United States federal authorities have indicted three illegal migrants from Jamaica with murder.
The Rochester District Attorney said Wednesday that the men were previously charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics.
The indictments accuse 45-year-old Richard Emanuel Anderson, 41-year-old Aston Johnson and 40-year-old Andrew Wright of being part of a marijuana trafficking ring along with the three victims.
Court documents said the defendants targeted and killed their compatriots inside an apartment in the town of Greece, a suburb of up-state New York.
Federal prosecutors said that the defendants travelled to Greece from after “substantial planning and premeditation” to kill Christopher Green, 40, Robert Moncriffe, 29, and Mark Wisdom, 38. Prosecutors said the defendants targeted the victims after they failed to return the full cash for marijuana dispatched through the mail from California for sale in New York.
Arizona police said they arrested Wright, Johnson and Anderson during a raid in Phoenix on March 18.
Prosecutors said all three could face the death penalty for the federal charges. Five other defendants were also charged with drug conspiracy.
