Blow at Flo
A man visiting Flo, the club at 150 Varick St. near Spring St., at 2:45 a.m. Sat. Nov. 25, got into an argument with another patron and suffered a fractured skull after he was struck unconscious with an unknown object, police said. His woman companion took him to her apartment but moved him to Bellevue at 4 a.m. when he did not fully regain consciousness. His condition was said to be stable.
Fake doctor sentenced
Dean Faiello, 47, who pleaded guilty Oct. 16 to aggravated assault that led to the death of Maria Cruz while she was being treated in Faiello’s unlicensed medical practice in Chelsea in April 2003, was sentenced on Dec. 4 to 20 years in prison.
Cruz had gone to Faiello’s office at 151 W. 16th St. to have a fungus removed from her tongue and went into convulsions after Faiello injected her with anesthesia. Faiello ignored the telephone advice of a doctor friend who told him to get Cruz to an emergency room. The patient died and Faiello took her body to his Newark home where he buried her under concrete, then fled to Costa Rica. The body was found 10 months later and Faiello was apprehended in Costa Rica in April 2004, extradited and indicted in May 2005.
Stabbed on Broadway
An argument between two homeless men on the sidewalk in front of 447 Broadway near Howard St. at 5:40 p.m. Sun. Dec. 3 ended when one of them stabbed his adversary in the chest with an unknown instrument, police said. The victim was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in stable condition.
Jewelry theft
A resident of 445 Broome St. near Broadway told police that jewelry valued at $66,000 was stolen from the top of a desk in her apartment on Sat. Dec. 2. The victim said she had movers from Mastro Van on the Upper West Side come in to take a bed to her mother’s apartment. She left them unattended for a half hour and when she returned she found the box with the jewelry missing. Police are investigating the case.
Gone from trunk
A man who parked his car on Greene St. near Houston St. on Sat. Nov. 25 returned at 11:15 p.m. and found that a thief had gotten into the trunk and made off with credit cards, a California driver’s license and a pair of new shoes, police said. There was no sign of forced entry.
Car break-in
A man who parked his car on Greene St. between Grand and Canal Sts. on Sat. Nov. 25 returned at 10 p.m. to find the rear passenger window broken, and his laptop computer, credit cards and Indiana driver’s license stolen, police said.
Homicide guilty plea
Michael Brown, charged with murder in the Sept. 21, 2005, shooting death of Thomas McKinney after an argument in Mission bar and lounge on the Bowery at Rivington St., pleaded guilty on Nov. 27 to a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter. Brown will be sentenced Jan. 18, 2007, and is expected to receive a 16-year prison term as a result of a plea bargain.
The shooting in front of the former Mission bar was the result of an argument with the victim inside the club over a spilled drink. A homeless man, Jeffery Dudley, 49, who was lying on the sidewalk at the time, was hit in the ankle when Brown opened fire outside the club. Brown had been arrested on a weapons charge before the shooting, and McKinney — who lived on Forsyth St. and worked at Burkina, a T-shirt store on E. Houston St. — was on parole after a gun conviction.
Serial bank theft
Police are seeking a man who stole a total of more than $5,000 from 17 people through their Bank of America ATM cards, four of them from Gramercy area branches, from Aug. 23 to the beginning of December.
The victims had left their cards in the ATM’s when the machines failed to return them and the thief was able to access the accounts later in ways that are still under investigation, police said.
One branch at 103 E. 23rd St. was struck four times, on Sept. 15, Sept. 20 and Oct. 7 and 31. An ATM next door at 107 E. 23rd St. was hit on Oct. 22. A branch at 123 E. 23rd St. was hit on Oct. 18 and another at Park Ave. S. at 23rd St. was hit on Oct. 5.
Surveillance cameras recorded an image of the suspect described as a black man, bald, wearing glasses and sometimes a baseball cap.
Photo equipment stolen
A thief who entered a camera distribution office at 38 Greene St. near Grand St. on Tuesday afternoon Nov. 28 made off with a Mamiya camera valued at $3,200 and other photo equipment, police said. The office was open at the time and employees said they noticed a man they assumed to be a messenger come in and leave between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Tunnel check
What police described as an investigation of a suspicious bag brought Bomb Squad officers to a Holland Tunnel entrance lane just south of Broome St. at about 5:20 p.m. Tues. Dec. 5. They closed the lane briefly and reopened it about 15 minutes later after the suspicions proved false.
Albert Amateau
