2nd Man Charged in Gambling Ring Murder

A Jersey City man hiding out in Bayonne was charged yesterday as the getaway driver in connection to the robbery of an illegal gambling establishment in Jersey City that left a man dead in January, officials said.

Anthony Williams, 28, of Garfield Avenue, is charged with felony murder, robbery and weapons offenses in the Jan. 22 daytime robbery that claimed the life of Elisha “Elijah” Benjamin, 59, of Fulton Avenue, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said yesterday.

David Ashley, 25, of Armstrong and Rose avenues, was arrested the night of the robbery, and he faces felony murder charges as well, DeFazio said. Detectives are looking for a third man they say shot Benjamin dead, but that man has not yet been positively identified, officials said.

Investigators developed information that Williams was staying at a home on Avenue F near East 22nd Street and surveillance at the location led to his arrest at 8 a.m. yesterday, DeFazio said.

“The theory of our case it that Anthony Williams . orchestrated this crime,” DeFazio said yesterday. “We believe they knew that the proceeds (of illegal gambling) were at that location and therefore it was the specific target.”

Investigators think the robbers’ take was only a few hundred dollars, DeFazio said.

Authorities say the third suspect was armed with a handgun when he entered the store with Ashley. Store employees were ordered to a back room and the gunman and Benjamin got into an altercation that led to Benjamin’s shooting, DeFazio said.

The second man then cleaned out Benjamin’s pockets and the cash register before both fled, DeFazio said. Benjamin was rushed to the Jersey City Medical Center and was pronounced dead at about 2:40 p.m.

Williams’ bail was set at $750,000 cash or bond when the warrant for his arrest was signed on Feb. 2. Ashley is being held in Hudson County jail in Kearny on $1 million cash-only bail.

Williams was arrested by members of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office’s Gang Task Force and agents of the US Marshals New York/New Jersey Fugitive Task Force.

Anyone with information on the fatal robbery is asked to call the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office’s Homicide Squad at 201-915-1345