FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Five Individuals from Queens Indicted for Conspiracy and
Murder of Brooklyn Laundromat Owner
Victim’s Cousin Allegedly Recruited Friend, Friend’s Stepson and Associates to
Murder and Rob Victim; Four Assailants Ambushed Victim and Shot Him to Death
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that five individuals from Far Rockaway, Queens have been indicted for murder, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery, and other charges in connection with the caught-on-camera murder of a laundromat owner in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. It is alleged that the victim’s cousin, who had an ongoing dispute with the victim, plotted the assassination with a friend, who recruited his teenage stepson and two of the stepson’s friends to commit the deadly assault.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This was a shocking execution of a local businessman, friend, brother, and beloved father, which is all the more tragic as it was allegedly planned by his own cousin. A thorough investigation by the NYPD and my office unraveled the conspiracy and solved this horrific crime. We will now seek to hold all the defendants accountable.”
The District Attorney identified the defendants as Ronnie Butler, 46; Luis Mercado, 48; Zecharyah Slay 16; Shaleek Riddick, 19; and Diante Stinson, 20, all from Far Rockaway, Queens. Butler was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on an indictment in which the defendants are variously charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, endangering the welfare of a child, second-degree conspiracy and fourth-degree conspiracy. Riddick and Stinson were arraigned on March 27, 2024. The defendants were ordered held without bail and to return to court on May 9, 2024.
Slay, who faces a top charge of second-degree murder, was arraigned before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Craig Walker on March 13, 2024. He was held without bail and ordered to return to court on May 10, 2024. Mercado will be arraigned on April 4, 2024.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on December 1, 2023, just before 6 p.m., Money Perkins, 37, was ambushed by four assailants, all armed with handguns, inside his laundromat, Money P. Clean, located on Clarendon Road in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. A surveillance video from inside the laundromat shows the victim struggling with one of the gunmen, all wearing heavy coats, as he is shot multiple times. One individual, allegedly Butler, is then seen slamming the victim’s head on the floor multiple times and snatching a chain, valued at over $30,000, from his neck.
The investigation relied on digital communications between the defendant as well as a video from Mercado’s residence. It revealed that Butler was Perkins’ cousin and the two had a long-running dispute dating back to when the victim opened his laundromat in 2022. In November 2023, Butler allegedly asked his friend Mercado to help him kill the victim. Mercado allegedly recruited his stepson, who brought along Riddick and Stinson, to help in committing the crime. The three were offered money for their participation, according to the evidence.
Butler, Slay, Riddick and Stinson, all armed with guns, allegedly entered the laundromat, the investigation found. At least three of them fired, striking the victim 13 times in the head, torso and leg. The evidence indicates that Mercado subsequently sold the gold chain.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Matthew Perry, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Leila Rosini, Bureau Chief.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.