A Queens grand jury indicted the son of rapper Remy Ma and another man for a 2021 murder-for-hire of a reputed Astoria drug kingpin in South Jamaica.
The Grammy nominee’s son Jayson Scott and his co-defendant Richard Swygert, both from the Bronx, were arraigned on Tuesday in Queens Supreme Court for allegedly gunning down 47-year-old Darius Guillebeaux.
Scott, 23, of Tier Street on City Island, is alleged to have been hired to kill Guillebeaux and was arraigned on a seven-count indictment charging him with murder in the first and second degree and related crimes. Sygert, 22, of Harrison Avenue in Morris Heights, was arraigned on the same indictment.
According to the charges and statements made in court, on the evening of June 7, 2021, Guillebeaux, who lived on 35th Avenue near the NYCHA Ravenswood Houses in Astoria, was gunned down on the corner of 148th Street and Rockaway Boulevard near Baisley Pond Park in South Jamaica.
The police have video footage of the pair at the location just before the shooting and moments later. They were caught on video an hour before the killing entering the nearby South Jamaica Houses. Scott and Swygert can then be seen on video about an hour later, walking to the intersection of 148th Street and Rockaway Boulevard around the time of the shooting.
Scott and Swygert walked toward the intersection, and Scott stepped near Guillebeaux and fired a gun at him. Guillebeaux collapsed and Scott stood over the victim and fired again. Swygert fired at least two shots at the victim.
In addition, Scott’s cell phone tracked his movements from the South Jamaica Houses to the vicinity of the shooting location, to Lincoln Avenue in Brooklyn at the times that he and Swygert were observed at those locations on video surveillance.
Police from the 113th Precinct responded to a 911 call of a man shot at the location, and they found Guillebeaux lying on the roadway, unconscious and unresponsive, with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest. EMS responded to the crime scene and rushed Guillebeaux to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
“We are charging the defendants with a cold-blooded killing on a public street,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “Deadly gun violence has no place in our neighborhoods, and we will remain steadfast in getting illegal guns and those who use them off the streets of Queens.”
Scott faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the top count and Swygert faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant remanded both Scott and Wygert into custody without bail and ordered them to return to court on July 31.
Scott was arraigned on June 5 on an indictment in a separate case charging him with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and other crimes. Scott was arrested in May after a search warrant of a home he and two others were in on 108th Drive uncovered a loaded .40-caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun and ammunition. Swygert was indicted in a separate case in October 2021 on charges of murder in the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old Rosedale man and injuring two others outside a Kew Gardens hotel in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, 2021. He was also indicted in September 2021 on murder charges for gunning down a 22-year-old man in a karaoke bar in August 2021 and wounding another person.
Guillebeaux was also no stranger to law enforcement, having been arrested 13 times and serving three jail terms, according to the state Attorney General’s office. Guillebeaux was known as “D Block” on the streets, and he was among 54 people who were indicted in a sweeping investigation dubbed “Operation Heat Wave” in November 2020, according to the AG’s office.
Guillebeaux was charged with supplying a drug ring in upstate Jefferson County, according to Attorney General Letitia James.
Scott was charged with murder in the first and second degrees, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment. Swygert was charged with murder in the first degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment, according to the NYPD.
