Slain in Chinatown
Responding to a report of a fight in a building on Catherine St. near E. Broadway at 1:15 a.m. Fri., Oct. 3, police found the body of a man on the 12th floor stairwell of the building. The victim, identified later as Narcascio Vargas, 34, was shot once in the head and was taken to New York Downtown Hospital where he was declared dead. Vargas was a resident of Smith Houses.
L.E.S. stabbings
Police responded to a call of a fight in a building on Stanton St. near Suffolk St. around noon on Sat., Oct. 4 and found Rafael Vega, 43, in the stairwell with a stab wound in the leg. The victim, who had asked a passing tenant in the building for a cigarette as he lay bleeding on the stairs, was taken to Bellevue in stable condition.
At 1 p.m. the same day, police responded to a call on E. Fourth St. about a man with stab wounds in his hands who was taken to Bellevue. Police were investigating whether the incident was connected to the stabbing of Vega. The New York Post reported that Vega had served time for drug sales and weapons possession.
Robbed sleeper
Police arrested José Dejesus, 54, and Rafael Rodriguez, 40, in the Chambers St. City Hall subway station at 4 a.m. Sun, Oct. 5 and charged them with robbing a man, 25, who was sleeping on a northbound train. Dejesus, a resident of E. 106th St., took the wallet from the sleeping victim’s waistband while Rodriguez, a Bronx resident, acted as a lookout, police said. Both were charged with grand larceny and Dejesus was also charged with possession of stolen property, a spokesperson for District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said. Bail was set at $2,500 for Rodriguez and $7,500 for Dejesus pending an Oct. 10 court appearance.
Littlejohn trial
Jury selection was completed on Wed., Oct. 6 in the Queens trial of Darryl Littlejohn, 43, for the kidnapping of a York College student four months before the Feb. 25, 2006 kidnap, rape and murder of Imette St. Guillen, a John Jay College student whose body was found off the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn.
St. Guillen was last seen at The Falls, a bar at 224 Lafayette St., Manhattan and Littlejohn, a bouncer at The Falls, also faces charges in the St. Guillen murder.
Prosecutors have asked Judge Gregory Lasak permission to discuss Littlejohn’s past criminal record if he takes the stand in the York College kidnap trial.
That victim, 19, managed to break out of a moving van after she was kidnapped and beaten in October 2005, according to the charges. The defendant’s criminal record dates from when he was 12 and snatched the bag and $49 from a 70-year-old woman. He spent 20 of the past 27 years in prison on 10 separate convictions, according to the Queens District Attorney.
— Albert Amateau
