Oyster Bay man convicted in murder-for-hire of rival business owner in Queens

An Oyster Bay man was convicted Wednesday in the 2019 killing of a rival business owner outside a Queens karaoke bar in a murder-for-hire scheme with his nephew.

A federal jury in Brooklyn found “Allen” Qing Ming Yu, 55, of Oyster Bay and “Zack” Zhe Zhang, 34, of Flushing guilty of murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy in the killing of Xin “Chris” Gu, 31, of Long Island City after Gu quit Yu’s Manhattan construction company, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said, during a two-week trial, that Yu was the president of a multimillion dollar construction company, Amaco, where Gu worked as a project manager and worked to help quadruple the company’s business.

Gu left in 2018 to start his own business, KG Management, leading to the departure of several other employees and clients who moved contracts to the new company, including a $1 million project.

Authorities said Yu became “enraged at Xin Gu’s perceived disloyalty,” and hired his nephew, You You, 35, of Plainview, Zhang, and Anthony Abreu, 35, of Queens and Arcadia, California, to carry out the killing.

Prosecutors said the alleged hit men went to the Grand Slam KTV karaoke bar in Flushing where Gu’s company was having a party for a Lunar New Year celebration on Feb. 11, 2019. You You acted as lookout for the shooting while Zhang was waiting as the getaway driver, officials said.

Abreu is accused of shooting Gu multiple times while he was waiting outside for an Uber, prosecutors said. Yu then paid his nephew $150,000 for the killing over the next three months.

You You pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire conspiracy in June and is awaiting sentencing. Abreu is awaiting trial.

Yu’s defense attorney, James Kousouros, said he planned to appeal the verdict. “We’re very disappointed with the verdict. We strongly feel that Mr. Yu’s innocence was well established during the trial.”

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement: “The victim worked long hours to start his own company only to be murdered execution-style by these treacherous defendants who thought nothing of snuffing out a human life as part of their own business plan.”

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.