Drug Dealer Sentenced For Organizing Brutal New City Assault

NEW CITY, NY — Another sentencing connected to the gruesome beating and robbery that left its victim bloody in the snow in 2021 was announced Thursday by Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

• Rockland Duo Sentenced For Brutal Winter Carjacking In New City

Wayne Hicks of Hawthorne, New York, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for drug trafficking and violent crimes.

Hicks, also known as "Weez," pleaded guilty Aug. 25 to one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act Robbery, one count of Hobbs Act Robbery, one count of Travel Act Assault, one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana, and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel, who imposed the sentence.

"Wayne Hicks was a drug dealer who directed multiple violent attacks as retribution for drug robberies," Williams said. "After one such attack, he bragged and circulated gruesome videos of it to bolster his brutal reputation. The substantial sentence imposed by the court makes clear that the law has no tolerance for this kind of brazen violence. Thanks to the tenacious work of our law enforcement partners and the career prosecutors of this Office, all the participants in this attack have now been convicted and brought to justice."

According to the allegations in the court filings and based on statements made in public court proceedings:

Hicks, a marijuana dealer, directed two separate acts of violence to support his drug business, prosecutors said. First, in November 2020, after a dealer who worked for him was robbed, he arranged for a co-conspirator to shoot one of the robbers. Second, in February 2021, after Jordan Woodbine, another marijuana dealer who worked for Hicks, was robbed, Hicks contacted his brother, co-defendant Dwayne Hicks, to arrange retribution.

Dwayne Hicks then lured a man whom the conspirators believed had participated in the earlier robbery, to a residence in New City, prosecutors said. Once the victim arrived there, Dwayne Hicks and multiple other assailants, including Woodbine, Brian Thomas and Tnaiya Williams viciously attacked him, prosecutors contend. At times, Wayne Hicks is believed to have monitored the attack via a video-chat application. The assailants forced the victim to strip naked, stole his belongings, including a quantity of marijuana the assailants believed he had stolen, then beat him with a baseball bat, belts, and their hands and feet, and repeatedly slashed and stabbed him with a large knife. The victim was left naked and covered in blood in a pile of snow, police said.

Dwayne Hicks, 28, of Spring Valley and Williams, 27, of New City, were sentenced in 2023 to 12 years and 44 months, respectively, for their participation. At their sentencing hearing, the judge said the attack was “sickening,” “vicious,” “stomach turning, and the sort of thing that you really can’t imagine how any human being could partake in.”

The others who carried out the Feb. 28, 2021, attack at Hicks' direction were convicted along with Hicks, prosecutors said. SEE: 2 New Defendants Charged In Savage New City Beating, Carjacking: Feds

In addition to the prison term, Hicks, 32, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Clarkstown Police Department, the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, and the Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force, which is comprised of special agents and task force officers from the FBI, U.S. Probation, New York State Police, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Putnam County Sheriff's Office, Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, and the New York City, Westchester County, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, Greenburgh, White Plains, Peekskill, Ramapo, and Clarkstown Police Departments.