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Ricky “Angel” Vargas, 35, of East Stroudsburg, PA, and his four companions confronted Richard Franceschi, 31, of Hawthorne outside JoJo's Bar & Grill on Monroe Street before dawn this past Feb. 4, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
Vargas had a knife and co-defendant Jayson William Rivera, 23, also of East Stroudsburg, had a handgun, the prosecutor said on Monday, March 18.
Officers responding to a 12:44 a.m. call found Franceschi beaten and stabbed repeatedly in the chest, Musella said.
He'd suffered dozens of stab wounds, in fact, multiple sources told Daily Voice.
According to one of them, the trouble began when the girlfriend of one of the defendants apparently danced too close to Franceschi for his liking.
Franceschi apologized, witnesses said, and the group left.
He later found them waiting outside.
Franceschi (photo below) was pronounced dead at Hackensack University Medical Center at 1:29 a.m., Musella said.
All five men "were captured on surveillance video punching, kicking, and stabbing [the] victim," a complaint on file in Superior Court in Hackensack says.
The video is "crystal clear," a court source with direct knowledge told Daily Voice.
The complaints says investigators also collected social media, electronic devices and cellphone accounts that "ultimately placed each individual at the scene and memorialized their movements thereafter."
They got help from various agencies at all levels to track down the defendants, Musella said.
SWAT teams from Bergen County and the New Jersey State Police helped seize Bryant Joshua Sanchez, a 26-year-old carpenter from Paterson, Erony Sanchez, 27, of Clifton, and Dante Marquise Moore, 30, of Passaic, who the prosecutor said works in retail.
Erony Sanchez and Moore were captured in Passaic.
Bryant Sanchez was seized in the Sussex County borough of Ogdensburg.
Rivera surrendered to Garfield police with his attorney, John J. Bruno Jr. of Rutherford, last Tuesday, March 12.
All four are charged with murder and endangering an injured victim.
Bryant Sanchez was also charged with aggravated assault, Moore with theft and Rivera with weapons offenses.
All were denied release and are expected to remain in the Bergen County Jail pending trial, given the seriousness of the charges.
Meanwhile, the search continued for Vargas, who’s charged with murder, endangering an injured victim and weapons offenses.
Anyone who sees or knows where to find Vargas, a reputed Latin King member (photo above), is asked to contact the prosecutor’s Homicide Unit at 201-226-5197.
Musella thanked Garfield police, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, the Bergen County Regional SWAT Team, the New Jersey State Police SWAT Team, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Stroud (PA) Regional Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (F.D.L.E.) and the Chicago Police Department for their assistance.
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