By Rich Bockmann
As the three-year anniversary of her brother’s unsolved murder approaches, Dionne Gordon continues her heartfelt plea asking anyone with information to step forward and help find those responsible for the murder of the man who friends and family affectionately knew as Big Mo.
“We’re coming up on the third year anniversary of the death of Maurice,” said Dionne, who carries a stack of reward posters in her car. “We haven’t caught the murderers and the detectives stated to always keep it out there, so that there are eyes out there watching.”
On June 21, 2010, 33-year-old Maurice Gordon was gunned down outside his parents’ home in South Jamaica around 4 a.m.
Maurice, who lived in Freeport, L.I., with his wife and daughter, had gone out dancing earlier in the night with his cousin at the Moments night club in Elmont, L.I.
“Maurice just loved to dance. He was always the entertainer and performer at the family affairs. That’s what anyone will tell you,” Gordon recalled about her brother, whose 6-foot-3, 250-pound stature was outsized only by his warm personality. “That big guy just had a big smile and a big heart.”
While at the club, several men started harassing Maurice’s female cousin, and police initially thought this may have led to his murder, but Dionne said the cold case detectives working on the murder have now ruled out the Elmont affiliation.
Maurice and his cousin left the club and drove toward his parents’ home, where he often stayed in order to be close to John F. Kennedy International Airport, where he worked as a U.S. Customs and Border protection officer.
Soon after they arrived at the home on 118th Avenue, three men pulled up in a black SUV and opened fire with an automatic weapon.
Dionne said police found 38 casings on the ground, but it was a single bullet that fatally struck her brother.
Police now believe Maurice may have been the victim of a gang initiation, she said.
Maurice’s father worked in law enforcement in his home country of Jamaica, and he had bragged to friends and neighbors about how proud he was that his son was following in his footsteps.
On the day of Maurice’s wake, his father died of a heart attack, and Dionne delivered the eulogy her father had prepared.
“To know Maurice was to love Maurice,” she quoted her father’s words.
Dionne said that after the murder she would make daily visits to the 113th Precinct to speak with detectives about the case, and has since become frustrated with the lack of progress.
She still picks up posters advertising the $22,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of his killer or killers, takes them to Kinkos where she gets them laminated and sticks them up throughout the community.
She has even become an advocate for firearm reforms, meeting with first lady Michelle Obama and working with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign against illegal guns.
Dionne, who works as a passenger service representative at JFK, said she still feels Maurice’s absence every day.
“It hurts. It’s hard when I come into work and see customs agents and wish that could be my brother,” she said. “Words can’t express …. But what do I do? Do I lie down and just pray alone that something will give?”
“This has put me on a journey I didn’t plan for,” she added. “It’s an unjust, cruel world, but I’m here for the long haul.”
Anyone with information may call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS and refer to poster number Q-619. Callers do not have to give their name and the reward will be paid by code number. Tipsters can also log on to crimestoppers.com or text their tips to 274637(CRIMES) and then enter TIP577.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
