Transcript: Mayor Adams, District Attorney Bragg, Police Commissioner Sewell Announce Murder and Conspiracy Indictment in Series of Fatal Nightclub Overdoses

April 18, 2023

Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJtVVHSB_qs

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell: Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for being here. In addition to our NYPD detectives, we are joined here this afternoon by Mayor Adams along with the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, and his team. Today we are announcing a final apprehension has been made in a long-term investigation into several crimes, including two homicides that took place between September of 2021 and August of 2022. In the course of their investigation, your NYPD investigators never stopped working to identify those responsible and to bring them to justice. There were numerous victims in this pattern of crimes. They were targeted for robberies, and many of the victims are from our LGBTQIA+ community. The NYPD's tireless detectives, their work led to the apprehension of several suspects, not only for the homicides of John Umberger and Julio Ramirez before the range of other crimes across Manhattan and the Bronx that they're responsible for.

On Monday afternoon, the final suspect, 25-year-old Jayqwan Hamilton was taken into custody without incident. He is being charged in connection with both homicides. This case, once again, epitomizes the relentless work that the women and men of the NYPD perform each day To keep New York City safe, I want to thank the NYPD detectives of the seventh and ninth precincts and of the Manhattan North and Manhattan South Homicide Squads for their detective work and their dedication to this investigation, as well as the NYPD's Fugitive Enforcement Unit for their careful and precise efforts to apprehend the suspects in this case, their work is dangerous and crucial to the safety of this city. Lastly, I want to express the NYPD's appreciation to our partners in the DA's office for working closely with our investigators to build the strongest case possible. I'll now turn it over to the chief of detectives, James Essig.

James Essig, Chief of Detectives, Police Department: Thank you, commissioner. Good afternoon. Detectives investigated 17 similar incidents occurring between September 19th, 2021 and August 28th. 2022. Male victims were offered narcotics or marijuana when they were inside or in the vicinity of a bar restaurant in Manhattan. At the victim's home or at the scene, the perpetrators got his phone, transferred money into their accounts and took other property, in some instances. There have been two overdose deaths associated with this case: a Julio Ramirez, which occurred on April 21st 2022, and a John Umberger, which occurred on May 26th of 2022. In both cases, the medical examiner ruled those homicides on March 3rd of 2023. It listed the cause of death as acute intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl, P-fluorofentanyl, cocaine, lidocaine, and ethanol.

Investigation in these two homicides revealed that on April 21st, 2022, our victim, Mr. Ramirez, was approached by three perpetrators outside of the Ritz Bar at 369 West 46th Street. All got into a taxi. Our victim was found deceased from a drug overdosed. His cellphone was used to make numerous transfers from bank accounts and purchased sneakers from a SoleStage sneaker store. On Wednesday, June 1st, 2022, police responded to a wellness check at 34 East 61st Street. Mr. Umberger was pronounced deceased. Detectives began investigating the fraudulent usage on credit cards as well as unauthorized Cash App transfers from the victim's bank account. In addition, connections were made to incidents with similar fact patterns, including the Ramirez death. Video post-incident depicted an individual later identified as Jayqwan Hamilton utilizing the victim's credit cards to make numerous purchases. Pre-incident, the perpetrators are seen entering his residence and post-incident, they are seen leaving the residence in a red Durango. That vehicle was rented to a Robert Demaio who was previously arrested in this investigation.

A search warrant was executed on a cellphone recovered from Robert Demaio. Among the results returned were two videos depicting Hamilton and Demaio in the victim's apartment. In another, the victim is seen on the bed apparently unconscious in the same pose. He was later found deceased. A grand jury was convened, and on March 23rd, a true bill was issued indicting five members of this crew. Three members, a Jacob Barroso, male, 30 with nine prior arrests, Robert Demaio, a male, 34, with four prior arrests, and Jayqwan Hamilton, a male, 35, with 12 prior arrests were indicted for the murder of Julio Ramirez. Two members, Jayqwan Hamilton and Robert Demaio, were indicted for the murder of John Umberger. Barroso and Demaio surrendered to police last week. Jayqwan Hamilton was arrested without incident yesterday in front of 241 8th Avenue by the Regional Task Force. All are being charged with murder in the second degree, robbery in the first degree, grand larceny, and identity theft. With that, I'd like to turn it over to the district attorney.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg: Thank you so much, chief. Thank you to the police commissioner, chief of detectives, mayor. As you've heard, this was a tremendous collaboration that leads us to this point today, and I also want to thank all of the members of the NYPD who worked on this case. As the commissioner said, dangerous and crucial work to the safety of our city. I also want to recognize and thank the outstanding members of my team at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office that worked on this case, including Assistant District Attorney Emily Ching, Matthew Lindenmuth, Megan Mers, and Elizabeth Ferry. I also want to acknowledge Lisa DelPizzo, the chief of our Trial Division, and the leadership of Trial Bureau 60.

Later today, Jayqwan Hamilton will be the fifth and final defendant arraigned on a conspiracy indictment related to a series of drugging and robberies, which tragically caused the deaths of two individuals, Julio Ramirez and John Umberger. Hamilton will be arraigned today on murder, robbery, identity theft, grand larceny and conspiracy. Three defendants, Jayqwan Hamilton, Robert Demaio and Jacob Barroso, are charged with the murder of Julio Ramirez. Two other defendants, Hamilton and Demaio are charged with the murder of John Umberger. All five defendants were each indicted on various counts of robbery and grand larceny, as well as two counts of conspiracy. A sixth defendant, Eddie Ashley, was also previously separately indicted in relation to one of these robbery incidents. The evidence supporting the conspiracy counts demonstrates that the defendants engaged in a concerted and deliberate scheme to harm innocent individuals. Their motive, we allege, was simple; to make money. They approached people leaving bars and nightclubs late at night, engaged them in conversation, and offered them illicit and dangerous substances. The defendants used these substances as weapons to incapacitate their victims, giving them an opportunity to steal their phones and credit cards.

In the subsequent hours and days after each incident, we allege, the defendants would then use the phones and credit cards to make purchases for themselves. They also sent themselves thousands of dollars in transfers using cash transfer apps from bank accounts and credit cards linked to their victim's phones. The defendants had no regard for whether the victims ever recovered from being drugged, and indeed, as was mentioned, two of their victims never recovered. Julio Ramirez and John Umberger, both tragically died as a result of a combination of drugs including two types of fentanyl.

I cannot imagine how painful it is for the families of Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Umberger. My thoughts continue to be with them, and it's my sincere hope that today we'll bring some solace in the fact that our investigation has now led to these charges. In my conversations with residents and community leaders and elected officials, I know these incidents have provoked a lot of fear. Nobody, nobody should have to worry about their safety and wellbeing when enjoying Manhattan's vibrant nightlife. And this investigation sends a clear message that we have no tolerance for this type of dangerous and deadly conduct.

This team, the partnership between the DA's office and the NYPD really is on full display here. It took a methodical approach to piece the evidence together in a way that demonstrated the full nature of the conduct that occurred and led to these charges. The results of the investigation are now clear and in. These defendants are facing serious murder charges. It speaks to the professionalism and diligence of both the DA's office in the NYPD. Our partnership is hard at work and on display every single day in helping to keep this city safe, and I want to end by encouraging members of the public to come forward if they've been the victim of a similar crime. We have a helpline: (212) 335-9040, and we will continue side by side with the NYPD to remain vigilant in this and other matters. I now turn it over to the mayor of the City of New York, Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you. I thank you. Just really want to commend DA Bragg, the police commissioner, chief, and DA, your team, for really the thoroughness of this investigation. And it's not lost on us, there was a lot of concern because some of the victims in this case were members of the LGBTQ+ community, and I want to commend DA Bragg for having a member of his team that's part of the hate crimes to look and see if there was a component that was present. And as well as the police commissioner. This partnership made sure that we could get to the source of this crime, and it was clearly rooted in greed, total disregard for the victims, and the investigation allowed us to bring dangerous people off the streets.

But we want to send a message to our LGBT community that we understood the trauma that you experienced during this time, and that is why we were very clear that we wanted to investigate any potentiality of a hate crime component to this. And I want to thank both the police commissioner and the DA of ensuring that, as they communicated with the various LGBTQ+ communities representatives, to send a very clear and loud message.

These are dangerous people. And when you see a pattern of using an illegal substance to participate in criminal behavior, it is an aggravating factor that was taken into account. We also want to speak to those responsible nightlife businesses who also assisted here and put the word out to their patrons. You saw New Yorkers come together to participate with our law enforcement apparatus to bring dangerous people to justice. Our heart goes out to the family of John and Julio. We know how traumatic this could be. We're hoping that these arrests will bring some sense of justice and bring about a conviction of ensuring that the message is loud and clear that those who bring about violence in our city in any level, if it's gun violence or violence through fentanyls or drugs, they're going to receive the same level of aggressiveness to bring them to justice. And that is what we did today. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, district attorney, and your teams.

Question: Mr. Mayor or Commissioner Sewell, we were just coming back from Covid when these crimes were starting and the nightlife was returning to the city. When you saw the pervasive pattern, the druggings and the robberies, were you concerned about people then being afraid to come out? And were there at least 40 robberies that took place along with at least seven deaths?

Commissioner Sewell: So I'll speak to the first part of that. We're always concerned when people are feeling unsafe in this city. So whenever we see a pattern of crimes, or even crimes anywhere in this city, we want to make sure that we get out to the community that we are addressing it. As the mayor stated, we coordinate with the businesses in the area, have our liaisons go out to the area and make sure that the community feels as though they have a connection with the commanders, and at the borough level, with the NYPD, we want to make sure that everyone understands that we are out there to make them safe every single day, and we do recognize that there are patterns in this city, we will address them. And I think this investigation is evidence of that.

Question: DA Bragg, in terms of the conspiracy defendants, are there six or are there seven and is it a murder conspiracy case? How do we characterize that?

District Attorney Bragg: So there are two conspiracies charged in the indictment, and if you've got the charging instrument, there are five defendants that were mentioned. Mr. Hamilton, Demaio, Barroso, and Hoskins on the indictment returned today, and I believe you have the charging instruments. So the overt acts are laid out as the same and both. In the end, it's a conspiracy. We've got the last two, I just want to kind of be very specific here, where we've got conspiracy to commit the robbery, the class B felony, and the charging and the discussion of the substance, was there a dangerous instrument? Is that your question?

Question: Yeah.

District Attorney Bragg: Yeah. So that is… And maybe I can call on ADA Ching to sort of go into some more detail about that?

Emily Ching, Assistant District Attorney, Manhattan District Attorney's Office: To answer your question, there are five defendants who are charged with two counts of conspiracy in the fourth degree. The conspiracy is to commit a Class B felony, in this case, robbery in the first degree and specifically to commit forcible robbery using a dangerous instrument. The theory in this case being that the dangerous instrument is a dangerous substance.

Question: For Commissioner Sewell, so initially you had said that — enumerated four homicides, what appeared to be this pattern, and given that the deaths are alleged to have happened, wanton, reckless use of narcotics mixtures, should we consider this a serial murder case targeting the gay community?

Commissioner Sewell: Well, I think as we stated, while many members or many victims in this case are part of the LGBTQIA+ community, the motive was robbery. The motive was for monetary gain. And as it stands out in terms of charging this as a serial investigation, I guess I'll turn that over to the DA's office.

District Attorney Bragg: The mayor and the commissioner also have been both been very clear on the targeting of the community in the general sense. We all know the locations of these crimes, and we've met with the community leaders and stakeholders and that's why the matter was staffed with expertise from our Hate Crimes Units and Task Force. We thoroughly and rigorously reviewed evidence including looking at things like as we do in all of these cases: social media, text messages, things like that. And so there's no evidence of targeting under the law.

But that does not undo the sort of trauma that we know, and that's why we've been meeting with stakeholders in neighborhoods and communities. And I would also more broadly mention and credit the mayor and his team for funding our office with $1.7 million last year to increase the capacity of our hate crimes unit. We went from about three assistant district attorneys with trained expertise to about 20. So we investigate all of these matters rigorously, thoroughly, looking to see if they should be charged as a hate crime. And here, there was no evidence within the four corners of the law, but we still stand with the community and continue to meet and address their concerns. Thank you.

Question: NBC News has spoken with a half dozen men who feel that the NYPD initially ignored their complaints. They were all victims of these kinds of crimes, but they feel their complaints were ignored because they're gay men. This investigation took a long time. Were they ignored because the victims are gay men?

Commissioner Sewell: I say categorically, no, to your question. This was a complex investigation that involved a number of different resources in place to make sure that we were able to bring justice to those responsible. We will never discriminate against anyone in this city. They are all part of our communities and we will make sure that we address any concerns that they have. This investigation took a long time, but I think the results speak for themselves that everything was done to make sure we held those accountable who committed these crimes.

Question: Mr. Mayor, is there anything you want to say to the gay community that feels that they have not been heard?

Mayor Adams: In these cases, you have to get it right. And sometimes the desire to get it right collides with the immediacy that people would like to see in justice. The number of times you'll get a call stating, "Why aren't you making an arrest right now?" Even if you have a suspect, you may not have probable cause to actually arrest. If we do a premature indictment or arrest, families won't get the justice they deserve and need.

And so we understand clearly. Anytime you are a victim of a crime, there is a desire to immediately see the issue resolved. But a complex case like this that the DA and the Police Department methodically went through the evidence and came out on the other side with indictments that is going to now go to trial. We will never be expeditious that is going to endanger allowing guilty people to walk free. And so our hearts goes out to the family. We are going to continue to communicate to the community, but it was about being thorough so we do not make the mistake of being premature and allow dangerous people to stay on the street.

Question: Commissioner, can you say how many in the LGBTQ+ community were victims of these crimes? And the drugs was obviously had fentanyl, in the two overdoses, but were the drugs similar in the 15 other cases? Did that make it difficult to conduct all the cases, or was it just this tragic accident or tragic incident with these two overdoses?

Commissioner Sewell: I'll ask Chief Essig to discuss the investigation.

Essig: So in terms of the drug overdoses, the two drugs that we know were used for those two were the fentanyl, fluorofentanyl, lidocaine and cocaine. What was the first part of your question?

Question: How many members of the LGBTQ+ community were victims?

Essig: We know many, if not most, were members. We know there were roommates who were also victims when they went back where property was taken from the apartment. We don't know what community they belonged to, but many, if not most of the men that were confronted were members of the LGBT community.

Question: And the drugs used in the other 15 cases, was it similar to the overdoses or is it…

Essig: They offered marijuana and other similar narcotics.

Question: Chief Essig, just stay up there for a second. Do you believe that Mr. Ramirez was either forced to get into the vehicle with the suspects or forced to take the drugs, and in the same case with Mr. Umberger, he was forced to go back to the apartment so that they could overdose him?

Essig: In the Ramirez case, we have video of them entering a taxi. It doesn't appear to be forced. In the Umberger case, going back to his apartment, we have them going up to the apartment and leaving the apartment, and that's how we ultimately cracked this case with the Durango ties it to Demaio which the cell phone, and then we get the video. But we don't know if they were forced or coerced in terms of Umberger, but Ramirez appears to have gone into the cab willingly.

Question: For Chief Essig. Chief, a two-part question. For the accused killers in this ring, who's the ringleader? How do they know each other, and where does the death of the woman fit in either to this ring or the other one? The other pattern, I should say,

Essig: I wouldn't say there's a ring leader. They all know each other. They're from Brooklyn, most of them live on Front Street or Bridge Street over in Brooklyn, although one of our persons live up in Adam Clayton Powell in upper Manhattan, but we think they're friends from Brooklyn. In the Gallagher, that overdose was just ruled a homicide. It's an active investigation. We took down another case like this in December, and then this one here resulting in two deaths in September, two deaths today we're announcing, but that's an active investigation into the Gallagher.