A Sheepshead Bay man has been sentenced to 20-years-to-life in prison for the 2017 killing of his estranged wife at a family reunion in Sea Gate.
Gabino Genao, 34, pled guilty in November to the May 26, 2017 murder of his ex-wife Iveliss Alvarado, whom he shot multiple times in the head after arriving uninvited to the gathering in Sea Gate, the cloistered, gated community at the western tip of Coney Island peninsula. He copped to the charges of second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, and assault, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
“Today’s sentence holds this defendant accountable for the callous and senseless murder of a young mother of two at a family reunion, and my condolences go out to the family of Iveliss Alvarado for their tremendous loss,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “My Office has committed significant resources to the investigation and vigorous prosecution of domestic and gender-based violence and I encourage any victim in need of help or support to reach out.”
The shooting took place at about 11:15 pm outside the Alvarado rowhouse on West 36th Street near Canal Avenue, just beyond the community’s gates keeping outsiders at bay. Genao confronted his estranged wife, who was visiting family from Maryland, outside the home and begged her to reconcile their marriage; after she refused, he began to punch her, and Genao also punched Alvarado’s cousin after she tried to intervene. Genao then opened fire and shot Alvarado multiple times in the head, killing her.
When Alvarado’s mother came out of the house screaming, Genao said “I killed her” and then fled, according to a 2017 Daily News report.
The perp, who had a lengthy rap sheet including assault charges and violating restraining orders related to domestic violence, was a fugitive of justice for a week until he was apprehended by authorities in Delaware on June 2, 2017, and extradited back to Kings County to face the music.
Genao has sued the city on a number of occasions alleging abusive treatment by jail guards on Rikers Island. He reached a $165,000 settlement with the city around the time of Alvarado’s murder, after alleging that Rikers guards had beaten him unconscious after he complained about being locked in his cell too long during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when he was locked up on unrelated charges. The proceeds from the settlement went to his three daughters, with half going to his two daughters with Alvarado and the other half going to his daughter from another relationship.
Genao is also currently suing the city in federal court over a 2019 incident where he alleged he had been forcibly transferred, sexually abused, and force-fed laxatives by Manhattan and Suffolk County jail guards. He said that in November 2019, he was forced to leave the Manhattan Detention Center without warning or explanation to be transported to a correctional facility in Suffolk County, where he says he was strip-searched and placed in solitary confinement before being taken to an infirmary to test for contraband.
Despite testing negative, he alleged guards told doctors to prescribe laxatives, and was then forced to sit over a bucket and defecate in front of guards while they made crude remarks, and then made to expose himself. When a nurse wouldn’t prescribe more laxatives, the guards allegedly found another doctor that would, and then proceeded to put him in a straitjacket until defecating again.
A judge dismissed the motion by Genao, who is representing himself in the case, arguing that he had failed to state a justiciable claim against the defendants; the judge requested he file an amended claim by April 29.
