By THUYA KYAW
A reputed gang member charged with a 2015 murder in Jackson Heights was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison on Thursday.
Raul Zamora, believed to be a member of the Sureños 13 gang, was first arrested in 2015 for second-degree murder, first-degree gang assault, and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the death of 38-year-old Jorge Manzanarez in what police portrayed as a gang-related slaying.
The Sureños, Spanish for southerners, represent groups of loosely affiliated gangs mainly found in Southern California but also have a strong presence in the US military, with gang members found in both local and overseas bases.
Zamora, 36, pleaded guilty of all charges last week, and was also given five years of post-release supervision.
The incident occurred on May 5, 2015 and according to the criminal complaint, Zamora along with two other men went up to Manzanarez in the corner of 93rd Street and Roosevelt Avenue and shot him once in the chest.
Police believe the shooting was gang-related and the two groups had been having verbal fights prior to the incident.
However, Zamora’s girlfriend Stephanie Cortez claimed in the Queens courthouse that he wasn’t the one who shot Manzanarez, and backs her claim with a video that shows someone, whom she believes is Zamora, hanging out at a bakery with two other men during the time of shooting
“It’s not fair, I know for a fact he didn’t do it,” Cortez said regarding her boyfriend’s sentence. “We paid the lawyer money for nothing, he didn’t even present the evidence.”
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