Corey Johnson was born on November 5, 1968, in New York City. He grew up in a troubled household. His family life was marked by dysfunction. Johnson experienced abuse from his mother and her boyfriends. His mother struggled with drug addiction, which led to neglect. When he was just 13 years old, his mother abandoned him. This left him to navigate life on his own.

After being abandoned, Johnson spent his teenage years in various residential and institutional facilities. He bounced around different placements until he was no longer eligible for foster care. During his time in school, Johnson did not perform well academically. He could only read and write at an elementary school level. His IQ was assessed at a low score of 77, which further complicated his education and social interactions.

In 1989, at the age of 21, Johnson turned to a life of crime. He co-founded a gang called the "Newtowne Gang" in Richmond, Virginia. This gang was involved in drug trafficking, particularly in cocaine. 

Between January and February 1992, Corey Johnson was involved in a series of murders in Richmond, Virginia. He was part of a gang known as the Newtowne Gang. In just 45 days, gang members committed around ten murders, with Johnson being responsible for roughly seven to eight of them.

On January 14, 1992, Johnson shot and killed a rival drug dealer named Peyton Johnson in a tavern. He was not alone during this crime; two other gang members were with him. A few weeks later, on January 29, Johnson shot and killed Louis Johnson, who was a bodyguard for another drug dealer. This murder happened in an alley along with two accomplices.

On February 1, 1992, Johnson and his gang members shot and killed Torrick Brown, who had conflicts with one of the gang members. They also critically injured Brown's half-sister during this incident. That same day, Johnson went to the home of Bobby Long, who owed him money for drugs. He murdered Long along with Long’s sister and a male friend who were at the house.

Later, on February 19, 1992, Johnson suspected that Linwood Chiles was working with the police. Johnson shot Chiles and three other individuals who were present during the meeting. While the two sisters survived, Chiles and another man named Curtis Thorne were killed.

Other gang members committed additional murders during this crime spree. For instance, on January 4, 1992, Douglas Talley was stabbed multiple times by two of Johnson's accomplices. A few weeks later, on January 13, Douglas Moody was shot and later stabbed by the same gang members, leading to his death.

Johnson, alongside two other gang members, was eventually arrested and faced trial for these murders. Each member was charged with several counts of murder under a federal law targeting large-scale drug traffickers. On February 3, 1993, Johnson was found guilty of seven murders.

He received his sentence just weeks later on February 16, 1993. Johnson was sentenced to death for each of the murders he committed. He remained on death row for almost three decades before he was executed by lethal injection on January 14, 2021.