern District of New York.
“As alleged, for years the defendant and other members of this violent Brooklyn street gang have plagued neighborhoods throughout Coney Island and elsewhere with drugs and violence,” Caper said in a statement. “We will use all available resources to hold accountable those who endanger the lives and well-being of the residents of our communities.”
Smith is being held without bail at the federal Metropolitan Detention Complex in Sunset Park pending his next court date on Aug. 26, according to a spokeswoman for the Eastern District.
Information regarding Smith's lawyer was not immediately available.
