Former street gang member sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing teen

The mother of a Hempstead teenager killed in 2013 by a former gang member said Friday she forgave the man who shot her son.

Chrissie Quinones, the mother of Dante Quinones, 17, said the 20-year prison sentence a Long Island federal judge on Friday gave Pedro Merchant for killing her son was fair.

Two decades, Quinones said, is enough time for Merchant, 25, to reflect on the Sept. 11, 2013, shooting and pain he caused her and her family.

“By me forgiving him is letting go. So, I am letting go,” Quinones said in an interview after the sentencing. “I wish him well.”

A short time earlier, Quinones and members of her family had gathered inside U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Bianco’s courtroom in Central Islip to learn whether the judge would follow the 20-year term recommended by prosecutors and Merchant’s attorney, Steve Zissou of Bayside, Queens.

At the sentencing, Merchant, who prosecutors said had acknowledged being a member of the Outlaws, a gang based in Hempstead, apologized to Dante Quinones’ family and asked the judge for leniency.

“I ask you to please give me a second chance at life,” Merchant said.

Bianco could have imposed a harsher term, up to life in prison, but he noted that Merchant accepted responsibility for his acts and renounced the gang.

Bianco said he has read many letters from defendants who expressed sorrow but found many to be insincere. “I believe your remorse is genuine,” Bianco told Merchant.

On Sept. 11, 2013, Merchant and fellow Outlaws gang members confronted Dante Quinones on Dartmouth Street to determine whether the teen was loyal to the Outlaws or their rivals, the Bloods, according to prosecutors. During the confrontation, Merchant pulled out a .25-caliber pistol and shot Dante Quinones three times at close range, killing him. Merchant then ran away.

Following Dante Quinones' killing, prosecutors said, a yearlong war between the Outlaws and the Bloods erupted in Hempstead.

Although prosecutors said Dante Quinones was an associate of the rival gang, his mother said he was not in a gang and refused to join when they tried to recruit him.

In 2015 in state court, Merchant was tried and acquitted of murder in Dante Quinones' death. On May 20 of that year, a jury found Merchant not guilty of second-degree murder and he was set free.  Federal prosecutors said the state trial was marked by witness intimidation by Merchant’s associates.   

In 2017, federal prosecutors stepped in and charged Merchant with murder and other related crimes in Dante Quinones' death. They also charged six members and associates of the Outlaws, and six members of the Bloods for their roles in the violent gang war.

In April, Merchant pleaded guilty to firearm-related murder in the federal case. 

"With today’s sentence Merchant is being held accountable for the senseless act he committed — taking a human life in the name of his gang, which also put an entire community on Long Island in danger,” Richard P. Donoghue, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.