NYPD cop-killer Eddie Matos’ seventh bid for freedom denied – but he’ll get another chance in 2 months

Dean Balsamini
·3 min read
Cop-killer Eddie Matos is keeping his current address -- the maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility upstate.
Cop-killer Eddie Matos is keeping his current address -- the maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility upstate.

Cop-killer Eddie Matos is keeping his current address — the maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility upstate.

Matos, who is serving a 25-years-to-life sentence for the October 1989 murder of Anthony Dwyer, has been denied parole for a seventh time, officials said this week.

“My family and I are very happy with the outcome. Disappointed that we have to do this all over again in less than two months,” Dwyer’s sister, Maureen Brisette, 45, told The Post.

“Hope the board continues to do what’s right and keeps this cop killer behind bars.”

Cop killer Eddie Matos was denied parole for a seventh time, but his next bid for freedom will come in a matter of months. change.org
Cop killer Eddie Matos was denied parole for a seventh time, but his next bid for freedom will come in a matter of months. change.org
Dwyer, who was assigned to Midtown South, was also a volunteer firefighter and devout Catholic who taught Sunday school at St. Vincent de Paul in Elmont, Long Island. Stephen Yang
Dwyer, who was assigned to Midtown South, was also a volunteer firefighter and devout Catholic who taught Sunday school at St. Vincent de Paul in Elmont, Long Island. Stephen Yang

A two-person parole panel was split in April 2023 on whether to set Matos free, but a three-person panel subsequently voted to keep Matos behind bars.

“My family and I are very happy with the outcome. Disappointed that we have to do this all over again in less than two months,” Dwyer’s sister, Maureen Brisette, 45, told The Post. Stephen Yang
“My family and I are very happy with the outcome. Disappointed that we have to do this all over again in less than two months,” Dwyer’s sister, Maureen Brisette, 45, told The Post. Stephen Yang

That decision was then scrapped due to a technicality, paving the way for the board’s most recent vote.

His next bid for freedom comes in June.

“It is absolutely insane that this cop-killer gets another shot at freedom just a few weeks after being denied,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said.

NYPD officer Anthony Dwyer, with his younger sister, Maureen. Courtesy of Maureen Brisette
NYPD officer Anthony Dwyer, with his younger sister, Maureen. Courtesy of Maureen Brisette

“This hero family didn’t get a chance to bring their brother and son back, and yet they must keep reliving that nightmare every few months to keep his killer behind bars.”

Dwyer’s family will never forgive Matos for his deadly deed decades ago.

On Oct. 17, 1989, Matos and three accomplices shattered the glass door of a McDonald’s on Seventh Avenue and 40th Street with a sledgehammer, and rounded up the employees at gunpoint, court papers show.

“He can rot in hell,” Dwyer’s still-devastated mom, Marge, said <br>of Matos. Stephen Yang
“He can rot in hell,” Dwyer’s still-devastated mom, Marge, said
of Matos. Stephen Yang

A maintenance worker escaped, returning with Dwyer — who had worked at Midtown South Precinct for two and a half years — and two other officers, who saw Matos run toward the back of the restaurant and scramble up a ladder to the roof. Dwyer quickly followed.

Once on the roof, Matos shoved the young officer down a 25-foot air shaft.

Matos was captured the next day.

A loved one wears wristbands in memory of the fallen NYPD officer. Stephen Yang
A loved one wears wristbands in memory of the fallen NYPD officer. Stephen Yang

He was sentenced in 1990 to 25 years to life after being convicted of second-degree murder.

“He can rot in hell,” Dwyer’s mom, Marge, said of Matos.

Dwyer was a volunteer firefighter and devout Catholic who taught Sunday school at St. Vincent de Paul in Elmont, Long Island.