Genesis Villella remembers being the loudest, proudest parent cheering as twins Peter and Delilah crossed the stage at their 2023 high school graduation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But looking around the stands, teeming with giddy moms and dads applauding their own kids, Villella was thunderstruck by the stinging reminder of her mother\u2019s murder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot having [our] mom there to see them graduate was heart-wrenching,\u201d a sobbing Villella, 28, from the Bronx, exclusively told The Post in one of her first in-depth interviews since their mom, NYPD Detective Miosotis Familia, was fatally shot in the line of duty July 5, 2017.<\/p>\n
Genesis Villella, the eldest daughter of slain NYPD Detective Miosotis Familia, exclusively details the struggles she\u2019s endured following her mother\u2019s death. J.C. Rice<\/p>\n
She\u2019s speaking out now, ahead of an upcoming state Assembly hearing over her proposed bill, which seeks full death pension benefits for the orphaned children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many milestones and important moments that she should be here for,\u201d said Villella. But, she added, \u201cHer life was stolen from her.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the split-second that the bullet was fired from gunman Alex Brooks\u2019 weapon and into Familia\u2019s head, Villella, then 20, became a single mother to Peter and Delilah \u2014 her 12-year-old siblings, now adopted children.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For eight years, the singleton has\u00a0dutifully parented the twins \u2014 schlepping them to doctors\u2019 appointments, pulling homework all-nighters, hosting birthday parties, enrolling them in college \u2014 with a smile on her face, despite having sacrificed her own promising future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Villella fought the courts for custody of Peter and Delilah, becoming their parent just months after Familia was killed. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cA part of me died that day, too,\u201d said Villella of Familia\u2019s execution. \u201cI remember going to the hospital to see my mother dead and disfigured, after I\u2019d just seen her alive and full of love a few hours earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n
But a shattered Villella didn\u2019t have the luxury of spiraling in despair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019d just been thrust into instant motherhood with no full-time job, no money and no lifelong access to Familia\u2019s death pension benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone thinks that the children [of an NYPD officer] are taken care of and protected,\u201d groaned Villella, whose mother served on the force for 12 years. \u201cBut the law, as it stands, is extremely discriminatory and punitive against orphaned children of first responders who die in the line of duty.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since her mother\u2019s passing, Villella \u2014 shown with the twins in 2017 \u2014 has dedicated her life to death pension benefits reform. Handouts<\/p>\n
She chose not to disclose the monetary value of Familia\u2019s pension for privacy purposes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, <\/a>surviving relatives of a cop killed in the line of duty are eligible to receive half of the officer\u2019s final compensation, Special Accidental Death Benefits (SAD), the city\u2019s\u00a0Increased-Take-Home Pay (ITHP) \u2014 a percentage of an employee\u2019s salary toward their pension \u2014 health and union benefits, at least $10,000 from the Police Relief Fund, and more, per NYC.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n Currently, those are exclusively awarded to the parents or spouses of fallen first-responders for life. Orphaned kids can only receive the funds<\/a> until age 21. The law extends the age limit to 23, but only if the child is in college.<\/p>\n As it stands, Peter and Delilah \u2014 now 20 and juniors at an in-state university, studying finance and psychology, respectively \u2014 will be barred from receiving the support by 2028.<\/p>\n Villella deems the limitations on orphaned kids \u201cinhumane.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t expect parents or spouses to hold full-time jobs in order to get the benefits,\u201d argued Villella. \u201cMy bill changes those restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n Villella has relentlessly petitioned the state to grant full, lifelong death pension benefits to the children of late NYPD and FDNY heroes. J.C. Rice<\/p>\n Her bill, sponsored by State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx), was passed in the Senate earlier this year.\u00a0It was also greenlit by the City Council, which unanimously voted to approve<\/a> a required letter of support.<\/p>\n The Assembly ultimately nixed<\/a> the proposal as too costly, but it will be reintroduced during New York\u2019s legislative session in early 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n If passed, it would only pay the family from that day, not retroactively.<\/p>\n Villella\u2019s law could cost the city an estimated $200 million, owing to the throng of other would-be beneficiaries. She hopes the powers-that-be ultimately prioritize fairness over frugality.<\/p>\n \u201cI never want an orphaned child to go through what I\u2019ve gone through. It\u2019s pure torture,\u201d Vilella lamented, adding that she\u2019s received \u201creally strong commitments\u201d from some officials.<\/p>\n \u201cOfficers aren\u2019t just officers \u2014 they\u2019re people, and their children matter,\u201d she insisted. \u201cAnd the [current] laws don\u2019t acknowledge families like mine.\u201d<\/p>\n Villella told The Post she\u2019s committed to fighting for herself, her siblings, and justice for all. J.C. Rice<\/p>\n Detective Familia was gunned down in 2017. AP<\/p>\n Villella created a memorial wall at home in her mom\u2019s memory. J.C. Rice<\/p>\n But her family is the first of its kind in New York\u2019s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n Familia, 48, a single parent, was the city\u2019s first female cop to be assassinated in the line of duty.\u00a0<\/p>\n And without her mother\u2019s death pension benefits, nor a living parent as her guide, Villella \u2014 whose father, Nicola Villella, died in the American Airlines flight 587 crash in 2001, when she was 4 \u2014 dropped out of college at Falmouth University in the UK.<\/p>\n The junior English major was left to fend for herself, as well as the twins, whose dad does not have an active role in their lives.<\/p>\n Thankfully, some local charities rushed to their rescue.<\/p>\n Lauren Profeta,\u00a0executive director of the nonprofit Answer the Call<\/a> \u2014 founded in 1985 and lauded by VIPs such as Pete Davidson, whose firefighter dad died during the 9\/11 attack <\/a>\u2014 was one of the first to reach out.<\/p>\n Villella is tremendously grateful to organizations like Answer the Call and Tunnel to Towers for their aid. REUTERS<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a NYC police officer, firefighter, or EMT is killed suddenly in the line of duty, we immediately provide their family with $50,000,\u201d Profeta told The Post. \u201cThe last thing we want a family to worry about during that unimaginably difficult time is their\u00a0bills.\u201d<\/p>\n Since 2017, Villella, Peter and Delilah have received ATC\u2019s annual stipend of $11,000, which the trio will collect until the twins turn 25.\u00a0<\/p>\n The money has helped cover Peter and Delilah\u2019s college tuition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe best way we can honor Detective Familia is to help the people she loved the most, her children,\u201d said Profeta. <\/p>\n Miosotis Familia (second from right) with her children. Courtesy Genesis Villella<\/p>\n Villella told The Post she\u2019ll never get over her mother\u2019s murder, which shattered both her world and her heart.<\/p>\n Villella wants the Assembly to remember that Familia\u2019s children were \u201cher world.\u201d<\/p>\n Villella said Familia \u2014 the youngest of 10 siblings, but the first to earn a college degree \u2014 was committed to seeing her brood follow her academic footsteps.<\/p>\n \u201cEducation was paramount to my mom,\u201d Villella remembered. \u201cWe called her \u2018Super-Mom\u2019 because of her determination to give us the best educations possible, and to cultivate an environment of unconditional love, support and encouragement at home.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s the same uplifting atmosphere she\u2019s strived to re-create for the twins.<\/p>\n