By Matt Sledge
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
HOUSTON — The fatal, botched robbery of New Orleans Police Detective Everett Briscoe and another Zulu member during a vacation in August was instigated by a jailed gang member who wanted money for bail, authorities said at a court hearing in Houston this week.
Anthony Jenkins’ recorded phone calls from the Harris County jail captured him directing his brother and two other men to commit one robbery, then another, to secure enough stolen jewelry for his release on $50,000 bail in a different hold-up, according to court records and a report from KTRK-TV about a Thursday court hearing.
Both robberies were on Aug. 21. The second, outside the Grotto restaurant in Houston’s Galleria area, ended with the shooting of Briscoe and fellow Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club member Dyrin “DJ” Riculfy, prosecutors say.
The men were in Houston as part of a weekend trip for Zulu members. They’d hopped off a bus from New Orleans hours before they were shot.
The shooting led to anguish and outcry in both cities. Police in Houston tied it to a larger trend of deadly robberies. New Orleanians mourned the loss of a veteran cop and his friend, both members of a cornerstone social organization.
Jenkins, 22, hasn’t been charged in the killing of Briscoe and Riculfy. But his younger brother with a nearly identical name, Anthony Rayshard Jenkins Jr., is charged with capital murder, along with two other defendants.
Thursday’s court hearing centered on whether the elder Jenkins should be released from jail on earlier charges of engaging in criminal activity, being a felon in possession of a weapon and aggravated robbery, according to court records.
In the end, Judge Colleen Gaido denied Jenkins release on bail of any amount. Prosecutors cited his violation of several release conditions during a previous stint out on bail, including failure to obtain an electronic ankle monitor.
In testimony before Gaido, detectives laid out a disturbing sequence of events, based partially on jail call records.
Shortly before the bloodshed at the Grotto, Anthony Rayshard Jenkins Jr. and associates were stalking another man they thought was wearing an expensive watch.
In a phone call between the two brothers, the jailed Jenkins told his younger brother to be aggressive with his prey. “Don’t play with him, pow in his leg, get right,” he allegedly said, according to the report from KTRK-TV, the Houston ABC affiliate.
The victim of that robbery has said he’d just parked his vehicle when he was cornered by armed robbers who ordered him to hand over his watch and wallet.
The watch was a fake, or at least not as expensive a piece as the robbers hoped to score. So the older Jenkins reportedly urged his brother during another phone call to try again, according to court records and testimony at the hearing.
The shooting of Briscoe and Riculfy happened within an hour, authorities allege. Investigators say the men were enjoying cigars in the restaurants’ patio area when armed men rushed their group and demanded their belongings.
Briscoe died on the scene. Riculfy, who owned his own limousine company, died days after he was taken to a Houston hospital.
The defense attorney for Anthony Jenkins didn’t immediately return a request for comment Friday.
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