The trial of three men who prosecutors say facilitated a drugging and robbery scheme that terrorized New York City’s gay bars and led to two deaths began Wednesday in a downtown Manhattan courtroom.

Three men have been accused of murder as part of a plot to drug and rob revelers in Midtown in 2022. Two of their targets ended up dead.

Three men accused of drugging and robbing gay men in Manhattan are on trial. Prosecutors say Jayqwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert DeMaio orchestrated a scheme outside clubs. Assistant District Attorney Emily Ching said,

The defendants allegedly identified victims who were drunk and then offered them tainted narcotics or marijuana at a bar.

The trial against three men accused of killing two people while drugging and robbing victims at gay nightclubs in New York City will begin on Wednesday. Opening arguments will lay out the case against Jayqwan Hamilton,