Despite Junior Gotti's support MMA fighter is convicted of bank robbery

Despite Junior Gotti's support MMA fighter is convicted of bank robbery

  January 17, 2019    Dapper_Don

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Mixed martial arts fighter Sergio Da Silva was convicted of robbery Thursday for holding up a Queens bank.

Sergio Da Silva, 32, was on trial for the Aug. 24, 2017, robbery in which he allegedly said he had a gun and threatened to shoot a bank teller before making off with $46,000.

The brawler jumped onto the counter of his local Citibank on Steinway St. near 28^thAve. in Astoria with a black bandana wrapped around his face and demanded cash, prosecutors said during the trial.

Jurors deliberated for four days and found Da Silva guilty of third-degree robbery - but let him off the hook for first-degree robbery, a charge hinging on Da Silva having a gun during the crime.

“Yes!” a family member of Da Silva whispered when the jury announced he was innocent of the higher charge.

Moments later though, Da Silva’s family, including his son Sergio Da Silva, 8, who testified for the defense, burst into tears and dabbed at their eyes with tissues when the MMA fighter was pronounced guilty of the lesser charge.

Asked on his way out of court if the jury got the verdict right, an irritated Da Silva responded, “No they did not. I wouldn’t be fighting this hard if they did. I’m living to fight another day.”

Just hours into deliberations Tuesday, jurors sent Judge Leach a note saying they could not reach a verdict.

"We could not come to a unanimous decision," jurors wrote. Judge Leach implored them to continue deliberating.

Though each of the 12 jurors eventually agreed on the verdict, one male alternate juror shook his head continuously as Da Silva’s fate was revealed Thursday.

All the jurors declined to comment as they left Queens Supreme Court.

Da Silva faces up to seven years in prison on the third-degree robbery rap. If he had been convicted of first degree robbery he would have faced up to 25 years.

The MMA fighter had a powerful ally in his corner. Ex-mob head John Gotti Jr. showed up on the second day of jury deliberations in an Adidas track suit to lend support to the brawler, who trains with Gotti’s fighter son.

Gotti Jr. called da Silva a "magnificent father” who brings his son to the gym on a regular basis. “I believe the kid is innocent," Gotti Jr. told reporters

Da Silva tweeted just minutes before his verdict. “Thank you for all the support to those who always believed in me. If justice is served I will be not guilty”

Judge Leslie Leach will sentence Da Silva Feb. 28.

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-metro-mma-fighter-robber-verdict-20190117-story.html