Angelo Ocasio, Non-Targeted Homicide, New York 2009

Meosha Harmon was not the target. But when Angelo Ocasio, 42, of Rochester, opened fire on 137 Cameron Street in July 2009, the bullets found her anyway. Standing at an upstairs window of a home once occupied by a rival dealer, Harmon—21 years old, mother of two—was struck in the head and killed instantly by 11 shots fired by Ocasio and his coconspirator Damion Colabatistto. The hit was meant for someone else. She was collateral damage in a war driven by greed, loyalty, and blood.

Ocasio wasn’t just a dealer—he was the enforcer. Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Ocasio has been sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years for his role in a long-running, violent narcotics trafficking conspiracy led by James Kendrick and Pablo “Paul” Plaza. Prosecutors Everardo A. Rodriguez and Melissa M. Marangola laid out a case of terror: Ocasio wielded violence with precision, targeting rival dealers, disloyal members, and anyone who threatened the operation’s grip on Rochester’s streets.

The Cameron Street shooting was not an isolated act. It was part of a broader pattern of murder and intimidation. Ocasio and his co-defendants were tied to three other killings: Francisco Santos, whose body was discovered buried on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in 1999, a year after he was murdered in October 1998; Ryan Cooper, a relative of the conspirators, killed between May and July 1999—his body never found; and Jose Troche, gunned down in Rochester on January 14, 2010. Each death served to tighten the organization’s control through fear.

After a six-week trial, James Kendrick was convicted of narcotics and firearms offenses, as well as the murders of Santos and Cooper, and sentenced to life plus 30 years. Pablo Plaza was found guilty in Cooper’s murder and handed life plus 10 years. Judge Scott D. Geraci ruled both Kendrick and Plaza were also responsible for Troche’s murder, broadening their accountability. Now, with Ocasio’s sentencing, another key architect of the ring’s violence is locked away for good.

Nine of Ocasio’s co-defendants have already been convicted on multiple drug and firearms charges. The dismantling of the operation was the result of a relentless investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), under Special Agent-in-Charge Ashan Benedict, New York Field Division, and the Rochester Police Department, led by Chief Michael Ciminelli. Wiretaps, witness testimony, and ballistics evidence peeled back layers of secrecy to expose a criminal enterprise rooted in violence and betrayal.

Meosha Harmon’s name may not have been on the indictment, but her death became a cornerstone of the prosecution’s case. A young mother, gone in an instant. Ocasio’s life sentence doesn’t bring her back—but it confirms that even in the shadows of a drug empire, murder has a price. In Rochester, the streets are quieter now. But the scars remain.

RELATED: James Kendrick Gets Life for 2 Murders in Drug Empire Bloodshed

RELATED: Pablo ‘Paul’ Plaza Gets Life for 3 Murders in Drug Empire

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