What to Know
- Two men, a Brooklyn social worker and a political consultant from Washington, D.C., were found dead in separate incidents after leaving gay bars in Hell's Kitchen in 2022, both had thousands of dollars stolen from their accounts
- They died of a toxic drug combination, their autopsies found; in July, an acclaimed fashion designer was found dead in her Manhattan apartment of another toxic narcotic combo -- those three deaths may be linked to two separate ongoing overdose robbery patterns, law enforcement officials say
- Six suspects have been indicted in the first pattern; law enforcement officials say that crew is thought to be behind 17 robberies and the deaths of Julio Ramirez and John Umberger; the second is thought to be responsible for 26, including the death of Kathryn Gallagher
As the third and final suspect was arraigned Tuesday in connection with the overdose deaths of two Manhattan gay bar patrons police said were drugged and robbed, there is more information coming out about the scheme carried out by three men.
The trio of Jayqwan Hamilton, Robert Demaio and Jacob Barroso went out at least once a month to drug and rob victims between Sept. 2021 and Aug. 2022, police believe. During that time, investigators said they discovered 17 victims who were drugged — some with fentanyl — and robbed outside Manhattan bars and nightclubs.
And police said there may be even more victims still out there.
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"Its clearly rooted in greed, total disregard for the victims and the investigation allowed us to bring dangerous people off the streets," said NYC Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday.
The mayor joined Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell to announce the end of the year-long investigation into the overdose deaths of two gay men who were victims of the scheme: 25-year-old social worker Julio Ramirez and 33-year-old political consultant John Umberger.
Hamilton was arrested Monday, weeks after Demaio turned himself in to police and Barroso was nabbed as well. All three face charges of murder in the second degree, robbery, identity theft, grand larceny and conspiracy.
The 34-year-old Demaio, of Brooklyn, was one of at least two men seen entering and leaving the Upper East Side apartment where Umberger was staying the night of his murder in May 2022, according to the officials. He, along with Hamilton, were also allegedly seen on videos recovered from Demaio's phone taken while they were inside the unit. In the background, Umberger can reportedly be seen lying unconscious.
Detectives were reportedly able to link Demaio and Hamilton to the crime through the video evidence, as well as rental car records that tied the former to a red Dodge Durango used the night of Umberger's death.
Umberger’s mother, Linda Clary, never believed her son’s overdose was an accident. She’s made it her mission to spread awareness — and while she was relieved to see the suspects arrested, she was hesitant to say justice had been served.
"How can you get justice when you can’t bring a dead person back?" she asked. "We just want to make sure that other people are safe and this can’t happen to anyone else by these people."
Barroso's charges stem from the death of Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old Brooklyn social worker killed last April.
Both Umberger and Ramirez were seen leaving gay bars in Hell's Kitchen shortly before they disappeared, with people they did not know.
The medical examiner's office said both victims had a number of different drugs — including two types of fentanyl, as well as heroin, cocaine and lidocaine — in their bodies when they died. The NYPD has said it was the lidocaine that would have ultimately incapacitated them. According to investigators, Hamilton and the other two defendants incapacitated the men and then stole their cellphones, which they used clean out their bank accounts, stealing thousands.
"The defendants used these substances as weapons, giving them opportunity to steal their phones and credit cards," Bragg said. "The motive we allege was simple: to make money."
Police say the two deaths are part of a larger string of similar incidents, inside and outside the gay community.
The three men are believed to be a part of the Robbery Pattern 188. Police say this crew is responsible for at least 17 robberies in the borough, primarily in the Village and Hell's Kitchen, though there could be more victims out there.
Officials confirmed that the primary motive in the scheme was robbery and the victims were targeted for money, not their sexual orientation. The LGBTQ community was targeted in the general sense, officials said, but no evidence of specific targeting was found.
When asked if the NYPD may have ignored the overdose deaths at first because the victims were gay men, law enforcement officials categorically denied the claim.
"In these cases, you have to get it right and sometimes that collides with the immediacy," said Adams. "If we do premature indictment or arrest families won’t get justice they need. A complex case like this, our hearts go out to family but it was about being thorough so as not to be premature."
A second investigation, known as Robbery Pattern 90, is believed to involve a different crew that has robbed 26 people. There are several suspects in that case, which is going before a Manhattan grand jury, the law enforcement officials said. A spokesperson for the district attorney's office didn't immediately return requests for comment.
An NYPD spokesman declined immediate comment, citing an ongoing investigation.
The two law enforcement officials said the homicide of acclaimed New York City fashion designer Kathryn Marie Gallagher, which came by drug-facilitated death, may be part of Pattern 90. The medical examiner's office last week said Gallagher died of acute toxication by the combined effects of alcohol, fentanyl, ethanol and p-fluorofentanyl.
The 35-year-old internationally recognized designer, who had more than two dozen collections under her own label Katie Gallagher and showed at Fashion Week in both New York and Paris, died in July 2022. She had been working on a Fall 2022 collection at the time she was found dead in her Eldridge Street apartment.
Ramirez, who was also found to have heroin in his blood, was found in a taxi in the early morning hours of April 21, 2022. He had last been seen leaving Ritz Bar and Lounge on West 46th Street with a group of men and they all got into a cab, though Ramirez was alone in the backseat when the driver realized he was unconscious. The taxi driver found a cop to report the unresponsive passenger, and Ramirez was pronounced dead at a hospital. Neither his wallet nor phone was on him.
Later, relatives say they discovered $20,000 missing from his accounts.
Umberger was found dead in late May of an apparent drug overdose in his employer's Upper East Side townhouse, where he was staying. Surveillance video showed him leaving the Q NYC club on Eighth Avenue, with several men propping him up. He also had money stolen from his bank account. Further details on that timeline aren't clear.
His mother, though, alerted cops he was missing and Umberger was found on June 1. She said his phone was gone, and his credit cards were missing, along with $25,000 from his bank account.
Police said that video showed Hamilton — charged in Umberger's death — using victims' credit cards to make numerous purchases.
NYC Robbery Crews Linked to Mystery Druggings, Deaths
Officials have said the deaths appear to be part of a string of people fatally poisoned with narcotics in what investigators say were schemes by criminal crews to incapacitate and rob people at NYC bars and nightclubs.
The killings — at least five in all, according to police — stretch back months and appear to be the work of different crews, operating independently but using similar tactics, police and prosecutors said in a December update.
Men surreptitiously slip revelers dangerous levels of drugs to knock them out, then take their wallets and phones, sometimes using their digital banking info to drain their accounts, officials said. In an earlier incident, Nurbu Sherpa, a 29-year-old chef, was found dead on the sidewalk after leaving a bar where he had been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.
Other men have come forward with stories about being drugged by strangers and waking up to find money gone.
Many of the crimes remain unsolved, but the Manhattan district attorney previously announced that one suspect, Allen Kenwood, of the Bronx, had been charged with murder in Sherpa’s death and in the killing of Ardijan Berisha, 26.
Berisha, of South Salem, New York, and a friend passed out on the sidewalk in July 2022 after drinking at a bar on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Kenwood drugged both of his victims with fentanyl, prosecutors said, then robbed them. He is accused in three other instances where victims survived. The status of his case wasn't clear Wednesday.
Anyone with information on the robbery patterns is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
