#Ex-con hit with new rap related to J’Ouvert slaying of Carey Gabay

An ex-con serving state prison time in connection to the 2015 gunfight at the J’Ouvert festival that left former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s aide Carey Gabay dead has been arrested on a new federal rap related to the shootout, authorities said.

Stanley Elianor, 29, was indicted on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and pleaded not guilty Monday at his arraignment in Brooklyn federal court — a week before the 5-year anniversary of the tragedy.

Elianor, an alleged member of the Folk Nation street gang, was at the violence-plagued festival on Sept. 7, 2015, when he and his pals got into a shootout with a rival gang near the Ebbets Field Apartments in Crown Heights.

Gabay, 43, dove for cover in between two parked cars but a stray bullet struck him in the head.

During the gun battle, Elianor had allegedly possessed a .45 caliber Masterpiece Arms handgun, federal officials said. The large-capacity firearm was loaded with 27 rounds.

“No one should have to fear standing in a crowd at a street festival, thinking their life could be taken by a gang member’s stray bullet,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney in a statement.

“This brand of mayhem is often the work of convicted felons shooting guns they’re not legally allowed to possess.”

In 2018, Elianor was tried and acquitted of Gabay’s murder in Brooklyn Supreme Court. He was found guilty of first-degree reckless endangerment and is currently serving a seven-year sentence.

His co-defendants also dodged the top murder charge.

Gabay, who was born in the Bronx and grew up in public housing, went on to become the first black student body president at Harvard.

During the trial, his younger brother, Aaron McNaughton, described the harrowing moment he saw the bullet wound in Gabay’s head at the predawn festival that precedes the West Indian Day Parade.

“I embraced him and put my hand on his head to stop the blood…I was screaming and I was yelling and I was holding him,” he said.

“He loved J’Ouvert. He loved night celebration. He wanted to celebrate being Jamaican and how proud he was of his heritage.”

Authorities said that Elianor has six felony convictions related to gun crimes stretching back to 2006.

He was convicted in 2017 of being a felon in possession of a firearm in Brooklyn federal court.

In 2009, he was convicted in state court of two counts of attempted criminal possession of a weapon. The first related to shooting at a rival and possessing a .22 long rifle, which had been stolen, court records show.

The second was in connection to a loaded firearm discovered on Elianor after he’d allegedly jumped a turnstile and resisted arrest, injuring two NYPD officers, according to prosecutors.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. His lawyer Kevin Keating didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

The mayor canceled J’Ouvert and the West Indian Day Parade this year due to the pandemic.