Two Members of “Black Rain” Drug Crew Indicted in Queens Cold Case Murders

An indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Darin Hamilton, also known as “Satch,” and Jerome Jones, also known as “Sha,” for their participation in the 1992 murders of Anthony Lloyd and Robert Arroyo.  Specifically, Hamilton is charged with the intentional murder of Anthony Lloyd while engaged in narcotics trafficking, and both defendants are charged with the murder of Robert Arroyo while engaged in narcotics trafficking, as well as conspiracy to do the same.  Hamilton was arrested this morning and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy.  Jones is in federal custody and will be arraigned at a later date.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and James P. O’Neill, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the arrests.

As detailed in the indictment and the government’s detention memorandum, Hamilton and Jones were members of a Queens-based crew that called itself “Black Rain,” and sold narcotics at several locations on Rockaway Boulevard in the early 1990s.  Specifically, the crew sold heroin under the brand name “Black Rain,” cocaine under the brand name “White Lightning” and crack cocaine under the brand name “Thunder.”  The gang committed acts of violence, including murder, to protect its profitable operation.

Both murders took place in the vicinity of 128th Street and Rockaway Boulevard in South Ozone Park, where Hamilton and Jones managed a drug spot.  As alleged, in June 1992, Hamilton shot and killed Anthony Lloyd, whom he believed had stolen from Black Rain.   

Two months later, in August 1992, Hamilton and Jones recruited and paid two members of Black Rain to murder Robert Arroyo, whom they believed was a police informant.  In their first attempt, the recruits mistakenly shot another man they incorrectly believed to be Arroyo.  The victim survived his wounds.  On September 8, 1992, at Hamilton and Jones’s direction, the two recruits located Arroyo on a crowded street and shot him multiple times, killing him. 

 “As today’s charges make clear, we will not let the passage of time deter us from bringing murderers to justice.  It is our hope that this prosecution will bring some measure of consolation to the families of the victims,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  Mr. Donoghue praised the extraordinary investigative efforts of the FBI and NYPD. 

“Investigations grow cold with the passage of time, but investigators don’t stop searching for evidence they need to bring the suspects involved to justice,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney.  “Anthony Lloyd and Robert Arroyo were murdered nearly three decades ago, and their killers may have believed they were in the clear.  However, the FBI New York Metro Safe Streets Task Force and our partners at the NYPD want this case to serve as a warning for those who believe they can let their guard down, we are still on the case and we won’t give up.”

“Today’s charges prove that the best investigators in the world do not ever forget victims, and they do not ever forget the justice that is owed to those victims’ families,” stated NYPD Commissioner O’Neill.  “All New Yorkers deserve to be safe, and to feel safe. The NYPD and our colleagues at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District and the FBI will stop at nothing until every street, in every neighborhood of New York City, is as safe as our safest streets are today.”

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section.  Assistant United States Attorneys Tanya Hajjar, Moira Kim Penza and Penelope J. Brady are in charge of the prosecution. 

The Defendants:

JEROME JONES (also known as “Sha”)
Age: 54
West Virginia

DARIN HAMILTON (also known as “Satch”)
Age: 60
South Ozone Park, Queens

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 19-CR-54 (NGG)