The pair is accused of insuring their Guyanese…
By Alex Davidson
A prosecutor in the federal case against two Guyanese immigrants from Ozone Park accused of murder said Friday the Justice Department had approved a request to seek the death penalty for the two defendants.
The pair is accused of insuring their Guyanese friends and family, listing themselves or their accomplices as beneficiaries, and then murdering the insured to collect benefits, authorities said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Dayton in the Eastern District in Brooklyn said prosecutors will submit a superseding indictment Sept. 5 to the original filed last year that could mean a death sentence for Richard James, 42, and Ronald Mallay, 57.
Both men are charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Basdeo Somaipersaud, found dead in Queens’ Smokey Park at 95th Avenue and 125th Street in January 1998, and Hardeo (Rawan) Sewanna, Mallay’s nephew, in Guyana in June 1999.
The superseding indictment is “based on the crimes they committed,” said Dayton, who replaced U.S. Attorney John Curran in February. “We take every case very seriously.”
James, who worked for the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America from August 2000 until August 2002 and previously for MetLife, had an office in Ozone Park on Liberty Avenue. He and Mallay were charged in September.
James’ girlfriend, Malini Ramnarine, was charged with insurance fraud. Ramnarine, who has three children with James, was later released on bail, according to a published report.
Curran had revealed details of the alleged plot during a Brooklyn federal court bail hearing Sept. 11 for Mallay in which investigators who had searched the apartment of Mallay’s wife, Lazina, had found suspicious insurance policies with links to the defendants, Curran said.
According to the original criminal complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court, the scheme was extensive and determined that “others, not yet identified, committed and participated in the charged murders.”
It went on to say “in this scheme the participants falsely insured the lives of several Guyanese individuals, many of whom were unemployed men with substance-abuse problems, and murder these individuals to collect the … insurance proceeds.”
Investigators were reviewing what were termed 21 “unusual” policies that James issued in a short time while writing policies for MetLife, a MetLife spokeswoman said following the pair’s indictments.
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
