The man once known as the Cuban Assassin, a promising boxer turned convicted felon, has broken his silence in an exclusive interview that lays bare the brutal reality of one of Prince George’s County’s deadliest street wars. Larry Reio, 34, sat down for a candid conversation about his life, the violence that consumed his neighborhood, and the cold-case murder that nearly sent him away for life. His story is a harrowing account of survival, loss, and the relentless cycle of retaliation that has left a trail of innocent victims.
Reio, who grew up in Landover, Maryland, was a nationally ranked amateur boxer with 138 wins before the streets pulled him in at just 16 years old. He was kicked out of his home and turned to robbery and drug dealing, quickly becoming a central figure in a feud between the Armor and Glenn Arden neighborhoods. That rivalry, according to Reio, escalated from fistfights to gunfire, claiming the lives of young women who were never the intended targets.
The bloodshed began in earnest on January 8, 2008, when a drive-by shooting near Charles Herbert Flowers High School killed 18-year-old Sharice Richardson, a senior walking home. Reio was present that day. He described seeing her lying face down on the grass, a moment he says was a wake-up call.
But the violence only intensified. On June 2, 2009, a graduation party near FedEx Field turned into a massacre when gunfire erupted, killing 19-year-old Shay Caldwell, a mother of a 15-month-old girl. Three others were wounded.
For years, Caldwell’s murder went unsolved. Then in 2017, while Reio was already serving a federal prison sentence for a gun charge, Prince George’s County police charged him with her death. Reio vehemently denies the accusation, claiming he was framed by detectives who had no physical evidence.
He says witnesses later recanted, and the charges were dropped without ever going to trial. The case was non-processed, but the damage to his reputation was done.
Reio’s life has been marked by extreme violence. He was shot twice, the second time in May 2015, when he was hit five times, including a bullet to the head. He spent 25 days in a coma and suffered multiple surgeries.
Yet he survived. While in the hospital, police handcuffed him to the bed and charged him with a gun possession, a case that led to a 63-month federal sentence. He also served additional time for a probation violation.
Now out of prison and on supervised release, Reio has turned to YouTube to tell his story, amassing over 60,000 subscribers. He insists he is trying to change his life, training for boxing matches and speaking out against the street violence that stole so many lives. But his past continues to haunt him.
In 2024, he was listed as one of Maryland’s most wanted fugitives for violating his federal supervised release, though he maintains he was simply trying to comply with his probation officer.
The feud between Armor and Glenn Arden, Reio says, was one of the deadliest in Prince George’s County history. He admits to retaliatory shootings, including one where he says he hit five people, one of them six times. A year later, that same man shot Reio five times.
The cycle of violence, he explains, was fueled by a lack of positive influences and a deep-seated anger from growing up without a father.
Reio’s interview offers a rare glimpse into the mindset of a man who has been both perpetrator and victim. He speaks of God, of regret, and of the families left behind. He says he has apologized to the family of Shay Caldwell, though he maintains his innocence.
The case remains unresolved, and the true killer has never been brought to justice.
For the community of Prince George’s County, Reio’s story is a stark reminder of the human cost of gang violence. His words may not bring closure to the families of Sharice Richardson and Shay Caldwell, but they shine a light on a war that has raged for nearly two decades. As Reio puts it, nobody wins when the family of a young woman is left to mourn a senseless death.
