53°
Daniel Balbuena, 29, carried out the beating in exchange for an assault on a rival of the Gran Familiar Mexicana gang by hit squad members, an indictment returned by a grand jury in Trenton alleges.
Authorities last year charged Frank “Lafay” Blake of Hillside and several other current and former shank-armed inmates with an assault at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, as well as with plans to carry out another at Northern State Prison in Newark.
Blake -- who's the reputed leader of the Elizabeth chapter of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) street gang -- also “discussed going to the homes of [state Department of Corrections] investigators leading this investigation to commit violence against them,” Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said.
Balbuena and his cousin, Juan Balbuena, were both sent to prison in 2011 for stabbing Ivan Restrepo, 23, of Union City to death the year before outside the former Studio 45 Nite Club on Bergenline Avenue at Golden Lane in Union City.
Daniel Balbuena isn't up for parole until 2027 (his brother will be eligible in 2025), records show.
Daniel Balbuena got the extra two years for critically wounding Restrepo's 19-year-old brother, Alejandro, during the attack.
He's likely looking at considerably more time if he's convicted of the quid pro quo beatings of two inmates at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. He's charged with aggravated assault, attempted aggravated assault and conspiracy.
According to Bruck, Balbuena made the deal with Roberto "Taz" Garcia, 26, of Carteret, and Andy "Chango" Reyes, 26, of Somerset, both reputed members of the Latin Kings “hit squad” who, along with Blake, were indicted last year.
Balbuena "agreed to assault an inmate targeted by the hit squad," the attorney general said.
In exchange, he said, hit squad members "agreed to assault a member of a gang hostile to Gran Familia Mexicana whom Balbuena wanted [beaten]," Bruck said.
Balbuena held up his end of the deal when he repeatedly punched and kicked a victim in the head in the prison yard of New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, sending him to the hospital with head trauma, on April 5, 2020, the attorney general said.
The next day, Garcia gave Balbuena's rival a similar beating, although not as severe, he said.
Garcia and Reyes were charged in connection with those assaults in last September's indictment of Blake and his cohorts.
Other assaults involved an inmate who was brutally beaten into a coma and another who was stabbed with a shank in the shower.
Indictment: Latin Kingpin,10 Gang Members In NJ Prison ‘Hit Squad’ Targeted State Investigators
Balbuena was identified only as "Individual #1" at the time, raising the possibility that authorities might have been trying to "flip" him to testify against the others.
Deputy Attorneys General Travis Miscia, Samuel Rubinstein and Matthew Lynch secured the indictment for the Corruption Bureau of Bruck's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA), Bruck said.
Members of the state Department of Corrections (DOC) Special Investigations Division (SID) and the OPIA Corruption Central Squad conducted the investigation that led to the indictment, he added.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Saddle Brook-Elmwood Park and receive free news updates.
