Crips gang leader convicted for ‘crime wave,’ prosecutors say

A federal jury Monday convicted Crips street gang leader Raphael Osborne on 21 counts that include racketeering, drug conspiracy and attempted murder, after a four-week trial in Central Islip, prosecutors said.

Osborne, 30, who ruled over a Roosevelt-based criminal enterprise for 10 years, faces a minimum of 115 years and up to life in prison, prosecutors said.

“The crimes that Osborne stands convicted of underscore the wanton violence the Crips street gang unleashed on neighborhoods of Long Island,” United States Attorney Robert L. Capers said in a news release.

“Street gangs such as the Crips infect communities, and we will continue to respond to the Crips’ brutal violence with unwavering investigation and prosecution — they will be brought to justice and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Capers said.

Osborne’s attorney, John Carman, declined to comment Monday.

Known on the street as “Gusto,” Osborne led the Rollin 60s Crips, a gang that he started in 2003, according to prosecutors.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicole Boeckmann and Christopher Caffarone said at the trial that the gang waged a brutal street war against rival Bloods, trafficked drugs and brought hundreds of illegal firearms to Long Island.

Osborne was also convicted of attempting to kill a federal informant in October 2012 and attempting to kill several rival gang members in January 2013, the release said, as well as distributing crack cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methylone, known commonly as “molly.”

“He is responsible for the crime wave that wreaked havoc on Roosevelt day after day after day from 2003 to 2013,” Boeckmann said in closing arguments last week.

Osborne is the fourteenth member of the Rollin 60s to be convicted since the start of the multiagency investigation, which was conducted along with Nassau County police and the Nassau County district attorney’s office.

Three other members are awaiting trial, according to the release.