Three suspects charged in the murders of two gay men in a crime ring that terrorized New York City’s nightlife for more than a year appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court on Jan. 22 for the beginning of their murder trial.
Jacob Barroso, 32, Robert DeMaio, 36, and Jayqwan Hamilton, 37, sat together as New York’s Assistant District Attorney Emily Ching, one of the prosecutors, laid out the defendants’ crime scheme in her opening arguments on January 22. The strategy, according to the DA’s office, was to identify and acquire targets, befriend them, give them drugs to incapacitate them, and rob them. The robbers then left the victims unconscious while they went on a spending spree with their money, prosecutors allege.
“The evidence will show that they acted out of greed, leaving victims unresponsive and, in two cases, dead,” Ching told the courtroom on Wednesday, W42ST reported. “Their actions displayed an utter disregard for human life.”
Ching said that the men’s motive was “to come up on a jackpot,” reported the New York Times.
Instead, the scheme led to the deaths of two gay men, social worker, Julio Ramirez, 25, and Republican political consultant, John Umberger, 33. Ching showed evidence the DA gathered of Ramirez and Umberger, whom she claimed were drugged, robbed, and left to die by the defendants Barroso, DeMaio, and Hamilton.
Police said Hamilton is the leader of the crime ring, according to the New York Times. DeMaio and Hamilton are charged with the murders of Ramirez and Umberger. Barroso is only accused of playing a role in Ramirez’s murder, and not the murder of Umberger.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sat in on the opening of the trial, as did Ramirez’s and Umberger’s families and other victims. Families and victims sat in the court room trying to stifle their tears as they told the court what happened to them.
Umberger’s mother, Linda Clary, who traveled from Atlanta, Georgia, to attend the trial, looked directly at the defendants in the courtroom searching for any sign of remorse.
Barroso’s lawyer, David B. Krauss, denied Ching’s evidence, calling it “accusations,” not “evidence,” reported the New York Times. DeMaio’s lawyer, Dean J. Vigliano, agreed, telling jurors that they heard only part of the story and that they should “keep an open mind.”
All three defendants pled not guilty to felony murder, robbery, and conspiracy charges.
The New York Times reported that two other men involved in the crime ring — Andre Butts and Shane Hoskins — pleaded guilty to robbery charges. In March, they are expected to receive eight-year prison sentences.
Krauss and Vigliano did not respond to a request for comment. Ching did not respond to a request for comment.
Nightlife terror
Barroso, DeMaio, and Hamilton are the last of an alleged six-member crime ring operating an elaborate robbery scheme that involved drugging victims at New York City nightclubs and robbing them of thousands of dollars in 2021 and 2022. The drugging crime ring terrorized New York City’s nightlife for more than a year, as many New Yorkers and visitors celebrated the city’s reopening as COVID-19 restrictions eased and people got vaccinated.
At the time, out gay New York City District 3 Councilmember Erik Bottcher, 45, rallied with the city’s LGBTQ community and worked closely with NYPD to educate folks about nightlife safety. The two Hell’s Kitchen gay bars in the vicinity of the crimes, The Ritz Bar and Lounge and now-shuttered The Q, are in his district. They are also the same bars where Ramirez and Umberger were last seen alive.
Bottcher, who still represents the same district, expressed his condolences again to the families and friends of the victims — especially Ramirez and Umberger — in an Instagram post acknowledging the beginning of the trial on Jan. 22.
“Their loss is immeasurable, and the impact of these senseless acts extends far beyond their loved ones,” he stated, pointing out that the alleged crime spree turned double murder “sent shockwaves through our community and presented a grave threat to the safety and well-being of all New Yorkers.”
ABC News’ investigative team tracked at least 40 people who had been drugged and robbed in the city’s bars — queer and straight — during that period. Seven of those victims — including Ramirez and Umberger — died.
A mother’s love
Initially, Ramirez and Umberger’s deaths were deemed “drug overdoses,” but on March 3, 2023 — nearly a year after their deaths — the Office of the New York City Medical Examiner reclassified them as homicides with “drug-facilitated thefts.” Ramirez and Umberger had a lethal drug cocktail that included fentanyl in their bodies. Heroin was additionally found in Ramirez’s body.
The two men’s families never believed they overdosed. Family members told reporters neither man had a history of using the drugs that were found in their systems and both men were in a small group of unknown men in the last few hours of their lives.
Clary, CEO, strategist, and consultant of Clary Political Consulting, LLC, took her son’s story to the media and pushed NYPD investigators in her quest to know the truth about what happened to her son and to get justice. She refused to believe what NYPD and the DA’s office told her and Ramirez’s family. Clary’s nagging insistence helped lead investigators to connect the dots between the alleged crime ring and the deaths of victims like her son.
Busted
In 2023, Gay City News followed developments of the case as Bragg and the NYPD worked fervently to round up the gang that was targeting the city’s nightlife — not just its gay club scene — in 2021 and 2022. Bragg and then-Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced arrests of Kenwood Allen, Barroso, and Hamilton in connection to multiple alleged druggings and robberies that year, including some which resulted in the murders of Ramirez and Umberger.
Demaio turned himself in after Barroso’s arrest in April 2023.
Another suspect who was arrested, Eddie Ashley, pleaded guilty to grand larceny, robbery, and identity theft charges in October 2023.
When the final arrests were made, Clary expressed relief that the suspects in Ramirez and her son’s murders had been caught, but she also told Gay City News that it wasn’t the end. She was also prayerful, hoping everyone involved, including the suspects, got peace. She also urged everyone to be safe by going out in numbers and never leaving drinks alone when going out to bars.
Clary and Bottcher weren’t the only ones concerned about nightlife safety in New York City in light of the crime ring. It inspired gay State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who represents Manhattan’s west side, and Manhattan Assemblymember Grace Lee, to author the Financial App Security Act. The bill required digital transactions on money-sharing platforms to have additional security measures, such as a pin, to transfer money. In December, New York Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed the bill.
The trial
Ching made her argument the first day of the trial, telling the court how the men targeted, befriended, offered them alcohol, drugged them, and took their victims’ phones, where they used facial recognition to access their accounts and apps to transfer money into their accounts once they were passed out, and then left them.
Ching’s introduced the court to two victims who survived the crime ring’s scheme; Ramirez’s cab driver; a police officer who found Umberger’s body; and Clary, Umberger’s mother.
Ramirez’s family sat in the courtroom crying and passing tissue to each other as they listened, discovering what happened to him during his final hours, according to media reports. Security video showed Ramirez leaving The Ritz with a group of men who waited for him outside the bar. The camera footage shows Ramirez and the men, including Barroso and Hamilton, getting into the cab.
W42ST reported the cab driver, Wahl Muajak, testified picking up Ramirez and the other three men outside The Ritz on April 21, 2022. He told the courtroom the three other men tried to wake Ramirez up but were unsuccessful. Muajak dropped the men off at a bar. They told him to take Ramirez to Brooklyn. Instead, Muajak took Ramirez to a police station where they tried to save his life. He died soon after arriving at Beth Israel Hospital.
Like the others, Ramirez’s wallet and phone were missing. An estimated $3,200 was drained from Ramirez’s bank and credit card accounts, Gay City News reported. For three days after Ramirez’s death, Ching said, the suspects made multiple attempts to transfer $10,000 from his accounts and Hamilton allegedly bought sneakers, reported W42ST and ABC7NY.
A month later, Umberger’s body was discovered in his company’s Upper East Side townhouse where he was staying on business from Washington, DC. His credit cards and phone were stolen, Clary and the police officer who found Umberger’s body testified. Similarly, Umberger had $20,000 taken from his accounts after he had been already pronounced dead, Clary said.
Ching introduced other unidentified victims who took the stand. The court record was redacted, several media outlets reported. According to W42ST, they had similar stories in March and May of 2022. They don’t know how they got home. One victim testified he had bruises, and the other victim testified he felt sick and disoriented when waking up. Their phones and wallets were missing. Large sums of money were transferred out of their accounts, all unauthorized. Some of the transactions for one of the victims showed money allegedly transferred to an account with DeMaio’s name.
“These allegations paint a disturbing picture of a predatory scheme that targeted vulnerable individuals enjoying a night out in our city, including members of the LGBTQ+ community,” Bottcher said in his statement.
DeMaio’s lawyer, Vigliano told the jury, “The deaths are tragic, but you cannot ignore the possibility of other factors, including recreational drug use by the victims,” reported W24THST.
Vigilant families
Clary and Ramirez’s family vowed to be at the trial every single day, despite the challenges of listening to testimony describing what happened to Ramirez and Umberger.
“We’ll continue to be here,” Ramirez’s brother, Carlos, told CBS News outside the court. “My mom, my dad, as difficult as it is, we’re going to continue to be here.”
Walking out of the courtroom, Clary looked at the three men dead in the eyes her face was grim, reported the New York Times.
“I keep looking for that and I don’t see it,” she said stating she was looking for remorse on their faces. She added that for her “own sanity and health, I keep praying that God blesses them.”
Clary told the New York Times her son was “my greatest cheerleader, my greatest challenger.” He was someone who “always made everything better, brighter.”
Carrying on Umberger’s legacy, Clary founded the John Anthony Clary Umberger Foundation, Inc. in 2022.
According to the Manhattan DA’s office, the trial is expected to last two weeks, Monday through Thursday.
