A Queens woman was beaten to death in her home by an upstairs teen tenant during a crazed quarrel over back rent, cops said Thursday.
Zoraida Leo, 55, was found dead inside her East Elmhurst home on Tuesday, cops said.
Police responding to Leo’s home on 96th St. near 32nd Ave. at 5:15 p.m. found the woman sprawled out on the floor with scratches on her face, cops said.
Cops quickly determined Leo had died from an assault and zeroed in on upstairs tenant Davi Vidal, arresting him the day her body was found, a police source said. Vidal, 19, attacked Leo during an argument over unpaid rent, cops said.
Cops charged Vidal with murder. His arraignment in Queens Criminal Court was pending Thursday.
A 61-year-old suspect has been charged with beating a fellow homeless man to death during a drunken clash at their encampment in a Brooklyn park, police said Monday.
Raul Hernandez was charged Saturday with murder and weapons possession, police said.
Hernandez allegedly attacked the victim about 1 p.m. Friday during a drunken argument at their encampment on a handball court on the Brooklyn side of Highland Park, cops said.
The victim may have been struck with a knife, police said, though a weapon was not recovered. from the scene near Jamaica Ave. and Cleveland St. in Cypress Hills, cops said.
Medics rushed the victim to Brookdale University Hospital, where he later died. He is believed to be in his 50s but police are still trying to determine his identity,
The killing may have been retaliation for a previous fight, cops said. A woman who lives nearby told the Daily News Friday the two men and a third man “argued sometimes about territory, who got to sleep where.” Her husband, who like his wife declined to give his name, said he had earlier in the day had beers with the victim and suspect.
“Me and my wife used to bring them food and drink beer with them, have a good time. I was with them earlier and we were just hanging out,” said the man. “When I came back I saw the police tape and one of them was dead.”
The victim was hit by several drivers in the center lane of the eastbound Bruckner Expressway near the Stratford Ave. pedestrian overpass about 9:10 p.m. Monday, police said.
When first responders arrived, they found his body torn apart by the passing drivers.
None of the drivers who hit the victim remained at the scene.
The NYPD Highway Patrol investigates after a body was discovered on the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx on Monday. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)
Police were trying to identify the victim and want to ascertain how he ended up on that section of expressway, which is bordered by fences and is difficult to get to on foot.
It’s not clear if the victim hopped a fence to get onto the roadway or jumped down from the Stratford Ave. pedestrian overpass, perhaps as a suicide attempt, a police source said.
A Bronx driver fatally struck a man on a scooter with her car in a suspected road rage attack, police sources said Sunday.
Victim Robert Jimenez, 23, was arguing with a 28-year-old woman driving a Honda Civic before she struck him on Fox St. near Intervale Ave. in Longwood about 2:20 p.m. Saturday, cops said.
Both Jimenez and the Honda driver were headed south on Fox and cops are investigating if the driver was chasing Jimenez when she hit him, sources said. Investigators believe the two were strangers.
Medics rushed Jimenez to Lincoln Hospital but he couldn’t be saved. He was about two miles from home when he was struck, according to cops.
Police took the woman into custody. She remains hospitalized and has not yet been charged with a crime.
A man was fatally shot in the back during a violent clash in Washington Heights, cops said Friday.
The 48-year-old victim was arguing with another man on Macombs Place near W. 152nd St. at 11:45 p.m. Thursday when the suspect pulled a weapon and opened fire, hitting the victim in the back.
EMS rushed the victim to Harlem Hospital, but he couldn’t be saved. His name was not immediately disclosed as cops track down family members.
A man was pronounced dead at Harlem Hospital after he was shot outside a deli on Macombs Place in Manhattan on Thursday. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
The gunman ran off on foot, cops said. No arrests have been made.
Cops on Friday were canvassing the area for surveillance footage that could help them identify the shooter.
The mayor planned to spend his morning serving pies and talking about Thanksgiving. Instead, he also found himself fielding questions on a far different topic.
“The accusation absolutely did not happen. I don’t recall who this person is. I never recall even meeting them. I spent my life protecting people,” Adams said.
In the lawsuit, a woman claims Adams sexually assaulted her when they both worked for the city and she is seeking at least $5 million. The suit does not provide specific details on the allegations.
It says, “The claims brought here allege intentional and negligent acts and omissions for physical, psychological, and other injuries suffered as a result of conduct that would constitute sexual offenses.”
It is one of three Adult Survivors Act lawsuits filed this week by New York City-based attorney Megan Goddard.
“But this absolutely never happened, and it’s just unfortunate,” Adams said.
CBS New York does not name people who claim to be sexual abuse victims unless they choose to publicly identify themselves.
The lawsuit is not just against Adams but also against the NYPD Transit Bureau and the NYPD Guardians Association.
CBS New York reached out to them, along with the attorney who filed the suit, and the accuser, but we have not heard back.
Tim McNicholas is a reporter for CBS New York. He joined the team in September 2022 after working in Chicago, Indianapolis, Toledo and Hastings, Nebraska.
Thanks for reading CBS NEWS.
Create your free account or log in for more features.
NEW YORK — Protesters temporarily interrupted the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as it marched through New York City.
The iconic balloons and marching bands had to veer around the demonstrators, who laid down in the street, but it did not stop the 97-year event from going on.
It’s not yet clear what the protest was about or if anyone was arrested.
CBS New York’s Jenna DeAngelis spent Thursday morning along the parade route, where the sights and sounds lit up the faces of all ages lined up to take in the near-century-year-old tradition.
She spoke with a family from Virginia, who said the parade lived up to its hype.
“It means a lot, because I’ve never see the Macy’s day parade and I’m so excited,” Syndney Abeyta told DeAngelis.
“Definitely in person versus watching it on TV. I grew up in California always watching it on TV, so being here is definitely a first-time experience,” Nacho Abeyta said.
“This is the best experience. We’re excited,” said Shermila McKinney of Mississippi, adding when asked if the parade lived up to the hype, “One hundred percent, yes!”
THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE: John Dias is out on the route, giving us a look at this year’s parade! 🦃
Posted by CBS New York on Thursday, November 23, 2023
There’s nothing quite like a front-row seat to see the six balloonicles, 31 floats, 18 performers, 29 clown crews, 11 marching bands, and more. Seven new featured balloons debuted this year, including Kung Fu Panda’s Po and the Pillsbury Doughboy.
“It’s special to be here, I love coming to the city,” said Brianna Laucella, of Wantagh.
Twins Donald and Ephram have their birthday coming up in two days. Donald has stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma. The parade is how he wanted to celebrate turning 8. The NYPD made it happen, giving him special access.
“To be able to celebrate my kids and have him with us another year just means everything and that’s what were grateful for,” mother and Staten Island resident Nickell Morgan said.
Ahead of the parade, the NYPD shared its safety measures, including new technology.
“Security begins the day after last year ends,” Commissioner Edward Caban said.
“We can send our drone truck to the location, get a bird’s-eye view of exactly what’s going on,” Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said.
“We’re able to monitor the balloons, keep an eye on people, and make sure everyone is safe,” Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey added.
Police said they plan for the parade all year, aiming for a safe and happy Thanksgiving for all.
NEW YORK — With officials concerned about New York facing looming threats of violence, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday morning announced new steps she’ll be taking to beef up security and deal with online threats and radicalization.
The governor outlined several initiatives to stop hate speech online from becoming hate crimes in the state.
Stopping online hate speech
Included in the plan is $3 million to ensure every college campus has a threat assessment and management team on site to identify threats, targeted ads offering help for parents to identify if their child is involved in hate speech online, and media literacy tools for all public school students to make them smarter about identifying misinformation online.
The intelligence center warns that the spread of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian rhetoric on social media is fueling an increase in hate crimes targeting Jews, Muslims and Arabs.
The report says, “The expansion of Israeli operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and increase in civilian casualties raises the likelihood that violent extremist threat actors will seek to conduct attacks against targets in the West, with New York state being a focus. Terrorist messaging has placed focus on attacking ‘soft targets’ such as protests, group gatherings, and other public events.”
Hochul spoke Tuesday about how the online threat assessment teams will work.
“They’re not looking at your Instagram sunset posts or your tweets about your favorite football team, and they’re not here to penalize anyone for their political views. They have a simple goal, to find out what’s driving hateful behavior and intervene early before harm is done,” the governor said.
She also said she reached out to social media companies to criticize them for not better monitoring hate online.
“They say they’re monitoring for hate speech and I’d say there are instances where you’re not successful. So, ramp up the number of people who are in charge of monitoring, because if my state police can find it, if college students can find it, the people you hire to find it should be able to do so and take it down immediately,” Hochul said.
“Are we living in a heightened threat environment? Absolutely. Are we seeing an increase in calls for violence? Absolutely. Those calls are coming from outside the country and inside, but there are no credible threats to the parade or to New York at this time,” said Jackie Bay, commissioner of the Department of Homeland Security’s New York State Division. “Everyone should feel absolutely safe going out there and enjoying the holiday.”
The governor pointed to the success of this month’s marathon as proof that her team is remaining vigilant about securing all large scale events happening in the city.
She is reminding all New Yorkers to be vigilant as well.
The NYPD says there are no credible threats to any New York event or to the city in general, but police are seeing increased calls to violence online, and the head of NYPD Intelligence and Counterterrorism told CBS New York’s Ali Bauman her office is monitoring that activity online and overseas to inform how their resources will be deployed for large events like the parade.
“Our heavy weapons teams, our blocker trucks, officers deployed throughout the route,” Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Weiner said.
The department is stepping up security for this year’s parade in part due to an assessment from the New York State Intelligence Center, obtained by CBS News, which points to an “increasing terrorist threat to New York State” since the war in Gaza began.
“What are you seeing and how are you monitoring all of it?” Bauman asked.
“Extremist and terrorist organizations across the spectrum, making statements, generalized calls to action, online rhetoric, real vitriolic rhetoric, some bias incidents, hate crimes,” Weiner said.
The state assessment warns terrorist messaging has placed focus on attacking “soft targets” such as protests and group gatherings.
“You have the parade you’re preparing for, you have heightened tensions and online rhetoric, you have protests popping up every other day throughout the city and on top of that are budget cuts the NYPD is dealing with. Is the department stretched too thin right now?” Bauman asked.
“We will not compromise on public safety, absolutely not. Not in this environment, not when there’s so much going on, so we want to reassure everyone we’re there to protect your safety day in day out and we’ll continue to do so,” Weiner said.
Weiner also told said the NYPD has an officer deployed in Tel Aviv giving her real time updates on the security situation there.
She says this ramped-up police security will last as long as needed based on the threat assessment overseas.
Reported bombs at separate Jewish sites caused alarm on Saturday and prompted NYPD as anti-Semitic incidents sparked by the war in Gaza continue to rise, police said.
First, police were called to Holocaust Memorial Park on West End Ave. in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, just before 10 a.m. when someone walking through the park found a grenade among the markers dedicated to Jews killed during the Nazi regime.
The NYPD Bomb Squad was called and ultimately cleared the scene after the grenade was found to be inert, an NYPD spokesman said.
An NYPD counterterrorism officer stands in front of Central Synagogue after a bomb threat was received on Nov. 11, 2023, in Manhattan. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
No one was injured and no arrests were made.
Less than an hour later, someone texted 911, claiming that he had left two backpacks filled with pipe bombs inside Central Synagogue on Lexington Ave. near E. 54th St. in Midtown.
Cops responded to the scene, but found nothing, cops said. The synagogue wasn’t evacuated.
The two incidents come as hate crimes against Jews in the city has nearly tripled during the month-long war in Israel.
Since Oct. 7, when a series of sneak attacks on Israeli communities near Gaza sparked the ongoing conflict, the NYPD has investigated 82 anti-Semitic incidents, 31 more than the previous year. That’s a jump of 164%, cops said.
NYPD officers responded to a bomb threat after a man called and stated he placed two backpacks filled with pipe bombs inside of the occupied Central Synagogue located on Lexington Ave. in Manhattan on Nov. 11, 2023. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
There have also been eight hate crimes against Muslims. This time last year there were none, cops said.
Throughout October, 69 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in the city, compared to 22 in October 2022 — a 214% increase, officials said.
Blowback from the war in Israel is a daily concern for Jewish New Yorkers, Bob Moskovitz, executive coordinator of the Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol in Brooklyn, told the Daily News Wednesday.
“We’re feeling it 100%,” Moskovitz said of the uptick in hate crimes. “Our hotline, which the community utilizes to report any incident has probably increased in this last month and a half by 300%. The phone is simply not stopping.”
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s veteran policy platform includes taking “a holistic approach” to aid veterans during and after their time in service, including making marijuana, ayahuasca, and MDMA accessible for veterans as part of the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Ramaswamy’s campaign shared his plan exclusively with Breitbart News before he officially unveils it on the trail in New Hampshire on Saturday, Veterans Day.
RELATED VIDEO — ”I Don’t Want to Lose You” Former Marine NYPD Officer SAVES Vet from Jumping Off Bridge:
NYPD/BODY CAMS+ /TMX
“As President, I will take a holistic approach to ensure Veterans receive the care they need to live long, flourishing lives — starting during their service and continuing in the decades that follow,” Ramaswamy’s policy plan states.
His plan for assisting in-service veterans includes creating “two-week decompression buffers” through the Department of Defense (DOD). This would be in a third location following a tour of duty separate from the United States and where the servicemember was in combat to ensure they“are able to slowly reacclimate to life away from the frontlines.”
He will also advocate for the DOD to implement guidelines encouraging servicemembers “to report PTSD under privacy protections” if elected. Under current guidelines, Ramaswamy believes “too many” servicemembers often do not report instances of PTSD due to fear of…
The NYPD has bolstered patrols in Chelsea Friday as they prepare for large crowds and possible mayhem over an energy drink company’s “golden bottle” contest similar to a recent PlayStation giveaway over the summer that ended in a riot, officials said.
Cops have set up barricades, keeping a careful watch as over-caffeinated fans of Prime Energy Drink enter a pop-up shop on W. 15th St. near Ninth Ave. and try their luck entering a six-digit code that will free a 24K gold Prime bottle from a bulletproof case.
The bottle is worth $500,000, Prime Energy Drink co-founders Logan Paul and Olajide Olayinka Williams “JJ” Olatunji said on Tik Tok.
A view of a solid gold PRIME bottle as Logan Paul visits “Varney & Co.” at Fox Business Network Studios on November 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
Paul and Olatunji, known professionally as KSI, have become internet celebrities as they use social media to hawk their energy drink. Their TikTok page has over 4 million followers and their Instagram page has nearly 2 million.
Logan Paul visits “Varney & Co.” at Fox Business Network Studios on November 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
In August more than 5,000 people showed up at Union Square after Twitch star Kai Cenat announced that he was going to be giving out free PlayStation consoles.
Cenat and four others were arrested on misdemeanor crimes and an additional 60 people were given summonses for disorderly conduct.
Union Square Riot
Barry Williams for New York Daily News
People are pictured in Union Square on Friday, August 4, 2023 in Manhattan, New York. More than 5,000 people showed up at Union Square after Twitch star Kai Cenat announced that he was going to be giving out free PlayStation consoles. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)
Holding up a copy of the Daily News’s coverage of the riot, Cenat condemned his followers’ actions and the mayhem they caused.
“I don’t condone any of the things that went on that day,” he said.
A vigilante gunman is on the loose after opening fire on a homeless man trying to rob a woman in a Times Square subway station, police said Wednesday.
Nobody was struck when shots rang out inside the 49th St. station about 10 p.m. Tuesday.
The mugger was holding open an emergency exit gate near the turnstiles when he told a 40-year-old woman if she didn’t hand over money he’d steal her purse.
That caught the attention of the gunman.
“Leave her alone,” the vigilante said, then fired twice, thwarting the robbery attempt, according to police. The gunman got away and is being sought..
Police arrested 40-year-old Matthew Roesch for the mugging. He was charged with attempted robbery.
Roesch, who has been staying at a homeless shelter by Bellevue Hospital, has one prior arrest, for theft of service at the Times Square-W. 42nd St. stop on Sept. 18.
The gunman is described as light-skinned and in his 40s. He wearing black shorts and a green shirt.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
A neighbor of the Brooklyn man gunned down alongside his stepdad in a deadly dispute over noise from their apartment remembered the younger victim Thursday as deserving of a better fate.
Chinwai Mode, 27, was a “polite young man,” the 38-year-old resident told the Daily News. “Didn’t do nothing wrong. No problems. He would help me bring in my groceries, my laundry … That kid didn’t give no problems.”
Mode was shot to death last Sunday alongside his father Bladimy Mathurin, 47, in a caught-on-video double-homicide in which Jason Pass opened fire to end a long-running noise complaint against the neighbors living above his mother’s apartment, police said. Pass, also 47, was himself shot to death Wednesday morning on a Brooklyn street after charging at police officers with a knife in his hand, cops said.
Chinwai Mode was shot and killed in a fourth-floor hallway outside his apartment on Sunday in Brooklyn.
The neighbor said he believed Pass confronted the two victims with murder on his mind.
“Everything was ready to go,” he said. “That gun was already cocked. He came for blood … I wish the streets caught up with him. But he got what he deserved.”
A 27-year-old female neighbor said the senseless shootings left her feeling bad for everyone involved.
“Three lives lost because of a noise complaint,” she said. “I feel like it just got to a point it shouldn’t have gotten. I don’t think he should have gone up there with a gun if it was just going to be a complaint.”
An online fundraising effort was launched to raise money for the Mathurin family to relocate from the building where the twin homicides occurred, noting their once-happy home had now become a crime scene. The gunman’s mother was also still residing one floor below the mourning family.
“Imagine having to relive the gruesome death of a loved one at the hands of a murderer every time you walk into your apartment,” read the appeal. “That’s the reality of Bladimy Mathurin’s widow, his 10-year-old daughter, 18-year-old son and 23-year-old daughter who witnessed the earth-shattering executions.”
The body-building father “was a source of inspiration and an example of gallantry for his son, Chinwai, a music lover whose light will be deeply missed as well,” the message continued.
A high-ranking police source told The News that cops have yet to find the gun Pass used to kill his two victims inside a hallway of their East Flatbush Gardens building. The weapon was not inside the car driven by the suspect before his deadly confrontation with the NYPD, the source indicated.
Pass served eight years in the U.S. Army, deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq while earning numerous medals, his sister told The News. He also worked at the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 attacks.
“He was a brother, an uncle, a son, a cousin,” she said. “If I could turn back time, I would. But he’s in heaven with his father.”
Another building resident told The News that he wanted to move out of his apartment in the aftermath of the murders. The 34-year-old neighbor said he had a similar issue with noisy neighbors, adding the walls and the floors of the residence were too thin.
“When I heard the situation was exactly like mine, I was shocked,” he said. “It’s because of disrespect. This is the lesson for all of us. It’s all about the respect.”
The on-the-run Brooklyn man wanted for shooting two upstairs neighbors to death over noise complaints was nabbed after being shot by NYPD cops early Wednesday, police sources said.
About 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, cops found Pass on Bay 44th St. in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, sources said.
Bladimy Mathurin (left) and his stepson, Chin Wai Mode (right), were shot and killed in a fourth-floor hallway outside their apartment on Sunday in Brooklyn.
Pass was shot by officers as they tried to arrest him, a police source said. Pass was armed with a knife when he was shot, a second police source said.
Pass, who often stays with his elderly mother in the apartment directly below Mathurin’s fourth-floor pad on Brooklyn Ave. in East Flatbush, had long complained about the noise the family upstairs was making, according to police.
A woman who identified herself as Pass’ older sister on Tuesday confirmed the ongoing quarrel but claimed Mathurin and his family had threatened her mom and brother prior to that.
On the night of the killing, Pass went upstairs simply to talk to Mathurin “about the jumping and moving furniture and all these situations,” she claimed.
Pass is seen pulling a pistol with a green laser scope and opening fire on Mathurin as the victim’s back was turned.
Surveillance video shows deadly shooting of father and stepson in Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn bodybuilder was talking to his wife, who was begging him to go back inside when Pass started blasting away, the video shows.
Just moments earlier, the two men stood toe-to-toe as Mathurin held a pair of scissors to Pass’ chest, but the gunman appeared to be in no immediate danger when he pulled his gun and started firing.
Mathurin was repeatedly shot in the back and the head as he ran back to his apartment. Mode, Mathurin’s stepson, was fatally shot trying to run to the hallway staircase, the video shows.
The victims were arguing with each other in a fourth-floor hallway of the troubled Flatbush Gardens complex in East Flatbush when the killer opened fire about 10:35 p.m. Sunday, cops said. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
After shooting both men, Pass didn’t make a quick escape. Instead, he called the elevator and waited about 20 seconds for it to arrive, the video shows.
Pass had a short-lived career as a corrections officer at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Westchester and was terminated in 2005, according to Department of Corrections and Community Supervision spokesperson Thomas Mailey.
The suspected gunman was fired from the department in June of that year, the same month The News reported he’d pulled a pistol on two plainclothes police officers in a road rage incident on Ralph Ave. in Flatlands, Brooklyn.
An ex-con busted in an August murder at a troubled Brooklyn public housing complex pointed out the victim to the shooter, then helped chase the doomed man into a lobby, prosecutors allege.
Thomas Nimmons, 26, played a key role in the murder of Dawuand Darrien, even though he didn’t fire the bullets that left the 29-year-old victim bleeding to death Aug. 12, according to a criminal complaint.
A witness saw Nimmons and the shooter walking together in the courtyard of the Sumner Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant at 2:40 a.m. When Nimmons saw Darrien, he told the unidentified gunman, “It is him,” the complaint alleges.
Man Dead After Brooklyn Shooting
Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News
Dawuand Darrien, 29, was outside a NYCHA apartment building on Vernon Ave. near Marcus Garvey Blvd. around 2:40 a.m. on Aug. 12 when he and a friend became embroiled in a shouting match with two other men, witnesses told police.(Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
Darrien bolted toward a building on Vernon Ave. near Marcus Garvey Blvd. around 2:40 a.m., making it into the lobby before Nimmons and the shooter caught him, prosecutors allege.
Video footage from the lobby shows the shooter opening fire as Darrien collapses, while Nimmons also holds a gun in his hand, according to the complaint.
Darrien was shot in the chest, and a bullet ripped through his lung, pulmonary artery and vein, according to the complaint.
Nimmons was released from prison in April after serving almost four years for criminal possession of a controlled substance, assault and attempted robbery, public records show.
Tamesha McCall
Rebecca White for New York Daily News
Tamesha McCall, 47, an aunt of Dawuand Darrien, cries at his family home in Brooklyn, NY, next to a photo of her nephew on a poster board. (Rebecca White for New York Daily News)
He was arrested Friday and charged with murder and weapon possession charges, and was ordered held without bail at his Brooklyn criminal court arraignment.
A message to his lawyer was not immediately returned Monday.
Darrien was shot after he and a friend became embroiled in a shouting match with two other men, witnesses told police. The fight may have involved a drunken girl heard screaming outside, building tenants told the Daily News in August.
The Sumner Houses have been plagued by violence in recent weeks. On Sept. 30, Kyle Forde, 28, was shot to death, and two of his friends were wounded by bullets, in a courtyard at the housing development. And on Sept. 4, three men and a woman were wounded in a broad-daylight shooting near a basketball court at the complex.
Nearly four decades after they were busted for the New Year’s Day murder of a French tourist in Times Square, two childhood friends who have long professed their innocence appear to be on the brink of finally clearing their names.
In an Oct. 6 letter a top prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office asked a judge for a “pre-motion conference to discuss an anticipated motion to vacate the convictions” of Eric Smokes and David Warren.
The letter from Terri Rosenblatt, head of the Post-Conviction Justice Unit (PCJU) said the DA’s office is “prepared to concede … that there is newly discovered evidence that creates a reasonable probability of a more favorable outcome …”
Eric Smokes (l.) and David Warren (r.) are pictured at the defense table in State Supreme Court on Jan. 14, 2020 in New York. (Alec Tabak for New York Daily News)
The Daily News first wrote about Smokes and Warren, childhood buddies from East New York, in 2017, when their lawyers were planning to file a motion to vacate their convictions.
They were busted Jan. 8, 1987, a week after 71-year-old French tourist Jean Casse was mugged and robbed outside Ben Benson’s steakhouse on W. 52nd St. a few minutes after midnight on the morning of Jan. 1.
Smokes, then 19, and Warren, then 16, said from the start that they went with friends to Times Square to celebrate the new year and that when Casse was attacked they were outside the Latin Quarter nightclub, four blocks away from the steakhouse. They then headed further south because they didn’t have enough money to get in.
Casse, visiting the city with his wife and others — was heading back to his room at the Plaza Hotel with his group when he was knocked to the ground with a punch and struck his head on the ground, causing injuries he would die from later that day. His wife, Huguette Casse, 65, was not hurt.
Based largely on eyewitness testimony, both teens were charged with murder and convicted. Smokes, accused of punching Casse, was sentenced to 25 years to life, and Warren, accused of rifling through the victim’s pockets, got 15 years to life.
“I just went into shock,” Warren recalled when The News first interviewed him. “I might have been in shock for two years, honestly.”
Eric Smokes, right, and David Warren listen to arguments in court Thursday, January 3, 2019 in Manhattan. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)
In 2005, Smokes got a letter in prison from James Walker, the prosecution’s key witness.
Walker, 16 at the time, was busted for a mugging a day after Casse was killed and told a detective he had done robberies with Smokes and Warren, and that Smokes earlier on Jan. 2 said he’d “caught a body” in Times Square.
The letter, an apology in which he said he told the police what they wanted in exchange for preferential treatment in his own case, was all Smokes needed to hear.
“There was only one way to go,” Smokes told The News in 2017. “Getting out and just letting it go, sucking it up — ’25 years is just 25 years’ — that wasn’t an option for me.”
Eric Smokes testifies in court Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019 in Manhattan. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)
Warren was released from prison in 2009, Smokes in 2011. They found steady work in construction, married the women they were dating and set out to clear their names.
Their lawyers found two other witnesses who recanted, saying they had been pressured by police and prosecutors to pin the murder on Smokes and Warren.
“They kept asking me who did it,” Robert Anthony testified in 2018. “I kept telling them I didn’t know. I didn’t do anything. And they said, yeah, well…If they didn’t do it, you did it.”
After repeatedly saying he saw Casse on the ground but not who attacked him, Anthony testified that after 12 hours of being grilled he finally told cops what they wanted to hear.
“I was scared,” he explained.
The other witness, Kevin Burns testified that as he was being questioned for an unrelated robbery on Jan. 2, 1987 he said he was outside the steakhouse the night before and saw Casse confronted by Smokes and Warren.
When he then tried to take back that statement, explaining he had lied, he said an assistant district attorney told him it was too late, vowed to out him as a snitch if he didn’t stick with his original story and promised he’d get no deal in his own pending case.
“I lived with this lie,” he said at the 2018 hearing. “Everybody has something in their life they’re ashamed of and wish they had a chance to rectify. This is my chance to rectify this lie that I told 30 years ago.”
David Warren in State Supreme Court on Jan. 14, 2020 in New York. (Alec Tabak for New York Daily News)
Antignani said Smokes and Warren had not “established their innocence through clear and convincing evidence” and he agreed with Assistant District Attorney Christine Keenan, who had argued that neither police nor prosecutors involved in the original investigation pressured witnesses.
Witnesses Anthony and Burns were “not credible,” the judge said in his ruling, and he gave only “limited credence” to Walker’s claims, which he repeated in an affidavit, but was not able to testify to because he died after getting shot in an unrelated incident.
But as the lawyers for Smokes and Warren, James Henning and Pierre Sussman, prepared to appeal, the DA’s office changed course. The PCJU, formed by District Attorney Alvin Bragg, decided to review the case, sharing information and witness access with defense lawyers.
PCJU’s Rosenblatt in her letter said “new evidence” had emerged — including photographs “which were misplaced and not found until after” the motion to vacate hearing. Smokes is listed as 5 feet 10 inches tall and 230 pounds — not 6 feet tall and skinny, as witnesses told police at the time.
There were also leads to other suspects that were not turned over, with Rosenblatt pointing out that there is “no evidence” the DA’s office was aware of this during the vacate hearing.
Rosenblatt also notes an account from someone who in statements revealed for the first time he said he was “99% confident” he was with Burns the entire night and that neither of them were outside the steakhouse; a contention from a witness who in 1987 placed Smokes and Warren at the crime but now said he made that claim because cops had threatened to charge him if he didn’t; and so-called “scratch notes” that were located in another file that suggest police fed Anthony facts, including Warren’s name and photo, before he identified him as being involved.
“The People do not take the decision to consent to vacate two homicide convictions lightly, and come to this Court with significant deference to both the jury verdict and the prior litigation,” Rosenblatt said in her letter. “The People are aware of the resources that went into both, and the thoroughness of the Court’s prior decision.
“However, based on the newly-discovered evidence, the People believe that the only legally correct and just outcome is to move to vacate these convictions.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if Henning and Sussman would contest whether the evidence found during the review constitutes a Brady violation, which is a failure to turn over to the defense exculpatory evidence and could constitute malfeasance.
The lawyers said they, Smokes, now 56, and Warren, 53, wouldn’t comment until a decision is made in the case.
The DA’s office had no comment on the letter.
A decision in the case is not expected for at least several weeks.
NEW YORK — A 7-year-old boy was struck and killed by an NYPD tow truck while on his way to school with his mother Thursday in Brooklyn.
Surveillance video shows the boy, identified as Kamari Hampton, riding a scooter on a crosswalk at the intersection of North Portland and Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene. The tow truck driver didn’t immediately stop after striking Kamari.
“I’m devastated. I was coming to get my baby’s breakfast this morning and the tow truck hit that little boy. He had a crosswalk. He was coming through the crosswalk, he had the right of way, on a scooter,” said Antwon Hayes.
Witnesses watched in shock and then ran to help Kamari, but it was too late.
The NYPD said initially that the driver stopped immediately at the scene, while witnesses said otherwise.
“She hit that little boy and kept going. I had to tell the housing workers to stop her, from her to keep going. The mother’s screaming hysterically, ‘They killed my baby!’” said Hayes.
Witnesses said the driver was on her cellphone, speeding and ran a red light.
“I think I was crying more than her, because to see devastation like that, she just kept screaming ‘They killed my baby.’ And it’s unimaginable. I can’t imagine my grandbaby that played with him every day in the park being here, laying down like that,” said Tyrana Carter.
“Our heart goes out to the family of that young boy and his mother, his school, his teachers who were also on the scene, a very tough scene to be at this morning,” said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey.
Police tell us the truck driver, a 56-year-old woman who is a member of the NYPD, has been arrested.
Mayor Eric Adams said on social media Thursday night, “We will do whatever it takes to keep our streets safe.”
“This is the 25th child to be killed on Mayor Adams’ streets,” Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris said.
Harris says the Adams administration is behind schedule on street safety plans.
“Because of decision being made by this administration that are withholding street safety projects, it means that beautiful child will never come home again,” he said.
According to Transportation Alternatives, nine children were killed in traffic violence in New York City in 2020 and this was the 103rd time a child was killed in a traffic crash since 2014.
“How do we make sure that we have more crossing guards across the city?” said New York City Council Member Crystal Hudson. “We have to hold the NYPD accountable the same way we expect to hold every other New Yorker accountable for obeying traffic laws.”
Residents who spoke to CBS New York’s Doug Williams said they’ve never seen crossing guards at the intersection, which they call dangerous.
“I’m just a parent in this area, but we’ve had so many conversations regarding safety for our students while they walk to school,” Fort Greene resident Shawneke Pass said.
Balloons were released late Thursday afternoon in honor of Kamari, and throughout the evening, many Fort Greene residents stopped at the intersection to pay their respects by adding to a growing memorial.
“And you just think, what if you were walking your child to school and they’re hit and killed?” New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said. “We need the community to remember what happened here today.”
One woman we spoke to said she didn’t witness what happened, but worse, her kids did. She took a moment to be at the memorial in honor of Kamari before returning home to put her kids to bed and talk to them about what they were forced to witness.
A Coney Island game booth employee had a losing day in Brooklyn court Wednesday when a judge sentenced him to 13 years for shooting a co-worker he thought was stealing his customers.
Joseph Colon, 38, who worked at Jumbo Prizes in Luna Park, shot his fellow booth worker Alfredo Perez in the chest on Sept. 10, 2021 as several boardwalk-goers, including children, were enjoying the late summer night, a Brooklyn jury found.
Police respond to a shooting on Stillwell Ave. and W. 12th St. in Coney Island, Brooklyn, on Friday, September 10, 2021. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)
Colon and his victim were both working as recruiters for the game booth, and they got a few bucks for each customer they brought in, according to law enforcement sources. About a week before the shooting, he accused the victim of stealing one of his customers while he was on break, the sources said.
That argument was part of a longstanding beef over who got to recruit the game stand’s customers. On the night of the shooting, Colon was already there when Perez showed up for work.
He took what prosecutors described as a “tactical position behind the booth,” pulled out an unlicensed gun, and shot Perez once in the chest.
Colon got out of the booth, briefly pursuing the victim before ducking down Bowery St., then was caught on video taking off his camouflage hoodie and walking into Nathan’s Famous, where he tossed the garment in the trash.
Police recovered the hoodie, which had his DNA on it.
Colon then headed to his Coney Island home, and “he waved to people, and shook the hands of acquaintances, and hugged and kissed neighbors along the way,” Assistant D.A. Michael Boykin wrote in his sentencing letter to Quirk.
He then fled to a relative’s home in Temple, Penn., staying there until his capture by the NYPD’s Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Police respond to a shooting on Stillwell Ave. and W. 12th St. in Coney Island, Brooklyn on Sept. 10, 2021. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)
Perez almost died, but was discovered by a random pedestrian and saved by an ambulance crew who happened to be in the area handling another patient, Boykin wrote.
“This shooting at Coney Island’s Luna Park was an outrageous act of violence that nearly killed a man and put many more people in harm’s way,” Brooklyn D.A. Eric Gonzalez said Wednesday.
Colon’s lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
A detective based in Israel has been able to provide timely information that has allowed his NYPD colleagues to better protect New York City as war rages on, a top department official said Monday.
Detective Charlie Benaim, part of the NYPD’s International Liaison Program, said he works closely with various Israeli law enforcement agencies, most notably the Israeli national police, to relay to 1 Police Plaza timely intel, “so that way our executives can have a good understanding of what’s going on in Israel and how things that are happening here may impact our city.”
Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence & Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner, speaking during a Zoom call with reporters and with Benhaim, who was in an office in central Israel, said any overseas terror attack always prompts what she called “the New York question.”
NYPD Counterterrorism
Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News
NYPD Counterterrorism Deputy Chief Rebecca Weiner speaks next to Police Commissioner Edward Caban.
“What would this attack look like it it were to happen in New York?” she said. “How can we protect New York City better? What lessons can we learn from these jurisdictions around the world on how to better protect New York City?”
Weiner said, without adding specifics, that Benaim’s intel enabled the NYPD to “surge resources based on what we’re seeing overseas to protect New York’s infrastructure.”
He has been in Israel for 16 years, four years before the NYPD first started its liaison program. Funded by the Police Foundation, it sends cops to 16 posts around the world, all but three outside the United States.
Benaim said he’s been out of harm’s way and that life in many ways goes on as normal outside the conflict zones.
Weiner said that while New York City remains on high alert, there are “no credible threats.”
The great-aunt of a teenager who jumped in the East River kept a sad watch Sunday over the lower Manhattan waterfront as police divers conducted their third day of searching for the missing boy.
Alena Godfrey, 60, believes her 13-year-old grandnephew, Kavion Brown, was goaded into jumping Friday by his friends as a dare.
“They need to go into social media, into these schools, and find out what kids was with him,” Godfrey said. “Because quite a few kids, I’m hearing, was with him.”
Kavion jumped into the water off East River Park near E. 6th St. just after 4 p.m. Friday, sparking a search including boats and divers from the NYPD Harbor Unit and an Aviation Unit chopper. As of Sunday, the boy still has not been found.
“He took his clothes off. He was in his basketball shorts and he went over in the water,” Godfrey said. “He never came back up.”
Godfrey, who lives in Midtown, stood sentinel by the river because Kavion’s grandmother — her sister —asked her to be there if police pull his body from the water.
An NYPD patrol car was parked on the pedestrian walkway near joggers and people with fishing poles as a soccer game was played on a nearby field.
“We watched the scuba divers and everything,” Godfrey said of the start of her vigil Saturday. “We kept watching and then when the sun was going down, you know, it’s not too much that they can do. We went home. I got up this morning. I did the same thing.”
The divers searched the water while the tide was low on Sunday.
“This water here, it’s a death trap,” she said. “I’ve said to these people, y’all need to do something about these fences and this water.”
Sergio Perryman, 32, a Manhattan resident and frequent parkgoer, said the water looks deceptively safe.
Rebecca White for NY Daily News
Alena Godfrey, 60, stood and watched the river Sunday, wondering if her 13-year-old grandnephew, Kavion Brown, was goaded into jumping Friday by his friends.
“If you fall into that, that could be rough,” he said. “You can see only a couple of inches deep and then there’s no telling what lies underneath in terms of debris, whatever, and then on top of that there’s virtually no exit points.”
Godfrey described Kavion as a typical, sports-loving teen and the oldest of four brothers.
“He’s a regular child,” she said. “He love his sports. He plays basketball. He plays with his brothers. They go to school every day.”
Kavion started high school this fall, she said.
“He listens to music. He plays video games. He loves his video games. But he’s a quiet child and he’s not a street child. He’s not a street child. They’re family oriented. Everything they do together,” she said.
“His family and his parents stay on top of him…. Those kids have Christmas every year, Halloween every year. They take them to a lot of amusement parks. They go to a lot of outdoor activities. They go go-kart riding and laser tag.”
“We need to know what happened,” she added. “My sister is not going to let this go. She said she needs to know what happened to her grandson.”
