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Man, 31, pleads guilty to 1999 slay of rapper

By Betsy Scheinbart

An Ozone Park man pleaded guilty Monday to murdering rap star and Rochdale Village native Freaky Tah of the Lost Boyz in 1999, the Queens district attorney said.

Kelvin Jones, 31, of 97-17 134th St. in Ozone Park, near Richmond Hill, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of the rapper, whose given name was Raymond Rogers, District Attorney Richard Brown said.

“This was a senseless killing of a young man who had apparently turned his life around and had become not only an accomplished entertainer but someone who was looked up to by the young people of southeast Queens,” Brown said.

The Lost Boyz, made up of Rogers’ brother and two cousins, reached success in 1996 with a No. 1 gold-selling debut album, “Legal Drug Money.”

The group was known for giving back to the community, hosting barbecues for kids at Rochdale Village Park and starting up a barbershop in an abandoned store in southeast Queens.

Supreme Court Justice Jaime Rios indicated he will sentence the defendant to 15 years to life in prison on Sept. 13.

On the morning of March 28, 1999, Jones shot the rapper whom he mistakenly believed was the relative of a man who shot and killed Jones’ brother, Brown said.

Jones walked up to Rogers and shot him in the back of the head in front of the Sheraton Hotel near John F. Kennedy International Airport, Brown said. Jones then fired several rounds and jumped back into the minivan in which he and three other men had arrived.

According to the original police report, Rogers was shot dead by a man wearing a ski mask as he left the hotel near his South Jamaica home.

Two of the other men in the minivan, Rasheem Fletcher, 24, and Ryan Frith, 26, both from South Ozone Park, were arrested separately and charged in the incident, the DA’s office said.

Fletcher pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is serving a seven-year sentence, while Frith pleaded guilty to criminal facilitation and will be sentenced July 30 to up to 15 years in prison, the DA’s office said.

Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 138.