The daughter of a slain NYPD officer is in a legal battle with the City of New York — the city her mother died to protect.
Genesis Villella of Riverdale was just 20 years old and a student at Falmouth University in England when her mother, Miosotis Familia, 48, was shot and killed execution-style as she worked a command post in the Bronx on July 5, 2017. The 12-year veteran cop left behind Villella, as well as twins, Peter and Delilah, aged 12, at the time of her death.
Since Familia was a single parent, Villella took on the family’s caregiving duties. She had no choice but to leave school to care for her younger siblings.
What did not fall to Villella, however, was her mother’s pension — which only spouses and parents of slain officers can receive for life, per New York law. Under the law, orphaned children of these hero cops can only receive their parents’ pension benefits until they reach age 18 or 23 if they are enrolled in school.
As a result, Villella was not entitled to her mom’s pension once she graduated college and turned 23 in 2020. Her siblings, now 19, are enrolled in school and can, for now, still receive the benefits.
Villella, along with a handful of local politicians, is working to change this legislation or at least close the existing legal loophole that denies orphaned children of police officers and other city workers killed in the line of duty from claiming the benefits.
“I‘ve been raising and supporting my younger brother and sister, Peter and Delilah, on my very own without any help since the day my mom was brutally killed,” Villella painfully recalled.
Familia was working inside a marked mobile command center in the Bronx when a deranged, gun-wielding, cop-hating criminal named Alexander Bonds shot her in the head, killing her almost instantly.
Fellow officers, including Familia’s partner, tracked Bonds down, and shot him dead at the scene. According to an article on NBC New York, Bonds was a convicted felon who could not legally purchase a gun.
Going to court was ‘humiliating’
Meanwhile, without any help from extended family, the grief-stricken eldest daughter was left to plan her mother’s funeral. She then had to learn how to navigate a complicated court system to access her mother’s pension benefits in what she described as a “humiliating” process.
“Since Peter and Delilah were the minor children, the surrogate court controls the money completely,” the heartbroken Villella explained. “You can’t withdraw, you can’t deposit without going through this arbitrary, humiliating process that I had to go through for years.”
The court’s location made the process even worse.
“This is at the Bronx Supreme Court, just a couple blocks down from where she was killed,” Villella said, fighting back tears. “It was actual torture and humiliation.”
But she needed to do it for her siblings, whom she legally adopted.
“I am their only legal parent. I will be taking care of them as a mom and a dad for the rest of my life,” she said. “Peter and Delilah have me, and I have no one.”
There was a bright spot of help during Villella’s ongoing battle for her hero mom’s pension funds. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which provides homes for families of fallen first responders or military members, bought Villella and her siblings an apartment in Riverdale.
The foundation sent a statement to amNewYork Metro: “The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is honored to support the families of heroes like NYPD Detective Miosotis Familia through our Fallen First Responder Home Program. Through this program, Tunnel to Towers pays off the mortgages for the families of law enforcement officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty or pass away from 9/11-related illnesses, and leave behind young children. Our goal as a Foundation is to ensure stability and security for our recipients, like Genesis and her siblings, who face sudden and tragic loss.”
Working to change the law
PBA President Patrick Hendry sent a statement to amNew York Metro regarding Villella’s case: “Our city’s obligation to the families of our fallen heroes has no expiration date. The NYPD’s leadership and our elected officials need to work together to ensure that all of our line-of-duty families have the support they need and deserve.”
Several local politicians have been actively advocating for Villella.
Bronx Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz introduced legislation to help Villella and her siblings receive her mother’s pension for life. But updating legislation such as this is not cut-and-dry. It must first get approval from the City Council.
“When the law was written, I guess they did not contemplate a situation like this, but it’s really unfair,” Donowitz said. “It is certainly unfair to the children for sure, but I have no doubt that Det. Familia would want her children taken care of. It’s shocking to me that we haven’t been able — yet — to change the law to help take care of the children of the hero cop, which is what Det. Familia was.”
Changing the law would have to be supported by both the state legislature and the NYC Council, Dinowitz explained.
“We have to get a home-rule message from the city council,” he said, further explaining that the council needs to give an OK before the state could sign change in the law.
amNewYork Metro reached out to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams for comment on the proposed legislation but has not heard back.
Along with Dinowitz, NYS Senator Gustavo Rivera also introduced the legislation to guarantee the children of fallen municipal city workers can claim the same lifetime accidental death benefit that would otherwise go to a surviving spouse or parent.
“The tragic murder of NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia exposed this glaring gap in support for her children after they lost her. When there is no surviving spouse left behind to claim the accidental death benefit, this bill would allow the orphaned child or children to claim it,” Rivera said. “New York State does not recognize orphaned children of slain police officers in the same way it does surviving spouses. Officer Familia was a single mother raising three children and her accidental death benefit terminates for each child when they reach the age of 18 or 23 if they are a student. Genesis is fighting for her family to receive the lifetime benefit after she became the primary caretaker of her siblings, and my team and I are determined to support her in Albany.”
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, who represents the Bronx, called the state and city’s lack of action a “fundamental betrayal” to the men and women in blue.
“The pension laws in New York systematically discriminate against single mothers who have paid the ultimate price for public safety,” he said. “The government’s failure to care for the family of a fallen officer is a fundamental betrayal of New York’s most solemn obligation to protect the loved ones of those who protect us.”
And protecting the city she loved was Familia’s passion, Villella shared.
“She told me that she believed she was put on this Earth to be a police officer. It was a calling, and God put her on this Earth to protect and serve us.”
As much as Familia loved her job, she knew it was not without risk.
“Genesis, there is a target on our backs,” Villella recalled her mother saying. “They want to kill cops. She said if anything happens to me because of the job, I need you to promise me that you’ll take care of the kids.‘”
And that is exactly what she is doing.
