Gang member indicted in cold case murder of college basketball star

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Photo Source: FBI

A two-count indictment was unsealed today in the United States District Court in Central Islip, New York, charging defendant Jaime Rivera, a member of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation street gang, with the 2005 murder of C.W. Post student and basketball star Tafare Berryman, as well as a related firearms charge.

As detailed in the indictment and the government’s detention letter filed earlier today, on April 2, 2005, Rivera and other Latin King gang members were present at La Mansion bar and nightclub located at 3942 Long Beach Road, N. Long Beach. Also present at the club were numerous C.W. Post students, including Tafare Berryman and some of his friends, who were celebrating the successful presentation of a fashion show that had taken place at Post earlier that evening. At least one incident occurred inside of the club between some gang members and one of the Post students, which later spilled out into a parking lot across from the club.

At approximately 5:00 a.m. on April 3, 2005, Berryman and a friend exited the club and observed several fights occurring in the parking lot. While walking to their car, Berryman’s friend was hit in the head with a bottle causing a laceration. Berryman and his friend then entered a car and drove away. Several blocks from the club, Berryman’s friend, who was driving, pulled the car over to the side of the road to tend to the laceration on his head which was bleeding profusely. At that point, Rivera pulled up alongside of the parked car and shot Berryman once, killing him because Rivera mistakenly believed that Berryman and his friend were involved in the prior altercation in the parking lot and were a threat to the Latin Kings.

Rivera faces mandatory life in prison and is eligible for the death penalty.

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