LAST DEFENDANT FOUND GUILTY IN 1993 PIONEER SUPERMARKET MURDER CASE IN RIDGEWOOD

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that the fourth man in a murder case dating back to 1993 has been found guilty. The murder occurred during a robbery at the Pioneer Supermarket at 333 Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Jose Amador, 22, of 1422 Greene Avenue, Brooklyn. The defendant was 17 at the time of the incident. He was convicted after a three week jury trial before Supreme Court Justice Daniel Lewis. The jury reached its verdict after deliberating just two hours. The defendant was found guilty of murder in the second degree, (depraved indifference); two counts of murder in the second degree committed during a burglary; two counts of robbery in the first degree; one count of robbery in the second degree; four counts of burglary in the second degree; one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree; one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and two counts of unlawful imprisonment. He could face 32 years to life in prison when Justice Lewis imposes sentence on October 15.

District Attorney Brown stated, "this was a particularly brutal crime. The motive for the robbery was to have extra money ten days before Christmas to go on a shopping spree. Four employees had their lives threatened by the defendants, with one victim losing his life simply because he did not follow the defendants' instructions quickly enough. The investigation took several years to complete because it was difficult to track the defendants down but the NYC Police Department and our office were determined that all four individuals would be brought to justice for their misdeeds."

According to trial testimony, on December 15, 1993, the four defendants plotted to rob the Pioneer Supermarket located at 333 Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood. They had cased the store that day and knew that it did not have a surveillance camera. Wearing ski masks, they went to the back of the store at approximately 8:25 P.M. where they found the four employees having a barbeque. Two of the workers were hog-tied with duct tape and blindfolded. The victim of the murder was shot with a fully automatic Uzi machine gun when he did not get down on his knees to the floor quickly enough. The bullet penetrated the back of his skull exiting through his brain and onto the floor. The fourth employee was forced at gunpoint to go to the front of the store and turn over the money to the robbers. They took more than $1,000 in coins, $500 in one dollar bills and other currency totaling approximately $4,000 of which nearly $1,361 was recovered. Warning the fourth victim not to take any action, they fled the scene. As they were running away from the supermarket, an unmarked police car was cruising the area and the officers saw them escaping. One of the defendants, Louis Perez, ran in front of the car, causing the police to brake just before hitting him. The police officers identified themselves and Perez took out the machine gun, attempting to shoot at the officers but the gun jammed. The police pursued him on foot and he was arrested. He gave police the identities of two of the other defendants but did not know Mr. Amador's name. He went to jury trial and is currently serving a 30 year sentence. The second defendant, Edgar Perez was picked up the following day and had some of the stolen money in his possession. He pled guilty and is currently serving a 12½ to 25 year sentence for his crimes. The third defendant, Thomas Malia was apprehended on February 18, 1994 for another crime and was charged with the robbery and murder from 1993. He pled guilty and is serving a 9 to 18 year sentence in prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Peter D. Walcott of the District Attorney's Homicide Trials Bureau, under the overall supervision of Bureau Chief Daniel A. Saunders and Deputy Bureau Chief Jack Warsawsky.