John Umberger and Julio Ramirez never met. They probably never crossed paths, each living their life out and proud unaware of the other’s existence. Tragically, the two young gay men are now linked together forever in death.
Both men died this past Spring after leaving a gay bar in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Now the mother of Umberger has broken her silence railing against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg demanding answers and justice for her son, and others believed to have been drugged and robbed by the same group that murdered Umberger and Ramirez.
Earlier this year Instinct magazine reported on the curious case of Ramirez asking, why did this man leave an NYC hotspot and never make it home? On April 21st, he left the popular bar The Ritz at approximately 3:17 am getting into a cab with three other men. But At 4:10 am Ramirez was alone in the back seat and unresponsive. An EMS team tried unsuccessfully to revive him but at 4:49 pm he was pronounced dead.
Pleading with @ManhattanDA to make a statement on the murders of two Gay men in Hell’s Kitchen, John Umberger and Julio Ramirez. @mirandadevine @w42st @ryanmurphyprod #LGBTQIA @ritznewyork
— Patrick J. Hamilton (@ask_patrick) November 10, 2022
Related: Calls for FBI involvement fly after gay teen is found dead in the woods
The death of John Umberger a few weeks later under almost exactly the same circumstances has many asking how did this happen again. And why hasn’t the LGBTQ community gay been warned? Why haven’t we been told that there have been numerous druggings and robbing of gay men in queer bars? And most importantly people are echoing the title of a recent article in the Advocate,
“IS A GANG IN NEW YORK MURDERING GAY MEN?”
According to the New York Post, the striking similarities in these two cases include the facts that, “their phones were missing when their bodies were found, and their bank accounts had been emptied of tens of thousands of dollars. Each victim was last seen with three unidentified men in the hours before they died.” The two incidents occurred within five weeks of the other and within a two-block radius.
“Political consultant John Umberger was found robbed and murdered after a night out while visiting Manhattan on a work trip in May.”
Tagging this up – I hope more ppl become aware of these murders. Just horrifying. #gay #nyc #LGBTQIA #gaypride #StaySafe— Sonia Hendrix (@SoniaHendrix) November 7, 2022
Linda Clary, the mother of Umberger, is now a woman and mother scorned as she seeks justice for her son. Her rage is aimed squarely at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg who she says is “refusing to prosecute my son’s killers.” Clary spoke to the NY Post explaining,
“word needs to get out, especially in the gay community, that they are targeting gay men. … This same group of killers have drugged, robbed and murdered countless young gay men in New York.”
NYC,,DA BRAGG SILENT ON GAY MURDERS…LAWLESS. NYC pic.twitter.com/DPSPIiQu9b
— FOOD AND GASOLINE PRICES RISING ALOT (@HoganMikee) November 7, 2022
DC resident Umberger, 33, was visiting NYC and spent Saturday night May 28th dancing at The Q leaving the club at 3:15 am and getting into a car with three unidentified men. (Same as Ramirez) He was found dead four days later in a townhouse on East 61st. Clary mentioned that she thinks texts thought sent by her son between 5:19 am and 5:37 am the night of the 28th are now believed to be answered by the people responsible for his death.
The preliminary toxicology reports say that BOTH men died of drug overdoses. Clary believes the people responsible for her son’s death have robbed at least a dozen other gay men and worries that more will die. “We need to stop this,” she stated at the end of the interview.
A spokesperson for the NYPD told the NY Post, “The investigations remain ongoing, [and] the medical examiner will determine the causes of death.”
Please stay safe out there folks. And please, look out for your friends, for other queers in the bars that you are at. If you see something that looks off; if you have a gut feeling that something seems amiss, say something, speak up. It could save someone’s life.
When Alvin Bragg says “I’m off to keep Manhattan safe” what he means is 30% less safe than before he started.
If he wasn’t already a laughing stock to the whole country, that percentage would be even higher, as he promised to only use incarceration as a last resort.
— Jason Curtis Anderson (@JCAndersonNYC) November 10, 2022
{**This post is solely the opinion of this contributing writer and may not reflect the opinion of other writers, staff, or owners of Instinct Magazine.”}
Sources: NY Post, The Advocate
There are two separate investigations, one for murder and one for robbery. They want to charge them with the murders.
So very sad. RIP to these gay guys, I hope justice is served.
Three straight guys flirting with gay men in a gay bar would stick out like sore thumbs. On top of that, they used the victims credit cards to shop at Bloomingdales and get spa treatments. Just saying, I think this “gang” is a group of gay guys. They have these guys on surveillance cams, my best guess is that they are looking to charge them with murder and not robbery. Without witnesses the predators will just say everyone took the drugs themselves and the drug crowd in the bars will likely cover for them. Nothing new here, must more gay men drugging other gay men to take advantage. The difference is that the drugs they use today are a lot deadlier.