A Bronx mother of three and an NYPD officer made the ultimate sacrifice for the city she protected and loved so much. But now, her oldest daughter says the city and state are forgetting her story — and she is continuing her fight to change that.
Genesis Villella, 28, misses her mother, Det. Miosotis Familia, every day. The pain has persisted ever since the 12-year veteran officer was shot and killed execution-style as she worked a command post in the Bronx on July 5, 2017. A single parent, 48-year-old Familia left behind Villella, as well as twins, Peter and Delilah, aged 12, at the time of her death.
While Villella stepped in to care for her siblings, even officially adopting them, she was not entitled to her mother’s pension or death benefits — which only spouses and parents of slain officers can receive for life, per state law.
While there is a bill making headway in the state legislature, the city council, Villella said, has blocked it.
“It’s like they are killing my mom again,” she said.
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.
Villella’s father had died years earlier as a passenger on board American Airlines Flight 587 that crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens, on Nov. 12, 2001.
Meanwhile, without help from extended family, Villella raised her younger siblings and even quit college to step in as the family’s head of household at the young age of 20.
Today, she is continuing the years-long fight for her mother’s death benefits from her pension plan. State Senator Gustavo Rivera and Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz, both representing the Bronx, are the sponsors of Villella’s bill in Albany—and they have been supportive all the way, she said.
“I have the support and a clear path in Albany. I have the full support of the senate and the assembly,” Villella explained. “They have been ready to pass my bill since it was first introduced in 2022.”
She said the NYC Council is a different story. With the exception of Council Member Amanda Farias of the Bronx, who has championed Villella’s bill, the council has not been provided with “home rule” to pass the bill.
“They want me to go away and they want me to stop fighting for my bill,” she said. “I feel like they don’t care about my mom’s sacrifice.”
In the meantime, a City Council spokesperson said members are working to advance a law soon to help Detective Familia’s family and others who might ever find themselves in a similar situation.
“The family of NYPD Detective Miosotis Familia should not have to fight for the benefits they deserve from the sacrifice of her public service to the city,” the spokesperson said. “Speaker Adams and council leaders are working collaboratively with state lawmakers and other stakeholders to advance a law in the coming weeks that resolves this issue for Detective Familia’s family and prevents any other family from facing similar hardship.”
Rivera told the Bronx Times he and his team are “determined to support” Villella in Albany.
“We continue to work diligently to guarantee that the child or children of city municipal workers who die in the line of duty can claim the same lifetime accidental death benefit that would otherwise go to a surviving spouse,” he said. “The tragic murder of NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia exposed this glaring gap in support for her children after they lost her.”
Dinowitz agreed, and said he is working to make sure Villella receives her mother’s benefits.
“Detective Familia made the ultimate sacrifice serving and protecting New York City and the time is long past due that the city take care of her children,” he said. “I am committed to working on legislation and with the City Council to ensure that the benefits Genesis and her brother and sister are entitled to aren’t eroded.”
