Opinion ID: 597808
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Concepcion's Killing of Gines

Text: 39 In addition to the incidental-victim argument rejected above, Concepcion argues that there was no evidence that the problem he went to Metropolitan Avenue to solve was drug related and hence no evidence that its resolution could have affected his position in the Organization. This argument has no merit. 40 Taken in the light most favorable to the government, the evidence showed that the Metropolitan Avenue gunfight was a matter of Organization business. Pomales testified that on a May 1988 day that he recalled with clarity because he had just been released from the hospital, he went to Concepcion's garage and found there Concepcion and coconspirator Kenny Colon. Pomales testified that Colon, whose job was to bring in the proceeds of narcotics sales, said he was there because one of their sellers had a problem with somebody and didn't want him in the certain spot. Though Pomales testified that he did not know what was meant by spot, other coconspirator witnesses consistently referred to their spot[s] as the locations at which they would sell the Organization's narcotics. Pomales testified that Concepcion's response to Colon's report of a challenge for control of the spot was, [S]o let's go and take care of it. Concepcion and several of his men promptly went to Metropolitan Avenue, where Concepcion initiated the shootout. Another witness testified that one of Concepcion's targets in the shootout was a person she had previously seen selling narcotics at or near that location. When Melendez later told Concepcion he was stupid because the money he was making, he could pay somebody to take care of his business, not do it himself, Concepcion, who was then still a lieutenant in the Organization, responded, I'm that type of guy, I like to take care of my own actions. This was ample evidence from which a rational juror could infer beyond a reasonable doubt that Concepcion initiated the violence at Metropolitan Avenue in connection with the Organization's narcotics business, and that he did so in order to maintain and improve his leadership position within the Organization.