Bullets flew over bad math and stolen coke. Jose L. Ramirez-Merced, 31, of Buffalo, NY, is now locked up for 240 months after a federal judge slapped him with a 20-year sentence for firing a gun during a drug turf war that ended with a man dead on West Avenue.
The conviction sticks to a single, violent thread: discharging a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking resulting in death. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara handed down the sentence after Ramirez-Merced was found guilty in connection with the July 31, 2012, shooting that killed Jose Rivera and left a woman wounded during a botched retaliation plot.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas S. Duszkiewicz and Joel L. Violanti, the chaos began months earlier. In June 2012, Ramirez-Merced and co-defendant Alexander Duarte were moving heroin on Buffalo’s West Side. On July 15, they planned a home invasion targeting Rivera—but hit the wrong house. They stole cash and cocaine anyway, lighting a fuse they didn’t see.
Rivera, believing he’d been robbed, started threatening members of the crew and even tried to kill a man known in court records as L.B. That sealed his fate. The group voted to eliminate Rivera. On July 31, Ramirez-Merced and Duarte retrieved a firearm and ambushed Rivera at a residence on West Avenue. They opened fire without warning.
Rivera died at the scene. A woman nearby was struck but survived. The FBI Safe Streets Task Force, under Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Cohen, worked alongside the Buffalo Police Department—led by Commissioner Daniel Derenda—to piece together the chain of violence that led to today’s sentence.
Alexander Duarte has also been convicted in the killing and is set for sentencing on January 12, 2017. Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. confirmed the case closed a bloody chapter in a drug-fueled street war that left bodies and broken lives in its wake.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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