The son of rapper Remy Ma was one of two Bronx men arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on Tuesday in the fatal shooting of an alleged drug lord from Astoria, southern Jamaica, in 2021.
Archive photo by Lloyd Mitchell
A grand jury in Queens has indicted the son of rapper Remy Ma and another man on charges of murder-for-hire in the 2021 killing of an alleged drug lord from Astoria, South Jamaica.
The Grammy nominee’s son, Jayson Scott, and his co-defendant Richard Swygert, both of the Bronx, were arraigned Tuesday in Queens Supreme Court on charges of shooting 47-year-old Darius Guillebeaux.
Scott, 23, of Tier Street in City Island, is believed to have been hired to kill Guillebeaux. He was charged on a seven-count indictment with first- and second-degree murder and related crimes. Sygert, 22, of Harrison Avenue in Morris Heights, was tried on the same charge.
According to charges and court testimony, Guillebeaux, who lived on 35th Avenue near the NYCHA Ravenswood Houses in Astoria, was gunned down on the evening of June 7, 2021, at the corner of 148th Street and Rockaway Boulevard near Baisley Pond Park in South Jamaica.
Police have video footage of the couple at the scene shortly before the shooting and a few moments afterward. They were captured on video an hour before the murder entering the nearby South Jamaica Houses. Scott and Swygert are then seen on video about an hour later walking to the intersection of 148th Street and Rockaway Boulevard, around the time of the shooting.
Scott and Swygert walked to the intersection, and Scott approached Guillebeaux and fired at him. Guillebeaux collapsed, and Scott stood over the victim and fired again. Swygert fired at least two shots at the victim.
In addition, Scott’s movements from the South Jamaica Houses to the vicinity of the crime scene and to Lincoln Avenue in Brooklyn were tracked using his cell phone during the times when he and Swygert were observed on video surveillance at those locations.
Police from the 113th Precinct responded to a 911 call that a man had been shot at the scene. They found Guillebeaux lying unconscious and unresponsive in the street with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest. Emergency medical services arrived at the scene and took Guillebeaux to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
“We are charging the defendants with cold-blooded killing on a public street,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. “Lethal gun violence has no place in our neighborhoods, and we will continue to work resolutely to remove illegal guns and those who use them from the streets of Queens.”
Scott faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the main charge, and Swygert faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Queens Supreme Court Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant remanded both Scott and Wygert in custody without bail and ordered them to appear in court on July 31.
Scott was arraigned on June 5 on an indictment in a separate case charging him with two counts of illegal possession of a firearm and other offenses. Scott was arrested in May after a search warrant for a home he and two others were staying at on 108th Drive turned up a loaded .40-caliber Glock semi-automatic pistol and ammunition. Swygert was charged with murder in a separate case in October 2021 for shooting a 20-year-old Rosedale man and wounding two other people outside a Kew Gardens hotel in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2021. He was also charged with murder in September 2021 for gunning down a 22-year-old man at a karaoke bar and wounding another person in August 2021.
Guillebeaux was no stranger to law enforcement, either. He was arrested 13 times and served three prison sentences, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Guillebeaux was known on the street as “D Block” and was among 54 people charged in November 2020 in a sweeping investigation dubbed “Operation Heat Wave,” according to the Attorney General’s Office.
According to Attorney General Letitia James, Guillebeaux was charged with aiding a drug ring in northern Jefferson County.
Scott was charged with first-degree and premeditated murder, two counts of illegal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment. Swygert was charged with first-degree and premeditated murder, two counts of illegal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment, according to the NYPD.
