A Crips gang member who let his younger brother languish in jail on Rikers Island for a mistaken-identity murder he committed will spend 30 years in federal prison for that Brooklyn slaying.
Martial H. Amilcar’s sentencing in Brooklyn Federal Court Thursday came after he pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge earlier this year, admitting he fatally shot 15-year-old Samuel Joseph in 2019 as part of a beef between his gang, the Hyena Crips, and the rival Haitian Loc gang.
Except Amilcar, 28, was actually gunning for Samuel’s younger brother, and killed the teen by mistake as he stepped out of his apartment on Flatbush Ave. near 26th St. to get a bite to eat.
Martial H. Amilcar
U.S. Department of Justice Surveillance footage of Martial H. Amilcar captured Feb. 22, 2019.
“For years, the defendant publicly let his younger brother take the blame for the murder, while, privately, the defendant claimed credit to elevate his own status in the gang,” prosecutors wrote in a Nov. 6 letter to Judge Ann Donnelly, who handed down the sentence.
In a statement submitted to the court Wednesday, Samuel’s sister, Ketia Joseph, described the victim as a “magnetic” personality, adding he dreamed of playing basketball for the NBA.
“The day this young man took his life, the day this young man chose violence, the day this guy shot my brother seven times with no regrets, that’s the day our nightmare began, that’s the day our lives change(d) forever,” she wrote. “Samuel didn’t deserve to die the way he did.”
Initially, the NYPD wrongly arrested Amilcar’s younger brother, Martial C. Amilcar, 27, for the teen’s killing.
Martial C. Amilcar
Pool Martial C. Amilcar — the younger brother of Martial H. Amilcar — who was mistakenly arrested for the murder of Samuel Joseph. (Pool)
Martial C. spent nine months on Rikers Island and another two years in home detention with an ankle bracelet, according to a lawsuit he filed against the city.
The city settled with him for $220,000 in October 2023, but Martial C. didn’t get to enjoy that money: He landed behind bars again in January 2023, after the feds charged him with being a member of the same Crips gang as his brother, and with taking part in COVID unemployment scams and a botched conspiracy to kill a rival gang member in Coney Island. He took a plea deal in May and was sentenced to eight years on Wednesday.
About two hours before Samuel’s Feb. 22, 2019, shooting, Martial C. got into a fight with a member of the Haitian Loc gang, only to get stabbed in the leg by his rival.
His older brother, Martial H., started making phone calls and planning retaliation, and, along with an accomplice, found the stabber’s apartment building on Flatbush Ave. near 26th St., then spoke briefly with their target’s younger sister outside, according to the feds.
The sister stepped back into the building, and Samuel headed down a stairwell, about to leave to get a bite to eat. The elder Amilcar mistook Samuel for the target of his vengeance, and fired three times, hitting Samuel in the head.
“In seeking to exact retribution and promote gang violence, Amilcar ended the life of an innocent child,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said Thursday. “A lengthy prison sentence cannot undo the loss this family and this community has suffered but it delivers a powerful message that senseless violence carries serious consequences.”
As part of his plea deal, Martial H. also admitted he and two other Hyena Crips members tried to rob a pharmacy on Ave. H in Midwood on June 9, 2020. He and his accomplices ordered workers, employees and a young child to the back of the store, where he placed his hand around one victim’s throat and showed that victim a firearm before fleeing empty-handed.
