A Gorilla Stone Mafia gangbanger nicknamed “Tragedy’’ has been convicted of murdering two Staten Island rivals — including one he shot in the head while the guy slept next to his girlfriend.
John Pena, 32, apparently copped to the twin 2021 killings in rap lyrics he penned from his jail cell — saying he felt “like the reaper” when he “left his brains on them sheets,” according to a statement from US Attorney Breon Peace.
Pena killed Mark Bajandas and Francisco Gonzalez when he led the Gorilla Stone Mafia, a subset of the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation and Bloods street gangs, Peace said.
“As the evidence proved, Pena was consumed by seeking revenge against rivals and maintaining his leadership position in the Gorilla Stone Mafia gang by any means necessary,” Peace wrote in the statement.
“Killing a man as he slept in bed and shooting another man with a dozen bullets are shocking examples of Pena’s ruthlessness,” he continued. “Today’s verdict ensures he will spend the rest of his life in prison for his direct role in the extreme violence and drug trafficking wreaked on a Staten Island community.”
The group operated out of the Stapleton Houses, a public-housing development on the island.
A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Pena — also known as “Tragedy,” “Don Tragg,” “Last Don” and “Money Baggz” — of racketeering and murder in-aid-of-racketeering, as well as several gun and drug offenses.
The verdict means Pena faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison, the feds said.
Pena had been accused of shooting Bajandas, former gang member and perceived rival also known as “Drama,” a dozen times at close range March 10, 2021, after a memorial service for another fallen gang member.
Three months later, Pena shot Gonzalez three times in the head as he slept next to Pena’s ex-girlfriend on the night of June 22, 2021, the feds said.
As Pena sat in the Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting trial, he penned the dark lyrics that law enforcement later found.
“Kuz I Turn all my opps into ghost / Francisco I mix them N /Mark / A … shhh / Gotta chill … they don’t Know / Lately how I feel / Like the reaper / If I spot em I’m snatching his soul,” he wrote.
He also seemed to take credit for Gonazalez’s murder, saying he “left his brains on them sheets, man what was he thinkin’?”
Pena was also involved in selling weed, crack and heroin, the feds said.
“Gang activity, especially the carrying and indiscriminate shooting of illegal guns on our streets, instills fear in the daily lives of New Yorkers,” Interim NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon said in a statement.
“It is crucial that we and our law enforcement partners continue to target and dismantle these criminal groups, and work toward preventing the violence that is so often associated with their activities.”
