A reputed MS-13 gang member was arrested Thursday morning and charged in the fatal shooting of an Ozone Park father in a bedroom at his 128th Street home in June 2011, according to federal prosecutors.
Roger Morales, 31, also of Ozone Park, was arraigned on Thursday on an indictment charging him with murder in aid of racketeering of 30-year-old Norman Mizzell.
As alleged in the government’s detention letter, Morales and other members of MS-13 committed a burglary at Mizzell’s home, where they had gone to buy marijuana but found that he was away, so they broke into his home and took his belongings. Later, Mizzell confronted Morales and his co-conspirators about the burglary and they decided to kill him. Morales and his accomplices obtained a firearm from another MS-13 clique and enlisted the help of another MS-13 member who needed to commit a murder to regain his standing in the gang. On the night of June 5, 2011, Morales and his co-conspirators went to the victim’s home on 128th Street, where they shot him several times through a window into his bedroom during a feigned late-night marijuana buy. The victim’s body was found the next day lying face-down in his bedroom with gunshot wounds to his chest and stomach.
“As alleged, the defendant and his co-conspirators killed the victim for the twisted purpose of maintaining and increasing their positions in the MS-13 gang,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. “This prosecution reflects the resolve by my Office and our law enforcement partners to bring gang members to justice for their violent crimes and that they will not be deterred by the passage of time.”
Morales was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Levy who ordered him detained pending trial. If convicted, Morales faces up to life in prison
“The senseless violence described in the charge announced today has no place in New York City,” NYPD Interim Commissioner Thomas Donlon said. “Our team of NYPD investigators, along with our partners at the FBI and the Office for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, will continue to use all available resources to identify and dismantle street gangs, particularly the notoriously brutal MS-13, wherever they may be operating.”
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge James Dennehy said his agency maintains its “unwavering posture” to eliminate all gang violence regardless of when that crime occurred.
“In 2011, Roger Morales, a MS-13 member, allegedly determined murder as fitting retribution for Norman Mizzell advocating for himself after being previously burglarized by the same crew,” Dennehy said. “This cold-blooded execution highlights MS-13’s violent and mercurial intolerance for disrespect that threatens our community’s safety.”
Since 2003, hundreds of MS-13 members, including dozens of clique leaders, have been convicted on federal felony charges in the Eastern District of New York. A majority of those MS-13 members have been convicted on federal racketeering charges for participating in murders, attempted murders, and assaults.
