Ringleaders Busted In Manhattan Gay Nightclub Robbery Spree That Left Victims Dead From Overdoses

New York Daily News: MANHATTAN – A quintet of callous suspects was charged with drugging and robbing gay nightclub patrons in a chilling Manhattan spree linked to the shocking overdose deaths of two victims across about a 15-month stretch, authorities said Tuesday.

All the defendants were charged with robbery, conspiracy, identity theft and grand larceny in the scheme, with three accused of second-degree murder. Jayqwan Hamilton, 35, was arrested Monday by authorities and charged alongside co-defendant Robert DeMaio, 34, with a pair of homicides.

Co-defendant Jacob Barroso, 29, was hit with a single murder charge in the scheme targeting victims outside bars and nightclubs where the assailants drugged and robbed the men.

Two victims, John Umberger and Julio Ramirez, were killed as the defendants hunted for likely targets between March 2021 and July 2022, officials said, with the perpetrators stealing cell phones, credit cards and other items from their helpless victims.

“Their motive, we allege, was simple: To make money,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “They approached people leaving bars, engaged them in conversation and offered them illicit and dangerous substances.”

A video recovered with a search warrant from one defendant’s cell phone showed two of the suspects in an apartment where their victim was lying unconscious on a bed in the same position as he was later found dead, the prosecutor added.

Hamilton was considered the ringleader of the robbery crew and gave the deadly drugs to Ramirez and Umberger, police sources said. He was one of a half-dozen reputed gang members indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on March 23 for their predatory behavior.

Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced his arrest and the details of the ongoing investigation after the 19-count indictment was unsealed.

“It was clearly rooted in greed and total disregard for the victims,” said Adams. “These are dangerous people.”

Sewell said the victims’ valuables, and not their sexuality, was the motive behind the robberies.

Three of Hamilton’s alleged accomplices, identified as Barroso, DeMaio and Andre Butts, were arrested in the last two weeks. The fifth suspect was Shane Hoskins, 30, according to authorities.

Ramirez, a Brooklyn social worker, was found unconscious in the back seat of a taxi on the Lower East Side early on April 21, 2022, after he’d visited a gay nightspot, the Ritz Bar and Lounge on W. 46th St.

Umberger, a Washington, DC, resident and political consultant, was found dead June 1 in an Upper East Side apartment where he had been staying. He died after visiting the Q, a gay nightclub in Hell’s Kitchen.

Last month, the city medical examiner deemed the deaths of Ramirez, 25, and Umberger, 33, homicides caused by “drug-facilitated thefts.”

The two victims are among at least seven people who died from overdoses after criminals slipped them drugs laced with fentanyl and other deadly drugs as they left Manhattan bars and restaurants, police said.

“In addition to the pain their deaths have caused for their family and loved ones, I know that many other New Yorkers have feared for their own safety when going out to meet with friends,” said Bragg.

The thieves targeted the victims as they left Manhattan bars, offering them either drugs or drug-laced cigarettes, according to police. When the victims fell unconscious, the crooks snatched their cell phones and used cash transfer apps to empty out their bank accounts.

Last month, renowned Lower East Side fashion designer Kathryn Marie Gallagher was added to the list of victims who died from drug overdoses administered by thieves. NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said her July 24, 2022, death was under investigation as part of the pattern.

It’s not clear whether Barroso, Hamilton and DeMaio’s crew or members of a separate robbery crew were responsible for Gallagher’s death.

Top Feature Photo: Suspect Jayqwan Hamilton (NYPD)