Street people are so numerous—addicts and alcoholics sprawled across sidewalks, schizophrenics blocking doorways—that most city dwellers ignore them.
But not former MetLife agent Richard James. The Queens, N.Y. man not only saw them. He saw them as an opportunity to make big bucks.
James and his crony Ronald Mallay took out life-insurance policies on street people and had at least four killed for more than $1 million in payouts. James and Mallay received life without parole but escaped the federal death penalty only because the jury wasn’t unanimous.
The pair targeted fellow Guyanese immigrants in Queens and in their native Guyana. Mallay chose the victims and James wrote the life policies, naming themselves, family members and friends as beneficiaries.
Killed by lethal doses
"My targets, my targets are so easy,” James told a hit man turned informant on a tape played during the trial. “They sleep in the street, right on the pavement."
One murder victim was Basdeo Somaipersaud, found dead in a Queens park from lethal doses of an anti-psychotic drug called chlorpromazine. Some $84,000 in insurance money was collected from his death and secretly channeled back to James.
Mallay’s own nephew was another victim. Hardeo Sewnanan died in Guyana after drinking rum laced with ammonia during a dinner with Mallay at a restaurant. His body was burned "from the inside out" said federal prosecutor Robert Capers. Sewanan’s death was worth another $300,000 in life insurance.
The other two victims were Vern “Dilly” Peter and Alfred Gobin.
Insurer saw death pattern
James’ scheme surfaced when MetLife noticed that 21 death claims had been filed on policies he had written within a few years—roughly 318 percent higher than normal. Many deaths also were marked by violence or unusual circumstances. The insurance company fired James in July 2000 and notified authorities, who put him under surveillance.
An informant testified about a recorded conversation in which James offered him $25,000 to kill John Narinesingh, a Harlem street man.
"He's a natural bum," James said. "So he ain't got nobody. Nothing to worry about. Easy picking."
James was busted before he could kill Narinesingh, on whom James had written a $250,000 policy. Narinesingh testified that he had met James only once in passing before the insurance agent and another man stopped by twice to see him in Harlem.
James fought hard at his trial. Somaipersaud had a host of medical problems and was “ready to go,” James’ attorney said. And only the "most rudimentary medical examinations" were conducted on Sewanan, and prosecutors couldn’t prove the cause of death was other than alcoholism.
But James’ victims had the final say from the grave, because James was convicted.
“Although they were drunks, they were flesh and blood," prosecutor Robert Capers told jurors. "Not insurance checks.”
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