Two East Orange Men Take 20-Year Pleas in Bergenfield Shooting and Drug Ripoff
By Mary K. Miraglia
HACKENSACK, N.J. (March 24, 2017) — Two men whose planned robbery of drug dealers in Bergenfield turned into shootings pleaded guilty today to attempted murder in return for sentencing recommendations of 20 years in New Jersey State Prison.
Zakeer Roberts and Hasan “Smoke” Sly, both 28 and from East Orange, pleaded guilty today before Judge James X. Sattely to two counts of attempted murder.
Sly also pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to distribute.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Thomas Kearney agreed to sentences of 20 years each on the attempted murders, and 10 for Sly’s drug charge. All the sentences are concurrent, so there will be a “global” penalty of 20 years maximum for each, subject to the state No Early Release Act.
Under NERA both men will serve 17 years before parole eligibility, or 85% of their sentences. Kearney said if convicted at trial, Roberts could have faced 40 years imprisonment and Sly, 50 years.
Roberts appeared first, testifying before the judge that he and Sly went to 85 Westside Ave. in Bergenfield to rob Gilbert Mercado and John Newcomb. When the men resisted, Roberts and Sly shot them.
Sly, appearing immediately after Roberts, testified to essentially the same facts. However, he also exonerated another co-defendant, James Atwoods. Atwoods had been indicted with Sly only on three drug counts. But Sly told Sattely that Atwoods didn’t know anything about the drugs he was carrying when they were both arrested Jan. 8, 2014.
Sattely dismissed the charges against Atwoods, based on Sly’s testimony. Remaining counts of the 22-count indictment, which included eight first degree offenses, were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Roberts is represented by defense attorney Michael Robbins of West Orange, and Sly’s lawyer is Raymond Beam Jr. of Bloomfield.
The conspiracy began when an Englewood man named Christian Nova deflected Roberts and Sly from collecting money he owed them for drugs by fingering Mercado and Newcomb. He told Sly and Roberts the men would have both money and drugs at the Bergenfield address, and it would be easy to rob them.
But when the two went into the house, a known drug haven, on Aug. 1, 2013 the two were not such willing victims. They refused to turn over the drugs and money. Roberts and Sly shot them. Both were wounded, but have recovered from their injuries.
A fourth defendant, Mario Ferreira of Succasunna, 26, pleaded guilty to weapons offenses for supplying the gun. Nova, 24, of Liberty Road in Englewood, has also pleaded guilty.
The pleas of Roberts and Sly conclude the case, now three and a half years old. Roberts’ sentence is also concurrent to a term he is already serving in state prison for a weapons offense. Both men will be sentenced May 19.
In addition to NERA, they are held to a Graves Act standard of a minimum of five years in prison for crimes with a gun. However, as Kearney pointed out, with NERA in play the Graves Act stipulation is superseded and has no practical impact, although the legal consequence could come into play if either is ever arrested with a weapon again.
