Thief whose crew drugged drunk NYC clubgoers in deadly robbery scheme silent as judge sends him to prison

A thief whose crew drugged drunk Hell’s Kitchen clubgoers said nothing as he was sentenced Thursday to eight years behind bars for the fiendish scheme that left two people dead.Andre Butts, 30, appeared solemn in Manhattan Supreme Court to learn his fate after he changed his story and fessed up to robbery and conspiracy charges for his part in the fentanyl-wielding crew that drugged victims to rob them blind.Butts — who was not charged with murder in the scheme — worked alongside Jayqwan Hamitlon, Robert DeMaio and Jacob Barroso, who were found guilty at trial in February for mugging and drugging five different gay men, killing two.“Andre Butts is now facing accountability for his role in this deadly and callous conspiracy,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.“He admitted to participating in multiple robberies using fentanyl-laced drugs to incapacitate victims, so he and his co-defendants could drain money from their financial accounts.”Butts helped the trio target victims outside The Q NYC, a gay nightclub that was located on West 48th Street and Eighth Avenue, where they preyed on clubgoers before feeding them fentanyl-laced drugs in order to rob them, prosecutors have said.The hefty Butts admitted to participating in two robberies, including a March 18, 2022 robbery where he took the victim back to a hotel in Union Square — then drugged him until he lost consciousness.The crew were seen pushing the victim’s limp body on a luggage cart to bring him back to his hotel room — before they took his phone and made quick unauthorized charge transfers using Apple Cash and Cash App.Less than a month later, Butts and Shane Hoskins, another member awaiting sentencing for his role in the scheme, tagged along with Hamilton and Barroso to target another victim outside the same night club.They brought the man back to his Lower East Side apartment and drugged him, then robbed him of his cellphone and credit cards, according to court p...