Men shot for stiffing drug lord out of $12K: cops

A drug middleman shot and maimed two buyers after the victims burned his supplier on a $12,000 weed deal in Harlem, police sources told The Post.
Suspected triggerman Jonathon Suero, 21, was ordered by an East Harlem drug lord to “get his money back” or “do what you do” to Arnold, Cobo, 21, and Jorge Briu, 31, sources said.
Cobo and Briu allegedly worked for a West Harlem narcotics peddler looking to rip off four pounds of pot from his crosstown rival, sources said.
The duo handed the East Harlem dealer’s associates four $100 bills wrapped around one dollar bills and slips of paper instead of the agreed upon $12,000 amount, sources said.
The associates then turned over several large sacks of marijuana, and started walking away when they noticed that they’d been had while counting out the cash, sources said.
They quickly reported back to the East Harlem dealer, who summoned Suero and ordered him to “make this right” because he had introduced them, sources said.
“The dealer didn’t leave Suero with much of a choice,” said one law enforcement source. “It was either kill them or get the money.”
Suero convinced Cobo and Briu to meet for a chat on Riverside Drive and West 136 Street on the evening of June 19, sources said.
When the pair pulled up in a car, Suero jumped in the backseat and they began talking, sources said.
Suddenly, Suero pulled a 9MM semiautomatic and fired two bullets into the back of Cobo’s head, blowing away a portion of his brain, sources said.
He then turned the gun on Briu and shot him in the neck, sources said, adding that he might be a paraplegic.
Suero jumped out of the car and disappeared inside Riverside Park.
Detectives from the 30 Squad interviewed witnesses and gathered other information that led to the arrest of Suero on July 15.
Suero was charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. He is expected to appear August 19 for arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Both victims are expected to survive.

2 shots to the head and he lived huh? He better go to church and light a candle. That's some divine intervention

So one of them is probably going to be a vegetable, one of them probably a paraplegic, and another one is probably going to do 20+ years. Over 12k...

"the game is the game"

Anybody know if the news mentioned the victims nationality? They sound like Albanians, especially Cobo.

u would think that would be the case but people are dumb now-a-days

most of the time people start thinking their tough if they get shot and live

some of the are but most just got lucky

On my short list of people I would be willing to screw over, drug lord is no where near the top!

Mark that was awesome!!!!!

2 shots to the head is beyond tough. It's the luck of the gods. But then again as someone pointed out, he will probably be a vegetable forever. If he's lucky he'll be able to feed himself baby food and maybe wipe his own drool off his chin

my god, imagine how much worse this situation could have turned out in a state where marijuana is legal, like say colorado! oh yeah, doesn't happen there, imagine that!

Grazie, merlino

i don't think i'd call this mothafucka a drug lord

his dealers walked off without counting the money.....smh

Plus 4 pounds seems a little light for a drug lord

It's amazing how the violence stops when you remove something from the black market..

bull shit, you really think its that simple? there is still a TON of violence and death related to alcohol, just for different reasons.

Weed is an entirely different animal in terms of intoxication. And as for the violence, I don't see the budweiser people doing drive-by shootings at the coors headquarters. Apples and oranges..

the biggest question is 12k for 4lbs????? WOW lol

That's pretty good for NY prices.

East Harlem is about 50% Puerto Rican. The names of the victims and perpetrator sound mostly Hispanic (in this case most probably Puerto Rican) to me

"Suddenly, Suero pulled a 9MM semiautomatic and fired two bullets into the back of Cobo’s head, blowing away a portion of his brain"

And he still lived???? Must be in really bad shape now!

i was thinking same thing or maybe it wasnt a 9mm it was some smaller gun

Crazy that pounds in that neighborhood are going for so much $.

Yes I realized the perpetrator sounded Hispanic but I'm talking about the victims here. I'm about 70% sure they were Albanian, judging from their names. Cobo is a common last name for an Albanian, and Briu also sounds like it, although less common. It's not important, I was just curious if any of the news articles about this mentioned anything, but I doubt it.




It was probably a .22LR or a .25, but who knows, people have survived even worse... like AK rounds.

Sounds like the Spanish guys robbed a Albanian. The pizza place down the street Albanian they sell eighth of the good for 50 should say the owners kids.its weird I read that out in Cali them weed shops will only pay the growers less then 1000 for a pound of good but if you can send it over to the east coast 2500 is the starting price the Asians in new england got the game locked up.

Then it would be over cocaine, meth, smack or some other racket. These guys are sociopaths.

Cobo is also a Hispanic name. Briu is a French name, but Haiti shares the island with DR. My guess is they are Dominicans.

The question is why did they agree to meet with a guy they just ripped off?

I was thinking the same thing.. If you ripped someone for 12k worth of shit why in the fuck would you ever agree to meet with them after that?? What did they expect was going to happen? Hate to say it but if you're dumb enough to rip someone and then meet up with them you almost deserve to get shot. Pure stupidity.
On the other hand.. Who hands over product without counting the money?? At the very least skim through it to make sure its not blank paper.. Both sides are equally retarded. Could have all been avoided if they just counted the cash before handing over the weed.. Now one of them has less brains than he did to start out with since a portion of his brain is blown off..
I also think retaliation like that is pointless and just bad business.. I would be more concerned with getting my money back. Shooting them both isn't getting you're money back. In the end you're out the 12k and facing serious time. Fucking idiots.