2023 DEPOSITION IN FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT WARNED STATE OFFICIALS OF PRISON GUARD ‘BEAT-UP SQUAD’ THAT KILLED BROOKS

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Dec. 26, 2024

A lethal "beat-up squad" of out-of-control correction officers killed Robert Brooks in an upstate New York prison, while he was handcuffed, court records show.

Other court records show the same beat-up squad has operated for years at the prison, the Marcy Correctional Facility, even though high-ranking state officials knew about it—including Attorney General Letitia James, whose office is now conducting a criminal investigation into Brooks' killing.

Sgt. Glenn Trombley was the alleged leader of Marcy's beat-up squad, The Free Lance reports exclusively. C.O. Anthony Farina was another alleged member of the Marcy beat-up squad, and was beside Trombley the night earlier this month they killed Brooks, according to police.

Every prison maintains a squad of corrections officers whose official job is to maintain order by breaking-up fights between prisoners, quelling disturbances or responding to assaults on or defiance of staff called “Red Dot” emergencies. Members of the squad rotate, but tend to be among the physically largest guards working in the facility, or the most aggressive. They include roundsmen, rovers and other correction officers whose primary duty is not supervising a housing unit.

Beat-up squads were responsible for the deaths of Benjamin Van Zant at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in 2014 and Samuel Harrell, also at Fishkill, in 2015.

Marcy is a medium-security state prison located just outside of Utica, New York, about 250 miles northwest of New York City.

Video from the body-worn cameras of multiple Correction Officers captured them killing Brooks at Marcy, according to petitions prosecutors filed for court orders to disarm three of the guards police believe were involved in Brooks' killing.

The petitions were sworn under penalty of perjury and filed by a State Trooper in State Supreme Court in Utica on Tuesday. They provide the public with the first detailed look into Brook's killing. Preliminary findings by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner are that Brooks' death was caused by "asphyxia due to compression of the neck," according to the petitions.

The exact timeline is not clear at this point, but after mortally injuring Brooks he was transported to a Utica hospital, where he was declared dead on Dec. 10.

Daniel F. Martuscello III, Commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, first disclosed Brooks’ death on Dec. 15. He said it happened after a “use of force” by guards. On Dec. 21, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she'd ordered the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to fire those responsible for Brooks’ death.

"Yesterday I directed DOCCS Commissioner Martuscello to immediately begin the termination process for 14 individuals who were involved in the fatal attack on an incarcerated individual at Marcy Correctional Facility," a news release said. 

Even the union representing New York's prison guards called the killing of Brooks "incomprehensible." 

C.O. Farina quit while being questioned by police. DOCCS said it would fire Sgt. Trombley, the beat-up squad's alleged leader, Sgt. Michael Mashaw and C.O.s Matthew Galliher, Nicholas Anzalone, David Kingsley, Nicholas Kieffer, Robert Kessler, Michael Fisher, Christopher Walrath, Michael Along, Shea Schoff and David Walters, DOCCS said. It also said it would fire a nurse: Kyle Dashnaw. 

Brooks was serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault.

The body camera video investigators from the State Police and DOCCS’ Office of Special Investigations gathered from four of the guards captured Sgt. Trombley and C.O. Farina driving from an office outside the prison to a prison entrance and walking inside. They find guards surrounding Brooks, who is "handcuffed with his hands behind his back," police allege in the petitions they filed in State Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The guards pull Brooks' handcuffed arms over his head, pull him to his feet and walk him forced over to a medical examination room in the prison's infirmary where they place him on a table. C.O. Anzalone strips Brooks' shoes off and beats his feet while the others look on.

Kingsley and Anzalone sit Brooks up and he can be seen bleeding from the face. Farina kicks Brooks in the genitals while Anzalone punches him. Walrath pulls on one of Brooks' legs, while Anzalone and Kingsley hold Brooks down. Farina punches Brooks, the petitions allege, "with his left fist in the buttocks approximately three times." 

It appears Brooks has now passed out, because the body camera video shows Anzalone giving Brooks a sternum rub—which is used to revive unconscious subjects. After reviving Brooks, they kill him for good.

"Kingsley then can be seen with his right hand on the front of I/I [Incarcerated Individual] Brooks' neck," according to the petitions. 

After choking him, they continue beating him. Then Kingsley, Kessler and Anzalone "appear to be pushing I/I Brooks into the wall."

Meanwhile, Sgt. Trombley appears to block medical staff from entering the room. When medical staff were finally allowed to treat Brooks, it was too late.

New York prison guards’ perverse misuse of medical facilities to abuse and sometimes kill prisoners in their care was revealed by Frederick Belanger in 2020. Belanger was the Nurse Administrator at Fishkill when Harrell was killed there in 2015. Correction Officers hid a dying Harrell in a room in the prision’s infirmary, blocking Belanger and other nurses from giving him first aid.

Although both the Dutchess County District Attorney William V. Grady and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Joon H. Kim investigated Harrell’s killing, neither called Belanger as a Grand Jury witness and no one was ever charged with killing Harrell.

Three months after Harrell’s killing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed Executive Order No. 147 which took responsibility for investigating the deaths of all unarmed civilians killed by law enforcement, "whether in custody or not,” away from county District Attorneys and gave it to the State Attorney General.

Letitia James, the current Attorney General, announced she was opening an investigation into Brooks' killing in a Dec. 16 news release.

But James already knew about the beat-up squad at Marcy and that it was out-of-control because a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by a former inmate that her office is defending against in Federal District Court told her so.

William Alvarez sued Sgt. Trombley, C.O. Farina and three other officers in 2022 for beating and choking him while he was handcuffed at Marcy in 2020. They beat him outside a prison dormitory and while they were transporting him in a van to the infirmary.

"When the van arrived at the infirmary," Alvarez's Amended Complaint in the lawsuit alleges, "Trombley finally intervened, telling Tuttle [one of the other officers who allegedly beat him], 'That’s enough,' whereupon the beating immediately stopped."

Lawyers from the Attorney General's office are currently representing Sgt. Trombley, C.O. Farina and the other C.O.s sued in the case. 

Assistant Attorney General Mathew Gallagher interrogated Alvarez under oath about his claims on Oct. 12, 2023—13 months before Brooks was allegedly killed by Sgt. Trombley's beat-up squad. Under oath Alvarez disclosed the existence of the beat-up squad, its members and that it was led by Sgt. Trombley.

"They have what's called a beat-up squad," Alvarez alleged. 

"What is a—what is a beat-up squad?," Gallagher, the assistant attorney general, asked.

"It's the officers that go around and do—and do the assaults and rough handling the people," Alvarez answered.

Gallagher followed up: "Have you ever heard any officer at Marcy use the term beat-up squad?"

"No," Alvarez answered. "Their term for it is security squad team."

“They tried to kill me,” Alvarez testified. They told him “they were going to kill me. And there was nothing anybody can do about it.”

They were, he said, “choking me, telling me to shut up.”

When asked to name members of the beat-up squad, Alvarez named Farina, among others. When Gallagher asked him specifically about Trombley, Alvarez answered "he's the sergeant in charge of the beat-up squad, which is the rounds sergeant."

"Did I hear you correctly that Sgt. Trombley is a sergeant in charge of the beat-up squad?," Gallagher clarified.

"Yes," Alvarez clearly answered, to the lawyer representing New York State.

Alvarez's suit against Trombley and Farina remains pending, court records show. 

A year-and-a-half ago, about the same time Assistant Attorney General Gallagher questioned Alvarez under oath, the Correctional Association of New York published a report on Marcy calling for an investigation.

"Incarcerated people reported rampant abuse by staff, including physical assaults," the report warned. "The Office of Special Investigations (OSI) and Inspector General should investigate the widespread claims of abuse at Marcy," the report demanded.

On Thursday, Jennifer Scaife, Executive Director of the Association, told The Free Lance state officials should have listened to the 180-year-old prison watchdog group. If they had, Brooks might still be alive.

"We called for an investigation into Marcy and a year-and-a-half later we've got a tragedy," Scaife said. "It looks like nothing was done."

State Supreme Court Justice Hon. Peter M. Rayhill denied prosecutors’ emergency request to disarm Anzalone, Kessler and Galliher. Justice Rayhill scheduled consecutive hearings for all three cases on Jan. 7, starting at 10:00am.

James, the Attorney General, promised to release the body camera video of Brooks’ death “after Mr. Brooks’ family has had the opportunity to view it.”

Late Thursday evening,  Liz Mazur, an attorney representing Brooks’ family, told The Free Lance Brooks’ family had veiwed the video “documenting his death at the hands of staff at Marcy Correctional Facility.” 

“As expected, watching the horrific and violent final moments of Robert’s life was devastating for his loved ones, “ the statement added. It “will be disturbing to anyone who views the video following its release by the Attorney General’s Office. “

The Attorney General's office was asked to respond but did not. The office also declined to reveal when it plans to release the video.

Attempts to reach the prison workers Gov. Hochul ordered DOCCS to fire were not successful but for Anzalone and Kingsley. Anzalone said “Nope” when reached while a woman who answered Kingsley’s phone said he declined to comment. If comments are received, they will be included.

Thomas Mailey, DOCCS spokesperson, told The Free Lance “we cannot comment on ongoing investigations.”

Previously, DOCCS' Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III said of Brooks’ killing: 

"The vast majority of correction officers do extraordinary work under difficult circumstances, and we are all grateful for their service. But we have no tolerance for individuals who cross the line, break the law and engage in unnecessary violence or targeted abuse. Both the New York Attorney General and the DOCCS Office of Special Investigations are conducting ongoing reviews of this incident, and I am committed to accountability for all involved."

For tips or corrections, The Free Lance can be reached at jasonbnicholas@gmail.com or, if you prefer, thefreelancenews@proton.me.

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