Volume One, Issue 29, April 06 - 12, 2007
Police Blotter
Naked truth
A federal jury found Salvatore Scala, 64, and his associate, Thomas Sassano, 61, guilty on Fri. March 29 of extortion and conspiracy to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from VIP Club, a strip club at 20 W. 20th St. A former Gambino crime family boss who testified at the trial said that adult entertainment clubs like VIP were targeted by the crime syndicate because of their enormous profits, as much as $400,000 per week. Scala and Sassano were being held pending a sentencing date.
Push-in robbery
A man and a woman followed a resident returning to his apartment at 215 W. 18th St. after walking his dog on Monday afternoon April 2. The couple pushed their way in and choked the victim until he was unconscious, police said. When he regained consciousness he discovered that $3,100 was missing from his dresser. The woman was described as Hispanic, 5’8” and weighing about 260 pounds, and the man was described as Hispanic, 5’8” and weighing 150 pounds.
Gang assaults
A group of four or five men attacked a Brooklyn man as he was walking on the 400 block of W. 26th St. in the Elliott Chelsea complex and left him unconscious on the sidewalk around 4 a.m. Sat. March 31, police said. The victim was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in stable condition. Police found a black leather jacket left at the scene with a postcard in the pocket addressed to Ignacio Ramirez of 426 W. 27th St. and arrested him.
A week earlier, a gang of about seven men attacked a man talking on a cell phone on the southwest corner of 10th Ave. and 26th St. at about 7:30 p.m. Sun. March 25. One of them grabbed the cell phone, and the gang scattered into Chelsea Park and the grounds of the Elliott Chelsea Houses, police said.
Elevator robber
A 69-year-old resident of a W. 27 St. building in the Elliot Chelsea houses was waylaid in the elevator on Saturday morning March 31 by a man who said, “Give me your money, Pop,” cut his trousers and stole his wallet with $137, police said.
Drug busts
Police stopped a car driving erratically on Eighth Ave. at 26th St. at 11:20 p.m. Sat. March 31 and charged the driver and passenger, Fabian Toledo, 20, and Jerry Valdez, 27, with drug possession after finding several plastic bags of cocaine and heroin.
Security guards at Crobar, 530 W. 28th St., arrested Teodor Faynblut, 24, at about 3 a.m. Sun. April 1 and charged him with trying to sell drugs, police said. The suspect had Ecstasy, Special K and $495 in his possession, police said.
Transit police arrested a woman in the mezzanine of the Eighth Ave. subway station at 14th St. at 4:30 p.m. Sun. April 1. The suspect had 19 glassine bags of marijuana, police said.
Repel boarders
Vandals broke into the cruise boat Spirit of New Jersey, berthed in the Chelsea Piers complex, around 4:50 a.m. Mon. April 2 and tried to enter the sister vessel, Spirit of Hudson, police said. The invaders apparently fled when the alarm sounded; nothing was reported missing.
Going on a picnic?
Employees of the Duane Reade at 322 Eighth Ave. at 26th St. stopped a woman on Sat. evening March 24 trying to walk out with for four cans of sardines, four cans of chicken salad, eight packs of crackers and five 20-ounce bottles of Sprite under her jacket, police said.
Second story job
The manager of an office at 203 W. 23rd St. noticed that the outside gate on the ground floor was rolled up when she arrived at 8 a.m. Mon. April 2 and the door to her office on the second floor was open, police said. The office was rifled but nothing was discovered missing, and the window at a fire escape was open, police said.
Penthouse burglar
A burglar got into an eighth floor penthouse at 460 W. 20th St. from a nearby rooftop door on Friday morning March 30 and made off with a laptop computer and an iPod, police said.
Assault arrest
Police arrested Anthony Robinson, 37, on Sat. March 31 around 1:45 a.m. and charged him with roughing up the owner of 512 W. 29 St. in front of the building.
Storefront smash
A thief smashed the window of a store at 255 W. 23rd St. at about 2:30 a.m. Tues. March 27 and made off with a box of 18 watches valued at $720 and 20 rosaries with tiger’s eye beads valued at $1,000 police said.
Cell phone robber
A mugger punched a visitor from Hoboken in the face as he was walking down Ninth Ave. at 18th St., at about 1:30 a.m. Sat. March 24, took his cell phone, and then punched a woman who came to the victim’s aide, police said.
Airbags, too
A man who parked his car on W. 20th St. between Ninth and 10th Aves. across from the General Theological Seminary at 11 p.m. Mon. March 19 returned the next day to find a door had been opened and the car’s DVD and navigation system, a digital camera and the two front-seat airbags had been removed, police said.
— Albert Amateau
