Trial Starts for Nyje “Mook” Johnson and Jeavonte “Vonte” Dennis in the Shooting Death of 14 Year Old Nazerah Bugg and Attempted Murder of Albert.

HACKENSACK, N.J. (May 31, 2017) — A tale of two cities, dreams versus gangs, goals versus death.

That’s how Assistant Passaic County Prosecutor Paul DeGroot summed up the motives and events leading to the death of rising basketball star and regular 14-year old girl Nazerah Bugg, and the serious injury of her 15-year old friend Nylijah Albert, on Sept. 20, 2014 when the two were caught in gang gunfire near a popular Clinton Street chicken restaurant.

Ten people, most under the age of 20, were indicted for the murder of Bugg and attempted murder of Albert. Two defendants, Knolaisha Washington and Jalon Brown, made plea agreements with the prosecutor.

Two are being tried now in Bergen County. Jeavonte “Vonte” Dennis, 19, is the youngest defendant, and was 16 at the time of Bugg’s death. Nyje “Mook” Johnson, 22, is the reason there is a trial. All eight defendants were on the verge of pleading guilty in March when Johnson said no deal.

DeGroot made the decision to try the remaining defendants in pairs; Dennis and Johnson are the first to go to trial.

“Paterson can be a rough city,” DeGroot told the jury. “Parents do the best they can. They have dreams — dreams they can keep the streets safe.

“Mook and Vonte were part of a criminal gang that took those dreams away from Paterson, from parents, from a mother and grandmother.

“They both had guns, they both went down there, they were part of the pack that went to kill. They took Nazerah Bugg’s dream away.”

Bugg was a star basketball player with the Kennedy High School Lady Knights, with the nickname ‘WNBA” from one of her coaches. She hoped her skill would get her a college scholarship, and that one day she could play in the WNBA. She and Albert, who DeGroot said was “hated” by members of the 230 local street gang, when to the restaurant that fateful September day to get drinks.

Their arrival coincided with that of Dennis, Johnson, Quajier Culbreath, and Devonte (Biggum) Lewis. According to the prosecutor, they were out for revenge because another gang member, “Dion,” had been shot earlier in the day. “Uphill” neighborhood gang leaders including Shakeem Ricks (“Starter” or “Smiley”) and Baseem Williams (Boss) thought the younger members weren’t doing enough work.

“Man, Dion got shot. Ricks got shot a couple months earlier. You guys got to do work,” DeGroot says were the gang leaders instructions to the younger crew.

“These guys are ready to go. Ty (Tyheem Mayfield) drives them in his BMW.

“Jump in. Mook, Vonte, Quajier and Biggum — all hop into the Beemer with at least two handguns, perhaps four: 40 caliber, 380, maybe a 9 millimeter. Semi-automatic and a revolver. The semi ejects the shells, the revolver doesn’t. We know there were at least two guns because there were two different types of shell casings on the ground.”

Johnson, whose attorney Jose Torres of Passaic says “was not even associated with the gang,” didn’t want to go along. But according to the indictment, Ricks threatened to kill him if he didn’t.

“They are a neighborhood gang,” DeGroot said. “Are they Bloods or Crips? They are not. Authorities have busted up the super gangs and they have devolved into local gangs. They fight over ridiculous things. They get insulted over ridiculous things. Facebook posts.

“Dreams versus Ops. That is what it’s about. Extinguishing dreams so they can kill other people.” “Ops,” DeGroot said, is gang parlance for “other people.”

Gang members, including “Biggum,” hated Albert, the surviving victim. “She puts stuff on the internet, stuff on facebook.”

“Vonte” and “Mook” told the same story in separate rooms,” DeGroot told the jury. Vonte, who was 16 at the time, had his mother with him in the interrogation room, “screaming at him to tell the truth.” Dennis “was on the streets,” and had been missing for a week and a half at the time of the crime. “His parents didn’t know where he was.”

“Dion was shot, Ricks was shot at, we hate Nylijah Albert. There’s three motives right there,” DeGroot said. “They are still guilty of murder.”

Torres, representing Johnson, said he is known as Mook to his family and friends. “It’s not a gang name, it’s a family nickname,” he said. Unfortunately, he added, it’s the same nickname as a gang member called “Mook” Drakeford.

“I think the prosecutor is right when he talks about Paterson as a place of dreams, aspirations and goals,” Torres said. “Mr. Johnson is not a member of any gang, because he’s not one of their boys. He is not from the 230 area, he lives on east 19th Street He played basketball and football, graduated on time, and went to college because he too had dreams. He wasn’t able to get a scholarship, so he worked while he was in school.”

The black sweatshirt Johnson wore that day, Torres said read “PCCC.” for Passaic County Community College. But the gang, DeGroot had stated earlier, all wore “black clothing and emulated Army tactics, such as creeping up on intended victims.”

“Earlier in the day, Johnson was with a friend, and someone came and shot that friend. Johnson ran back across the river, and waited for his cousin to come pick him up. He went back to his building on East 19th St. Devonte Lewis — also known as Biggum — came and picked him up. He said ‘You are coming with me.’ Johnson said he didn’t want to go, but Biggums told him ‘I have a gun.’ So he went, in fear.

“This is a tale of two cities,” Torres concluded. “The dreams of people who work hard and are family oriented.

“There’s no future for a young girl who was shot and lost her life, and another young girl seriously hurt. There’s only two guns. And they do have an eyewitness.”

Defense attorney Dianne D’Alessandro of West Milford represents Dennis. She emphasized that he was a juvenile when the shootings occurred.

“Young kids like my client are sometimes influenced by others, where a 15-year old child can inspire such hate they threaten her, chase her, eventually hit her. The reason? I have absolutely no idea,” she told the jury.

“Nylijah (Albert) was threatened by five different people,” she said. “I have no idea why. One of them shot at her during the summer. She was threatened by Biggum’s mom, and by his sister.”

“Jevonte wanted to be cool, he wanted to be part of something. He had been on the streets. His parents hadn’t seen him for more than a week before the shooting. He’s malleable and can be used and manipulated.

“They can make people like Jevonte do what they want,” she said. And then she told the jury the co defendants “are not together.”

“Just because the four of us are sitting together doesn’t mean we’re together in this. But you have to consider us separately.

A medical examiner testified that Bugg was shot by a bullet that went through her back and traveled to three points throughout her body, exiting on her right side.

He said the bullet perforated her left lung and heart, then went through the upper lobe of her right lung, struck her third rib and exited her body. The exit wound was 12 inches below her head and two inches from her right side, traveling back to front, left to right, and with an upward trajectory. He said when she was shot, she was most likely ducking or trying to run.

After the lunch break, Nylijah Albert testified to events the day of the shooting and also to interrelationships between herself, gang members and her brothers. Albert and her brothers were “downhill,” while the 230 gang were “uphill.” There was significant rivalry and threats between the two groups, including an incident the previous May when she was in a park and “threatened and shot at” by another man connected with “Biggum” Lewis named Marshell Stevens. She wasn’t hurt and didn’t report the shooting.

She also testified to events at the chicken restaurant, especially gunfire which she described as “a lot,” “ a big noise,” and “different sounds of gunfire,” which she said is why she knows there was more than one gun and more than one person firing it. There was “a short person in a black hoodie there, and I found it unusual because it was hot. He had a mask,” she said, and also described “another shooter dressed in black, with a mask, across the street,” about 60 or more feet away.”

The case has been transferred to Bergen County but is being prosecuted by Passaic County because Bugg’s mother is a court employee there. Trial will resume Wednesday morning before Judge James J. Guida.