United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Robert L. Capers, announced yesterday the unsealing of a two-count indictment and arraignment of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation street gang member, Jaime Rivera, 32, of Freeport, NY. Gang member Jaime Rivera was identified, after years of investigation by the Nassau County Police Department, FBI Task Force and DEA agents, as the person who allegedly is responsible for the 2005 murder of Tafare Berryman, 22, a popular basketball player at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University; he was also found to be in violation of other firearm issues.
The record shows
According to court documents, Tafare Berryman and friends where out celebrating at La Mansion bar and nightclub in N. Long Beach the success of a fashion show that had taken place earlier at the University. While at the nightclub, an incident happened between gang members and a university student, which later continued in the parking lot across the street from the nightclub. Berryman and his friend decided to leave, and as they walked to their car, his friend was hit over the head with a bottle, at which time they hurried to their car, and took off, only to stop a few blocks away in order to switch seats, as his friend was bleeding profusely. According to the indictment, Berryman was tending his friend's wound when Riviera, mistakenly believing that Berryman was involved in the prior incident, pulled up in his vehicle and shot a single bullet to murder Berryman.
Wrong place, wrong time
Tafare Berryman, born on Feb. 16, 1983, in Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn grew to be a healthy, six foot seven man, and managed to stay out of trouble and graduated from high school in three years. He won a college scholarship for math at C.W. Post campus of Long Island University, where he got on the Dean's list, was a librarian, and a very popular basketball player.
Berryman was a mont away from graduating from the C.W. Post with a degree in business administration, and possibly well on his way to having a career on Wall Street, but was killed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fortunately, his murder did not go unnoticed.
U. S. Attorney Capers stated that all gang members should be aware that law enforcement will be in pursuit of any gang activity and will not stop no matter how long it takes until all are held accountable for their actions. If found guilty and convicted, Riviera not only faces a mandatory life sentence, but he could very well be eligible for the death penalty.
