A Valentine’s Day party in Newburgh turned deadly when Troy Young, a 24-year-old known as ‘Hollywood,’ opened fire on rivals inside a crowded club, killing 21-year-old Gevontay Owens-Grant. Young, a member of the violent ‘Southside’ street gang, pleaded guilty today in federal court to murder in connection with a racketeering conspiracy that terrorized the city for years.
The shooting erupted during a fight at the club on February 12, 2017. Young and multiple others exchanged gunfire inside and outside the venue, leaving several injured — including Young himself, who was partially paralyzed by a bullet the same night he killed Owens-Grant. The incident was not a random act of violence but a calculated move in the ongoing turf war waged by Southside, a criminal enterprise rooted in the intersection of South Street and Chambers Street.
From at least 2014 through June 2017, Southside members dealt heroin, crack cocaine, and marijuana, flaunted their affiliations on Facebook, brandished firearms, and carried out shootings to assert dominance. Their crimes were not isolated — they were part of a structured racketeering conspiracy aimed at controlling territory, generating revenue, and eliminating rivals. Young’s admission seals his role in that machine of violence.
Young, of Newburgh, was arrested in January 2018 following a multi-year investigation led by the FBI’s Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force and the City of Newburgh Police Department. He was charged in a superseding indictment unsealed that same month — S1 17 Cr. 364 (CS) — which added firearms counts and accused four defendants, including Young, of committing murder as part of the gang’s operations.
To date, 18 defendants tied to the Southside indictment have pleaded guilty. The case, prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacqueline Kelly, Allison Nichols, Maurene Comey, and Samuel Raymond under the supervision of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. Young now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Berman didn’t mince words: ‘Troy Young has admitted to shooting at gang rivals during a crowded Valentine’s Day party and to killing 21-year-old Gevontay Owens-Grant. This murder demonstrated a disregard for the value of human life that epitomizes these senseless gang rivalries.’ Sentencing is scheduled before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel later this year.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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