NEW YORK – Sklar Davis, also known as “S-Dot,” the leader of the Southside gang in the City of Newburgh, was sentenced in US District Court to 30 years in prison in connection with his robbery and participation in the murder of Samuel Stubbs, who was 67, in Newburgh.
On August 13, 2015, Davis, 22, along with others, decided to rob a high-stakes card game that Stubbs was playing outside, near the intersection of Lander and Courtney streets in Newburgh.
Davis and a co-conspirator approached the three card players with guns drawn and started firing. All three men were hit and Stubbs died.
The Stubbs murder was one of many acts of violence in which Davis participated as part of his leadership of the Southside gang, including several violent crimes after Davis participated in the murder of Stubbs.
Beginning in the summer of 2015, Southside engaged in a series of retaliatory shootings with its primary rival gang in Newburgh, the Yellow Tape Money Gang, or “YTMG,” and other gangs allied with YTMG.
Davis committed, assisted, and/or caused a number of other Newburgh shootings:
- The attempted murder of rival gang member Gabriel Warren, a/k/a “Stacks,” in the late summer or early fall of 2015;
- The attempted murder of rival gang member Armad Evans, a/k/a “Yellow,” on or about October 5, 2015;
- The attempted murder of rival gang member Tyrin Gayle, a/k/a “Spazzo,” and other YTMG members on or about December 11, 2015;
- The attempted murder of rival YTMG gang members on or about March 17, 2016;
- Aiding and abetting the attempted murder of rival gang member Romeo Herring on or about April 3, 2016; and
- The attempted murder of rival gang members in the vicinity of the 845 Lounge located at 778 Broadway on or about May 21, 2016.
Davis bragged about his violence, his drug dealing, and his firearms possession on Facebook, which helped further fuel the violent rivalry between Southside and YTMG.
Davis was arrested in June 2017 as a result of a multi-year investigation by the FBI’s Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force and the City of Newburgh Police Department into gang violence in Newburgh.
Davis was previously serving a lengthy sentence for New York State weapon and controlled substance offenses. The Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force and the City of Newburgh Police Department had previously arrested members of YTMG in 2016; every charged member of YTMG was sentenced by Judge Seibel in 2017 and 2018.
Davis is the 13th member of Southside to be sentenced by Judge Seibel, who imposed substantial periods of incarceration on each.
