Genesis Villella remembers being the loudest, proudest parent cheering as twins Peter and Delilah crossed the stage at their 2023 high school graduation.
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’s murder.
“Not having [our] mom there to see them graduate was heart-wrenching,” 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.
She’s speaking out now, ahead of an upcoming state Assembly hearing over her proposed bill, which seeks full death pension benefits for the orphaned children.
“There are so many milestones and important moments that she should be here for,” said Villella. But, she added, “Her life was stolen from her.”
In the split-second that the bullet was fired from gunman Alex Brooks’ weapon and into Familia’s head, Villella, then 20, became a single mother to Peter and Delilah — her 12-year-old siblings, now adopted children.
For eight years, the singleton has dutifully parented the twins — schlepping them to doctors’ appointments, pulling homework all-nighters, hosting birthday parties, enrolling them in college — with a smile on her face, despite having sacrificed her own promising future.
“A part of me died that day, too,” said Villella of Familia’s execution. “I remember going to the hospital to see my mother dead and disfigured, after I’d just seen her alive and full of love a few hours earlier.”
But a shattered Villella didn’t have the luxury of spiraling in despair.
She’d just been thrust into instant motherhood with no full-time job, no money and no lifelong access to Familia’s death pension benefits.
“Everyone thinks that the children [of an NYPD officer] are taken care of and protected,” groaned Villella, whose mother served on the force for 12 years. “But the law, as it stands, is extremely discriminatory and punitive against orphaned children of first responders who die in the line of duty.”
She chose not to disclose the monetary value of Familia’s pension for privacy purposes.
However, surviving relatives of a cop killed in the line of duty are eligible to receive half of the officer’s final compensation, Special Accidental Death Benefits (SAD), the city’s Increased-Take-Home Pay (ITHP) — a percentage of an employee’s salary toward their pension — health and union benefits, at least $10,000 from the Police Relief Fund, and more, per NYC.gov.
Currently, those are exclusively awarded to the parents or spouses of fallen first-responders for life. Orphaned kids can only receive the funds until age 21. The law extends the age limit to 23, but only if the child is in college.
As it stands, Peter and Delilah — now 20 and juniors at an in-state university, studying finance and psychology, respectively — will be barred from receiving the support by 2028.
Villella deems the limitations on orphaned kids “inhumane.”
“They don’t expect parents or spouses to hold full-time jobs in order to get the benefits,” argued Villella. “My bill changes those restrictions.”
Her bill, sponsored by State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx), was passed in the Senate earlier this year. It was also greenlit by the City Council, which unanimously voted to approve a required letter of support.
The Assembly ultimately nixed the proposal as too costly, but it will be reintroduced during New York’s legislative session in early 2026.
If passed, it would only pay the family from that day, not retroactively.
Villella’s 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.
“I never want an orphaned child to go through what I’ve gone through. It’s pure torture,” Vilella lamented, adding that she’s received “really strong commitments” from some officials.
“Officers aren’t just officers — they’re people, and their children matter,” she insisted. “And the [current] laws don’t acknowledge families like mine.”
But her family is the first of its kind in New York’s history.
Familia, 48, a single parent, was the city’s first female cop to be assassinated in the line of duty.
And without her mother’s death pension benefits, nor a living parent as her guide, Villella — whose father, Nicola Villella, died in the American Airlines flight 587 crash in 2001, when she was 4 — dropped out of college at Falmouth University in the UK.
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.
Thankfully, some local charities rushed to their rescue.
Lauren Profeta, executive director of the nonprofit Answer the Call — founded in 1985 and lauded by VIPs such as Pete Davidson, whose firefighter dad died during the 9/11 attack — was one of the first to reach out.
“When a NYC police officer, firefighter, or EMT is killed suddenly in the line of duty, we immediately provide their family with $50,000,” Profeta told The Post. “The last thing we want a family to worry about during that unimaginably difficult time is their bills.”
Since 2017, Villella, Peter and Delilah have received ATC’s annual stipend of $11,000, which the trio will collect until the twins turn 25.
The money has helped cover Peter and Delilah’s college tuition.
“The best way we can honor Detective Familia is to help the people she loved the most, her children,” said Profeta.
Villella said Familia — the youngest of 10 siblings, but the first to earn a college degree — was committed to seeing her brood follow her academic footsteps.
“Education was paramount to my mom,” Villella remembered. “We called her ‘Super-Mom’ because of her determination to give us the best educations possible, and to cultivate an environment of unconditional love, support and encouragement at home.”
It’s the same uplifting atmosphere she’s strived to re-create for the twins.
“I was 17 years old when NYPD Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were murdered,” said Villella, recalling the December 2014 double assassination of the two uniformed cops. “My mom made me promise her that I would take care of Peter and Delilah if anything happened to her on the job. I’ve made sure to keep my promise to her.”
But it hasn’t been a breeze.
“I can’t even describe the experience of being in my early to mid-20s and raising teenagers. I was totally unprepared,” Villella admitted. “The process of getting custody of my younger brother and sister was really expensive, very distressing and humiliating.”
She scraped together money for an attorney and petitioned the family court system for full legal rights and guardianship over Peter and Delilah, but was left feeling like a common criminal.
“They did a background check on me, they fingerprinted me,” Villella cried. “But my love for them fueled me to do it.”
Villella missed a carefree lifestyle that most 20-somethings get to enjoy.
“I had to grow up really, really fast,” she said, joking that Peter and Delilah often treat her like an uncool, out-of-touch Gen Xer — even though she’s only eight years their senior. “I’m 28, but for the last eight years, I’ve felt like I’m 45.”
“I’ve shouldered all the responsibility and the trauma to protect them and give them a chance at a normal life under extremely abnormal circumstances,” Villella continued. “It’s been really hard.”
Her selflessness isn’t lost on the twins.
“Having my sister take the role of a parent was one of the most pivotal moments of my life, and also one of the biggest blessings in my life,” Peter told The Post.
“Genesis took on great responsibility and pressure that no 20-year-old would ever envision for themselves,” crediting her for making him a better man. “Through the trauma and the legislative battle, she still pushed through and showed me and my sister unconditional love.
“I will always be immensely grateful for her sacrifice.”
But as the twins approach young adulthood — both now the same age Villella was at the time of Familia’s assassination — Villella is slowly reclaiming her own identity outside of what she calls “white-knuckle” parenting.
In 2019, the dynamo completed her degree at Falmouth University, with Peter and Delilah cheering her on at graduation.
She now works as a marketing and communications professional for the Tunnels to Towers Foundation, which provides rent-free, mortgage-free housing to the families of slain cops and military service members, including Villella’s current apartment.
“A large part of my identity is being a mom to Peter and Delilah,” she said. “And even though they’re more independent, they’ll need me for the rest of their lives.”
As Villella awaits the next Assembly hearing, she’s busy mapping out plans for a potential future in law.
“Now that I have some time to shift some focus back to myself, I want to continue to fight,” the powerhouse continued. “I’ve always wanted to be an attorney.”
“Advocacy is something really important to me, and I want to fight for the orphaned children [of first-responders], making sure they’re just as valued, respected and protected as surviving parents and widowed spouses.”
Villella isn’t afraid of a fight, whether in a law school classroom or a courtroom.
“I’ve been a fighter my whole life,” she said. ”My mom raised me like that — to have a true New Yorker’s mentality.
“You pick yourself up by your bootstraps and just do it.”
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