Related Federal Cases
Pizarro and Rivera Convicted of Murdering Witness
Robert Pizarro, 38, and Juan Rivera, 41, both of the Bronx, were convicted of kidnapping and murdering a federal cooperating witness in a brazen crime that shook the city two years ago.
On September 20, 2016, Pizarro and Rivera attempted to rob Robert Bishun at gunpoint inside his auto body shop in the Bronx. During the attempted robbery, two customers were bound with zip ties and locked in the trunks of separate vehicles inside the shop.
However, things took a deadly turn when the duo learned that Bishun was a federal cooperating witness. They kidnapped Bishun from his shop and strangled him to death with a plastic zip tie, before abandoning his body in the back of his own vehicle on the side of the road.
This was not the first time Pizarro and Rivera had targeted Bishun. In January 2015, they stormed into his auto body shop and robbed him at gunpoint, making off with approximately $10,000 in cash.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman praised the investigative efforts of the DEA and the NYPD, as well as the Special Agents of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Jason Swergold, Jessica Fender, Jared Lenow, and Margaret Graham are in charge of the prosecution.
Pizarro faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison plus 32 years, while Rivera faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison plus 7 years. Berman expressed hope that the conviction would bring some small measure of peace to Bishun’s family.
Robert Bishun was violently kidnapped and brutally murdered by Pizarro and Rivera because he was a federal cooperating witness, Berman said. Today, the jury in this case returned a unanimous verdict holding the defendants accountable for their heinous crimes.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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