Meat Market shooting
An argument between two female friends partying in the crowded Gansevoort Market district ended during the early hours of Sat., July 14, with two gunshots fired into one of the women’s abdomen and the arrest several hours later of the rapper Remy Ma, whose real name is Remy Smith.
The victim, Makeda Barnes-Joseph, 23, taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in stable condition, identified her assailant, with whom she had been celebrating the birthday of a mutual friend at Pizza Bar, a bar/restaurant on Ninth Ave. near 14th St., just north of Old Homestead steakhouse.
Smith, 27, surrendered at the Sixth Precinct around 8 p.m. the same day in the company of her lawyer, Scott Leemon, and denied the charges of first-degree assault and attempted murder. She was freed on $250,000 bail pending an Aug. 14 court date.
According to witnesses, the party broke up shortly before 4 a.m. when Smith charged that Barnes-Joseph had stolen $3,000 from her bag. Barnes-Joseph was sitting in her car on Washington St. south of 14th St. at the time of the shooting. Police later found a Cadillac Escalade registered to Smith wrecked and abandoned two blocks away at Little W. 12th St. and 10th Ave.
Smith was a Grammy nominee in 2004 for the hit “Lean Back,” made when she was with the Terror Squad.
Barnes-Joseph, a Manhattan real estate broker, was quoted in the daily newspapers as saying she was horrified after the shooting when Smith immediately went to her bag to look for the stolen money. The victim denied stealing the money from the rap star.
Saved from attacker
A woman on her way to visit a friend on Clinton St. near E. Houston St. at 10:30 p.m. Sat., July 7, was followed into the building lobby by an unidentified man in his 20s who grabbed her from behind, according to police. The victim, 24, screamed and the attacker fled when her friend, who was coming down the stairs, came to the victim’s aid.
D train menace
An off-duty police officer arrested Emmanuel Alers, 19, of Brooklyn, on a northbound D train at Grand St. on Sunday afternoon July 15 for menacing a fellow passenger with a knife during an argument. Alers flew into a rage, tore an advertising card from its place, hit his adversary with it and then pointed a knife at his throat, according to District Attorney Robert Morgenthau’s Office. The off-duty officer in the next car saw the incident, arrested Alers and turned him over to transit police at the Grand St. station. Alers is charged with menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.
Jail for hit-run
Darian Peddie, 20, of the Bronx, was sentenced to 30 days in jail in connection with a hit-and-run and assault on a bicycle deliveryman on Bethune and Hudson Sts. on May 25. He was arrested July 1, pleaded guilty on July 6 and was sentenced the same day. According to the charges, the victim was knocked off his bike and sustained a broken leg when Peddie’s car struck him from behind at 11:20 p.m. Peddie got of out the car, yelled “I told you to get out the way, you f—–g Mexican,” and then punched the victim in the face before fleeing.
Village subway death
A 30-year-old man jumped onto the tracks at the Christopher St. subway station shortly after midnight Monday, July 16, ran into the tunnel and was struck and killed by a northbound No. 2 train, police said. The victim had no identification, police said, but a New York Post item said the man ran into the station after he made a pass and was rebuffed by a waitress at a nearby bar where he worked.
East River floater
The body of an Asian man, about 43, was found floating in the East River off Pike St. near the Manhattan Bridge at 12:30 p.m. Mon., July 16, police said. The Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the cause of death.
Extortion charge
A man and a woman were arrested on Fri., July 6, and charged with extortion for threatening the landlord of a building on Union Square to force him to lease them the building at half the current rate, according to the office of D.A. Morgenthau.
Joseph Strillacci, 46, and Arcolis Caraballo, 39, were charged with extortion and grand larceny in connection with the lease of 857 Broadway at 17th St. on the west side of Union Square. Strillacci had told the owner on June 28 that he wanted to lease the property for 10 years at $22,000 per month for the first year with annual 3 percent increases. The current estimated rate for comparable property is $45,000. Strillacci is charged with threatening to hurt the landlord unless he signed the lease on the suspect’s terms. Strillacci made several subsequent phone calls threatening to kill the owner unless he complied, according to the charges.
The landlord alerted the district attorney’s office and on July 6 Caraballo picked up the signed lease from the landlord and took it to Strillacci at a nearby coffee shop where police arrested both suspects. Strillacci is being held pending arraignment later this week, and Caraballo was freed on her own recognizance pending an Oct. 24 court appearance.
Albert Amateau
