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The Ultimate Sacrifice

At around 8:00 PM on Monday, March 10, 2003, during a gun buy-and-bust operation at St. Pauls Avenue and Hannah Street in the Tompkinsville section of Staten Island, Detectives James Nemorin and Rodney Jay Andrews, both undercovers with the elite Firearms Investigation Unit, were shot and killed as they rode in their leased black Nissan Maxima with two young thugs 17-year old Jessie Jacobus and 20-year old Ronell Wilson who were associates of a 19-year old illegal gun dealer named Omar Green.

The detectives were on their way to purchase a Tech-9 submachine gun from Green, who had previously sold firearms to members of the unit. Whether the punks in the car suspected the undercovers were cops, or whether they decided to rob the detectives of their $1,200 in buy money (but botched the job) still remains unclear; but in an instant, they executed both detectives at close range, dragged them out of the car and stole the Nissan.

Nemorin and Andrews apparently never had a chance to respond: they were found with their guns and their buy money intact.

The detectives back-up team, who lost contact with the undercovers briefly because of the technical limitations of their Kel monitoring devices, found the bodies and rushed the detectives to St. Vincents hospital, where they were pronounced dead. The Mayor declared the shootings an act of barbarism.

An immediate and widespread manhunt was launched for all six suspects in the double homicide. Within 48 hours, the principal players were in custody: Triggerman Wilson was arrested when trying to take a livery cab from Red Hook to Staten Island; and gun dealer Green was disguised in drag on the Staten Island Ferry when a woman passenger told cops, Either thats a guy or the ugliest woman I ever saw.

Both Nemorin and Andrews were formidably sized men: large in physical stature and large and generous of heart.

Det. Andrews, who was raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and served as a Navy Seal before joining the force, was 34, divorced, with two sons, ages 11 and 12. His former wife, Maryann, also a police officer in the NYPD, says the detective was totally devoted to his children.

Det. Nemorin was 36. He was born and raised with seven siblings in Haiti and moved to Brooklyn at the age of 21. His immediate goal was to join the police force and he first served in the Citys volunteer Auxiliary. Nemorin earned a degree in criminal justice from John Jay College in 1999. He and his widow, Rose-Andre, and three children (ages five, seven, and 20 months) had recently moved to a new home in the suburbs.

Known for being a sharp dresser, Nemorins friends called him the Haitian Sensation. He was an avid soccer enthusiast and played for the PBAs team and a local Haitian soccer club called the New York Soccer All-Stars. A member of the Haitian American Law Enforcement Fraternal Organization, hes believed to be the first NYPD officer killed in the line of duty to hail from that Caribbean island.

Both Nemorin and Andrews had gone to the Police Academy together, were both seven-year veterans of the force, and were both former narcotics officers.

Within days of their murders, three of the perpetrators Omar Green, Jessie Jacobus, and 16-year old Mitchell Diaz all pled guilty to second-degree murder charges. Green set up the gun deal; Diaz supplied the murder weapon (a 44-caliber revolver found in an apartment hallway near the scene of the crime); and Jacobus claims he sat in the back seat of the car next to shooter Wilson.

On May 8, 21-year old Paris Bullock, who hid the gun used in the shooting, was also indicted in the case, but pled not guilty. A sixth suspect was also nabbed: 19-year old Michael Whitten, who was involved in an earlier gun sale.

Others were also arraigned in the case, including Diaz mother and brother, the two women, Chikenya Collier and Danae Pope, who shielded Wilson and Green in the hours after the murders.

Thousands of mourners attended each of the heroes full-Inspectors funerals. Det. Nemorin was buried on Saturday, March 15th after a service at Our Lady of Refuge Church in Flatbush, where mass was recited in English, French, and Creole. Fellow officers came from across the U.S. to pay their respects to this gentle giant of a man.

Det. Andrews was buried on Tuesday, March 18th after a service at Elim International Fellowship Church in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. At the funeral, Commissioner Kelly, who called Andrews a fearless police officer who loved his job and was passionately devoted to his work, cited Andrews outstanding record of 40 gun buys in less than five months with the Firearms Unit. On the same day as the funeral, triggerman Ronell Wilson was indicted on first-degree murder charges.

On April 3rd, Wilson was charged with multiple counts of first and second-degree murder, attempted robbery and other crimes, and could face the death penalty. He pled not guilty.

The shootings prompted a number of controversial issues to be brought to the forefront, including: Staten Island Judge Leonard Rienzis secret closed-door arraignment of three of the suspects (the Judge cited the defendants safety concerns); the faultiness of the Kel monitoring devices; the Southern pedigrees of a large number of guns that are used in such criminal endeavors; and the paltry penalties meted out to those who traffic in illegal firearms.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly promoted posthumously both Nemorin and Andrews to detective first grade.

To assist in the welfare of the five children of the two detectives, the DEA has established The March 10th Undercover Fund, under the auspices of the DEAs Widows and Childrens Fund. The Fund will help meet the educational and other needs of the children as they come of age. Donations can be made by check or money order made payable to the DEA Widows and Childrens Fund and sent to the attention of the March 10th Undercover Fund, DEA, 26 Thomas Street, New York, NY 10007, Attn: Vic Cipullo, Treasurer.