Yonkers GMF Shot-Caller Locked Up For 30 Years For Murder & Racketeering

According to United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, Da’Quan Johnson was the leader of the Yonkers GMF (Grimey Motherfuckers) crew. In December 2014, Johnson was included in an indictment of 13 GMF members and associates on charges of murder, racketeering, narcotics, and firearms offenses. The supposed leader pleaded guilty in January. On Friday, Johnson, 25, was sentenced to 30 years behind bars for the crimes.

The Hudson Valley News Network sums up GMF’s history:

GMF, formed in or about 2008, was based in the Schlobohm Housing Project.  GMF was initially aligned with the Strip Boyz, a different gang likewise based in the Schlobohm Housing Project.  Up until late June and early July 2012, when 20 members of the Strip Boyz were arrested and charged with narcotics and firearms offenses, GMF and the Strip Boyz together controlled crack cocaine and marijuana distribution in and around the Schlobohm Housing Project, including an area of Palisade Avenue known as the “Strip.”

Following the 2012 arrests of the Strip Boyz, GMF members continued to engage in acts of violence and intimidation to preserve GMF’s dominance within the Schlobohm Housing Project and the surrounding areas.  Members of GMF worked together to distribute narcotics, but above all, they were aligned in their disputes with rival gangs in southwest Yonkers.  GMF members had disputes with gang members from various nearby neighborhoods, including Cottage Place Gardens, Warburton Avenue, Highland Avenue, and Riverdale Avenue.  These disputes resulted in a number of violent incidents among the gangs, including assaults, stabbings, and shootings.

The most notable GMF beef was the one with the Highland Avenue crew known simply as “Highland.”  The factions violently clashed from 2008 to 2014, reportedly. Two days after Christmas 2013, the cycle of violence came to a head when a shooting occurred near GMF turf at Palisades Ave. and Elm St. in Yonkers. That same night, GMF members learned that the shooters were Highland soldiers, and Johnson and others tooled up, then headed to their rivals’ turf. In an act of revenge, GMF members fired on a crowd that had gathered for a candlelight vigil at Highland Ave. and Jackson St.. Tragically, Tyrone Arthur (pictured above) caught one to the chest and fell dead.

In July 2014, Johnson and two others were charged in connection to Arthur’s murder. In December of that year, those three were included in the aforementioned RICO indictment against GMF members. To date, only one of the 13 has not pleaded guilty to the charges. Johnson’s 30 year sentence is broken down as follows: 20 years for racketeering and 10 for the murder.

Read here about the Brooklyn Folk Nation leader sentenced to two life terms.