Staten Island drug kingpin sentenced to life in prison; brother awaits sentencing
Frank Donnelly | fdonnelly@siadvance.com By Frank Donnelly | fdonnelly@siadvance.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on July 22, 2016 at 3:05 PM, updated July 22, 2016 at 4:16 PM
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Clifton man who along with his brother trafficked in murder and violence to dominate the crack cocaine trade in the Park Hill Apartments for two decades was sentenced Friday to life in prison.
In October 2014, a jury in Brooklyn federal court convicted Anthony (Nitty) Christian, 43, of racketeering -- including the 1999 murder of Jerome Estella, 17, and three murder conspiracies -- as well as gun possession and crack cocaine trafficking, said authorities.
His brother, Harvey (Black) Christian, 44, was also convicted in the case.
Federal prosecutors said Anthony and Harvey Christian established control of the crack-dealing activities around the Park Hill Apartments in 1991 and fought to maintain their turf.
They ran the operation until their arrests in 2011, authorities said.
Using the building at 55 Bowen St. as their home base throughout their reign, they began waging war in the mid-1990s on Park Hill Avenue to win control of more buildings, prosecutors said.
They engaged in massive gun battles for months.
In 1999, Anthony Christian and Paul (Uncles) Ford sent their enforcer, Brian Humphreys, to kill rival drug dealer Corey (Shank Bank) Brooker, prosecutors said.
Brooker escaped death, but Humphreys killed Estrella, with Anthony Christian's blessing, so he wouldn't warn Brooker about the murder plot. Christian gave Humphreys the gun used to kill the victim, said prosectors.
Humphreys and Ford both testified for the prosecution at the Christian brothers' trial.
The brothers also conspired with Anthony Britt -- who also testified for the government -- in a failed 2010 bid to kill William (Buddha) Jones, and chased off and assaulted police officers who tried to make arrests on their turf, prosecutors contended.
A search of their apartment in February 2010 turned up bulletproof vests, crack cocaine and marijuana.
A gun and large quantities of crack and powder cocaine were recovered in 2011 in searches involving the siblings' confederates, said prosecutors.
At trial, the Christian brothers' lawyers argued the government's cooperating witnesses, eight in total, lied in the hope of shaving years off their own prison sentences.
Harvey Christian, who faces a minimum of 40 years in prison, awaits sentencing, said Robert L. Capers, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Diego G. Rodriguez, Assistant Director-in-Charge, of the FBI New York Field Office, who jointly announced Anthony Christian's sentence.
Christian's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
