Bronx Civil Court is not the ideal venue for Margarita Rosario to seek justice for her son, Anthony Rosario, and nephew, Hilton Vega. Civil court won’t send the killers to jail and it certainly will not return her family to her. Pero when a grand jury declines to indict the and federal investigations reportedly reviewing the case seemingly lead nowhere, you take what you can to speak the truth.

14 years ago (January 12, 1995), the lives of the 18 and 21 year old Puerto Rican young men, were violently taken from them thanks to Detectives Patrick Brosnan and James Crowe of the 46th precinct.

The details of the case are gruesome and show the levels of depravity that racist police violence can reach. Brosnan and Crowe, who at one points in their careers were bodyguards to once NYC Mayor and presidential wannabe Rudolph Giuliani, shot Rosario and Vega execution style. Independent pathologists and an investigation by the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) showed that all the bullets were fired from behind the victims; that both Rosario and Vega had bullets entry wounds under their arms, indicating that their hands were raised; and that they had sustained wounds to the backs of their heads, torso and back. Rosario was shot 14 times and Vega was shot 8 times.

The CCRB found that the detectives had used excessive force, but when its report was sent to the police commissioner, he ignored the CCRB’s substantiation of the charges. This undermined the CCRB by exposing its lack of power. Detective Brosnan was allowed to retire – without facing departmental charges – with benefits, including a disability pension after he claimed hearing damage suffered during the shooting of the young men.

The Rosario-Vega case happened under Giuliani time, which for many families of color in NYC meant mourning time as more and more of their young people were killed. Anibal Carasquillo, Yong Xin Huang, Anthony Baez, Frankie Arzuaga, Aswan Watson and on and on. Pero out of that mourning came organizing and community building led by the mothers of those who were killed.

Now Anthony Rosario’s mother needs support. She is reliving the pain of losing her son and nephew and hearing the lies put forth by the police.

Those interested in court support please contact justicecommittee@ gmail.com and/or call 212-614-5343

More information on the case is available at: Reality Films-Justifiable Homicide and the Justice Committee .