New York Post

Finest jump-start ’18 double-slay cold case in Bushwick

- Tina Moore

NYPD detectives are trying to revive the investigat­ion into the unsolved murders of a Bushwick grandmothe­r and her fifth-floor neighbor killed on the same day six years ago — hoping time may have loosened the grip on the neighborho­od’s code of silence and that new suspects can be identified.

Ana Delvalle, 62, and Basil Gray, 54, lived across the hall from each other at 140 Moore St. in the drug-riddled Bushwick Houses — where they were both known to call cops if they saw dealing or other crimes.

Both were killed on the morning of Friday, May 11, 2018, and the mystery still haunts family and neighbors, who were likely too scared to talk at the time because of possible retaliatio­n.

“People living in that area are always afraid to talk,” Detective Marisol Bonilla told The Post. “You have to go back home to the same people who you’re snitching and ratting out.”

Bonilla, of the NYPD’s 90th Precinct in Williamsbu­rg, and Brooklyn North Homicide Squad Detective Armando Saitta are hoping enough time has gone by for the fear to have subsided.

“There may be people from the neighborho­od who are not there anymore so maybe they will be a little more forthcomin­g now,” Bonilla said. “That’s our hope.”

The two veteran gumshoes have been interviewi­ng everyone, including family members of the victims, reviewing the evidence and rehanging posters offering $20,000 from the city and $50,000 from the FBI for informatio­n that finally leads to an arrest.

Cops found casings of two different calibers on the scene, a 9mm and a .380, suggesting multiple shooters.

Police believe Gray was killed first and that Delvalle may have looked out into the hallway that she often mopped, a police source said.

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