The murder of San Chiu Wong
New Britain, Hartford County, Connecticut · 1997
Overview
San Chiu Wong, the owner of a Chinese restaurant in New Britain, Connecticut, was shot in the back of the head and robbed in his own kitchen on March 17, 1997. The killing went unsolved for years. The break came not from a witness or a confession but from a gun: thirteen days after the New Britain robbery, Gino Gentile fired the same .380 caliber handgun in a shooting in Paterson, New Jersey, that left one man dead and two others shot. When firearms experts at the Connecticut State Police Forensic Laboratory compared the ballistics, they proved conclusively that the same weapon had been used in both states, tying Gentile, by then serving a 40-year sentence for the New Jersey killings, to the cold New Britain case. Gentile was convicted of felony murder, first-degree robbery and conspiracy and sentenced to 100 years, and his getaway driver, Edgar DeJesus, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 19 years.
How it was solved
The decisive piece of evidence in the San Chiu Wong case was the gun itself, identified across two states by ballistic comparison. On March 17, 1997, Gentile robbed the Chinese restaurant Wong owned in New Britain; when Wong, in the kitchen area, lifted his head, Gentile fired a single round from a .380 caliber handgun into the back of his head and took the victim's wallet. The New Britain killing went cold. Thirteen days later, on March 30, 1997, Gentile fired multiple rounds in a street shooting in Paterson, New Jersey, killing one man, fatally wounding a second whose death was charged as aggravated manslaughter, and wounding a third, charged as attempted murder. Gentile was caught, tried and convicted in New Jersey for the Paterson shooting and was serving a 40-year sentence there. In the subsequent investigation of the New Britain homicide, firearms experts from the Connecticut State Police Forensic Laboratory examined the ballistics from both shootings and proved conclusively that the same handgun had been used in the New Jersey and the New Britain homicides. That ballistic link is what connected Gentile to the previously unsolved New Britain robbery-murder, the work of the New Britain Police Department and the state Cold Case Unit. At a jury trial Gentile was convicted of felony murder, robbery in the first degree and conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree and was sentenced to 100 years in prison; the Connecticut Appellate Court affirmed the conviction in a decision argued November 18, 2002, and released April 1, 2003. His co-defendant, Edgar DeJesus, identified as the wheelman in the robbery, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the second degree and was sentenced in April 2002 to 19 years in prison.
Sources
- Cold Cases - Arrests and Convictions
“GINO GENTILE and EDGAR DeJESUS were both convicted in the March 17, 1997, robbery and slaying of San Chiu Wong as a result of a Cold Case investigation by the New Britain Police Department and the Cold Case Unit. The victim was shot to death at the Chinese restaurant he owned in New Britain, Connecticut ... At the time of his conviction, Gentile was serving a 40-year prison sentence for two homicides in Patterson, New Jersey. In the subsequent investigation of the New Britain homicide, firearms experts from the Connecticut State Police Forensic Laboratory were able to prove conclusively that the same handgun was used in the New Jersey and New Britain homicides. Gentile was sentenced to 100 years in prison ... DeJesus, the 'wheelman' in the robbery, pleaded guilty to Manslaughter in the Second Degree and was sentenced in April 2002 to 19 years in prison.”
- State v. Gentile, 75 Conn. App. (opinion)
“Wong, who also was in the kitchen area, lifted his head and the defendant fired a single round from his .380 caliber gun, striking the victim in the back of the head. The defendant then took the victim's wallet.”
- State of New Jersey v. Gino Gentile (2011)
“The Paterson, New Jersey incident occurred on March 30, 1997, when defendant Gino Gentile fired multiple rounds from a handgun ... convicted of multiple offenses, including murder of one victim, attempted murder of another, and aggravated manslaughter with respect to the death of a third victim. The police learned that defendant had been involved in an incident in Connecticut thirteen days prior ... and ballistic testing revealed that the gun used in Connecticut was the same gun that was used in Paterson.”
- State of New Jersey v. Gino Gentile (2007)
“Thirteen days before the Paterson incident, defendant shot and killed an individual in the course of robbing a restaurant ... Ballistic testing revealed that the gun used in Connecticut was the same gun that was used in Paterson.”
- Cold cases arrests and convictions
“Witnesses testified that Gentile shot the victim in the head to avoid being identified in the robbery ... firearms experts from the Connecticut State Police Forensic Laboratory were able to prove conclusively that the same handgun was used in the New Jersey and New Britain homicides. Gentile was sentenced to 100 years in prison on his convictions for Murder, Robbery in the First Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Robbery in the First Degree.”
- State v. Gentile (Connecticut Appellate Court decision summary)
“The defendant, Gino Gentile, appealed from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of felony murder ... robbery in the first degree ... and conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree ... Argued November 18, 2002. Officially released April 1, 2003 ... The judgment is affirmed.”