BLOTTER, WEEK OF JULY 2, 2012
Double homicide
Two women, one around 30 years old and the other about 70, were found shot to death when firefighters responded to a first floor apartment fire at 83 Henry St., near the Manhattan Bridge overpass, at 11:11 a.m. on Fri., July 29.
The victims were found lying near each other on the bedroom floor. The younger woman, shot in the temple, had been set on fire, while the older one was shot in the eye.
Another fire had been set in the kitchen.
As of press time Tues., July 3, there were no arrests, and police were still investigating the crime.
Neighbors said they long suspected there was illegal activity going on in the apartment and that a man was seen fleeing before the fire, according to a Daily News item. The News also quoted detectives saying they speculated that a scam operation targeting Asian women may be connected to the killings.
The building’s superintendent told the New York Post that he had never met any of the tenants from the apartment in question, and that he didn’t even know how many people lived in it.
In addition to apartments, the building has a funeral home on its first floor.
Cell phone and ID theft
Police who arrested two suspects shortly after 7 a.m. on Wed., June 28 for robbing a livery driver of his cell phone,found 91 fake credit cards and an ATM skimming device on the suspects.
Giscard Friedman, 20, and Charles Morais, 23, were arrested in the subway station at Essex and Canal Street, shortly after the livery driver was robbed. They were charged with multiple counts of robbery, identity theft and possession of forged instruments.
Did a Brody
A New York Water Taxi boat carrying 89 passengers came to the rescue of a man who jumped about 120 feet from the Brooklyn Bridge into the East River around 1:25 p.m. on Fri., June 29, according to items in the Post and Daily News.
Water taxi skipper Adonis Arias and his crew picked up the jumper and delivered him to the Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn.
The victim, 22, was reportedly taken to Bellevue Hospital but suffered only minor injuries.
Murder sentence
Joel Herrera, 22, identified by prosecutors as a member of the Latin Kings gang, was sentenced Tues., June 26 to 20 years in prison for the 2009 death of 21-year-old Glenn Wright.
Wright was fatally stabbed while he was washing his grandmother’s windows in the Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side.
Herrera, who has a previous conviction for arson, jumped Wright and stabbed him in the neck because he mistakenly believed the victim had beaten a friend of his.
Herrera was convicted in May of first degree manslaughter and first degree gang assault after an earlier mistrial.
Skimmer scam
Police arrested Mady Diakite, 34 shortly after 9:40 p.m. on Fri., June 15 for installing a skimming device in a Chase branch ATM on Broadway at Spring Street to steal customers’ personal identification numbers.
Diakite is charged with retrieving the skimmer after about 20 bank customers used the ATM for their bank transactions, according to reports.
BLOTTER, WEEK OF JUNE 27, 2012
Baldwin threatens Express photographer
Alec Baldwin, star of “30 Rock,” was accused of punching New York Daily News photographer Marcus Santos after Baldwin and his fiancée, Hilaria Thomas, came out of the Worth Street marriage license bureau on Tues., June 19. Santos filed a complaint against the actor at the 5th Precinct, according to the News.
The incident started when Baldwin threatened Jefferson Siegel, a freelance photographer who often shoots for the Downtown Express.
Siegel told the News, “He said, ‘Stay away from me or I’ll break your f—–g teeth.’ Then he grabbed my camera lens and tried to shove my camera to the ground.”
Santos then sprung to Siegel’s defense and told Baldwin, “Don’t touch him.”
Siegel photographed Baldwin’s attack on Santos, and his picture made the News front page on June 20. The following day, the New York Press Club issued a statement condemning the attack.
“Baldwin is a public figure. His activities — including in this case, the procurement of a marriage license — are legitimate subjects of media interest. Baldwin’s subsequent attack today on a reporter for Inside Edition, who was trying to ask questions about the previous day’s incident — Baldwin ran his bike over her foot — is deplorable.”
The statement ended saying, “Baldwin’s actions should not be tolerated. They should be exposed — and condemned.”
In an interview the following day with the Washington Post, Baldwin all but denied that he punched Santos.
“The guy lunged, and he almost hit me in the teeth with the lens of a camera,” he said. “So I just pushed the guy away, but they all make it like…they all…my favorite line was John Malkovich, who said, ‘They all scream like they’re political prisoners.’”
Stuyvesant H.S. cheating
A cheating scandal broke out at the elite Stuyvesant High School on June 18 when the principal, Stanley Teitel, found a student apparently getting answers on his cell phone while taking a test, according to the News and the New York Post. A Department of Education spokesperson said the matter is under investigation. Another student, who was found with pictures of tests on his cell phone and is suspected of supplying test answers to about 50 students, has been dismissed, according to reports.
Campaign HQ burglary
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s mayoral campaign office at 40 Worth St. was burglarized over the June 23-24 weekend and two laptop computers were stolen. Campaign workers are trying to determine which computers were not used personally by Stringer.
S.L.A. charges club violations
The State Liquor Authority has filed violations against W.i.P., the basement club at 34 Vandam St., and its sister club, Greenhouse, in the same building at 150 Varick St. regarding the June 14 brawl at W.i.P. in which eight people were hurt, including San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker, who sustained a scratched cornea. Lawyers for the two clubs are seeking to lift the temporary closing imposed by the police.
Arrest shooting suspect
Police arrested Michael Martin, 29, of Staten Island on Mon., June 18 for shooting a robbery victim on South St. near the Brooklyn Bridge around 12:45 a.m. Sat., May 26. The suspect and two accomplices not apprehended were robbing the victim, who was left at the scene with bullet wounds in the stomach and left leg. The victim required surgery and still has difficulty walking. Martin was identified in the Post as having several drug-related arrests.
Woman robbery suspect
Police arrested Sherma Benjamin, 35, shortly after 3:30 p.m. Sun., June 24 for the box cutter hold-up of a man who was sitting in a car parked in front of 94 Fulton St. waiting for a friend. Police found the victim’s cell phone and three other box cutters in the suspect’s possession when they arrested her.
Dressing room theft
A woman, 51, shopping at the Express boutique at 89 South St. around noon on Wed., June 20 left her wallet in the dressing room for a short time and discovered when she went back that it was gone. A witness said she saw a man go in and out during the interval. The victim learned that a $70 charge had been made at a nearby Pathmark on her credit card.
Ferry terminal assault
A Bronx man, 26, told police that a woman acquaintance hit him in the face with a bottle of ice in the South Ferry Terminal around 5 p.m. Sat., June 23. The victim said she had previously threatened him with a knife several times.
Playground robbery
Two robbers, one armed with a gun, held up a 15-year-old boy in the playground at Jefferson and Madison Streets, around 4:40 p.m. Tues., June 12 and fled with the victim’s cell phone and cash, police said.
Subway pickpocket
A man who works at 59 Maiden La. told police that when he arrived at work at 8 a.m. Tues., June 19 he discovered that his wallet was gone. He recalled being bumped by a woman while on the No. 2 train that morning.
Just for a rest
A Brooklyn woman, who was spending the afternoon and evening of Sat., June 23 walking around the Seaport area, sat down on a bench for a rest at South and Pine Sts. around 9:30 p.m. She discovered five minutes later that someone had made off with her bag, which was on the bench beside her.
Playground thefts
Two young men went to play basketball for a while around 1 p.m. Sat., June 25 and left their wallets on a bench at the playground opposite 20 River Terrace in Battery Park City. Their wallets, with $60 cash in one and $250 in the other, were gone when they went back for them a half hour later.
Bicycles stolen
A woman who locked her bicycle in front of 270 Greenwich St. near Murray Street around 11:15 a.m. Sat., June 23 discovered the bike and the lock were gone when she returned 25 minutes later.
A surveillance camera recorded the theft of a bicycle in front of 100 Church St. around 1:17 p.m. Thurs., June 21. The tape shows the thief riding the bike south on Church.
— Albert Amateau
