A Brooklyn gang member will spend 45 years behind bars after he was sentenced in federal court on Monday.
Tyshawn Corbett, a member of East New York-based Elite Assassin Millas street gang, pled guilty last year to three firearm offenses involving murder or assault in aid of racketeering, and was sentenced by Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in the Eastern District of New York.
A subset of the notorious Bloods gang, the crime syndicate made money through drug dealing and fraud, and would harm or kill those who challenged their dominance within East New York.
According to prosecutors, the 32-year-old had developed a reputation within the gang for being a “shooter” — a term for those willing to shoot and kill other people.
Authorities pinned one murder on Corbett, saying he shot and killed Michael Tenorio in April of 2015, and accused him of shooting another individual (identified as “John Doe #1) on multiple different occasions — the last of which left him paralyzed.
Prosecutors also say they have evidence that the defendant participated in at least four additional shootings over the years.
“For years, Corbett inflicted violence on rivals and terrorized the East New York community with impunity, but with today’s sentence, he has been punished for his repeated, flagrant disrespect for the law,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.
Corbett’s sentencing comes after several other members of E.A.M. were convicted, including the gang’s leader, Quandel Smothers, who is scheduled to be sentenced in March 2024.
While he was facing harsher charges that carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison, and would make him potentially eligible for the death penalty, the defendant pled guilty to lesser violations in September of 2022, and will spend 45 years behind bars.
“Everyone who was subjected to the intimidation and brutality perpetrated by Corbett can breathe easier today with news of this meaningful prison sentence,” said NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban.
