A Murder in Brownsville

Precinct detectives originally assigned to the case thought Rashad Ramshaw's murder was the latest in a series of cab-driver robberies along the grizzly ghetto corridors of eastern Brooklyn and southern Queens. But when the investigation was turned over to Cold Case Squad Detectives Steve Danski and Gregory Litchfield five years later, hints of a mob execution couldn't be discounted.

In the wee hours of a cold February morning in 2014, a precinct sector car team noticed a taxi stopped for a traffic light on the corner of Osborne Street and Lott Avenue, a ghetto location by any man's description. When the light changed from red to green and the taxi didn't move, an officer went to the cab and knocked on the driver's side window. Upon closer examination, the officer noted the driver was slumped over the steering wheel with a stream of blood oozing from a bullet hole in the back of his head. Precinct detectives were called in and concluded it was a robbery gone wrong that resulted in Rashad Ramshaw's murder. After an extensive investigation, the case was considered impossible to solve and was moved to the precinct's Inactive file. Five years later, the investigation was turned over to Cold Case Squad Detectives Steve Danski and Gregory Litchfield who detected hints of a mob execution.

Don Collins is a retired NYPD investigator, a former private investigator licensed in New York and Florida. For eight years, Don was the Chief Fraud Investigator for the Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg, Florida. Don served with the 716th Military Police Battalion and the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam during the 1968 TET Offensive. He received a bachelor's degree from the New York Institute of Technology majoring in behavioral science. Don and his wife Cathy live in Seminole, Florida. Don is the author of 20 crime novels.