Deadly Conspiracy Described at Trial of 3 Charged in Gay Bar Murders

The two men went to Midtown gay bars and nightclubs in 2022, just as New York City’s nightlife was booming again after the pandemic.They became victims — fatally drugged and robbed by men “waiting in the wings to target them,” prosecutors said Wednesday in Manhattan Criminal Court.In the opening statements of a murder trial, prosecutors described a “deadly conspiracy” to befriend men leaving gay bars and clubs, slip them intoxicants and steal from them.

The two men who were killed, Julio Ramirez and John Umberger, were victims in a string of at least five robberies that rocked New York’s L.G.B.T.Q.community and spread terror throughout the city, as revelers worried about being drugged, perhaps fatally, by just a few sips of a drink.The defendants include Jayqwan Hamilton, 37, described by police at the time of his arrest in 2023 as the leader of the group, and Robert DeMaio, 36.

Mr.Hamilton and Mr.

DeMaio are charged in the killings of Mr.Ramirez and Mr.

Umberger.A third man, Jacob Barroso, 32, is accused of playing a role only in Mr.Ramirez’s murder.The motive was money, Emily Ching, one of the prosecutors, said.

“All they wanted was to come up on a jackpot,” she said.David B.Krauss, a lawyer for Mr.

Barroso, said Ms.Ching’s statements were just a “theory.”“It’s not evidence, it’s not anything but accusations,” Mr.

Krauss said.Prosecutors said they used an array of evidence, including video surveillance and financial and cellphone records, to piece together the group’s strategy: Acquire targets, befriend them and ply them with drugs to incapacitate them.The victims would eventually be abandoned, often unconscious, while their attackers embarked on a spending spree with the stolen money, prosecutors said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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