Fiendish Hells Kitchen robbery crew used fentanyl as a weapon, resulting in 2 deaths: prosecutors

Manhattan prosecutors detailed the ghoulish crimes allegedly committed by a fentanyl-wielding robbery crew authorities say fatally drugged two men several years ago — and skewered the defense’s contention that the whole thing was just a big coincidence.In her closing argument Friday, Assistant District Attorney Meghan Hast walked the jury through an avalanche of evidence authorities say proves defendants Jayqwan Hamilton, Robert DeMaio and Jacob Barroso drugged and robbed five different men in 2022.Two of their alleged victims died during the ordeals, which often started with the alleged predators approaching inebriated young men leaving gay nightclubs in Hell’s Kitchen.On Thursday, defense attorneys conceded their clients may indeed be criminals — but claimed they aren’t killers, adding that the prosecution hasn’t proved the men were the ones who gave the men the drugs.But Hast batted that down Friday, saying fentanyl is the “perfect weapon to commit a robbery.”“Did these men just happen upon people who took fentanyl on five different occasions?” she asked the jury.“The idea that all this was accidental and that they simply profited from it — making them guilty of petit larceny — is the definition of an outlandish theory.”During the trial, prosecutors said the suspects — allegedly part of a larger robbery gang — killed 33-year-old political consultant John Umberger and 25-year-old Brooklyn social worker Julio Ramirez by giving them fentanyl-laced drugs meant to knock them out.But both victims died of “acute intoxication” from a mix of fentanyl, cocaine, ethanol and other drugs, the city medical examiner said last March.All three are now facing murder charges for allegedly killing Ramirez — while Hamilton, 37, and DeMaio, 36, have additionally been charged in Umberger’s death.The alleged druggings started March 18, 2022, when the men robbed and burglarized a man named Alex at Hyatt Union Square, the prosecutor said.Hast showe...