All Brooklyn news
Neighborhood Map
Bay Ridge
  • Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights
Brooklyn Heights
  • Downtown, DUMBO
Carroll Gardens
  • Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Boerum Hill
Fort Greene
  • Clinton Hill, Crown Heights
North Brooklyn
  • Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick
Park Slope
  • Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights
GO Brooklyn
Dining Guide
Where to GO
Events calendar
Classifieds
The Brooklyn Wire
Not Just Nets
Police Blotter
Perspective
Parenting
Politics
Transit
Podcasts
Brooklyn Cyclones
Special sections
About The Paper
Mobile site
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feeds

Cops: The pizza deliveryboy did it!

The Brooklyn Paper

The boneheaded pizza deliveryman caught on security cameras scratching his cheesy tag into a Brooklyn Heights elevator has confessed to the vandalism, a police source told The Brooklyn Paper.

Cops say the defendant, Mohammed Ali, was caught carving “Dizzy CFM” into the wood-paneling of a Livingston Street apartment building between Court and Clinton streets on Oct. 17 — and the story was front-page news last week.

Ali, a former employee of Papa John’s, was collared within a week of the crime and he promptly confessed, said a source at the 84th Precinct.

“He was very remorseful,” the source said.

Perhaps so, but Ali’s lawyer said that her client has not pleaded guilty to the caught-on-camera crime.

“It’s not likely that he’ll comment because it could affect the case,” said Ali’s attorney, Megan Foley.

The man behind the “Dizzy CFM” scratchiti also did not respond when The Paper offered to become an online “friend” through Ali’s Myspace.com page.

That social networking site did reveal a trove of information about the suspect, including some fleet footwork in a dance video.

The accused vandal will be back in criminal court on Jan. 26 and it’s unclear if his lawyer will instruct him to adopt a rope-a-dope style of defense, like the prizefighter who shares his name, or do something the ex-champ never did — take a dive.

Meanwhile, the rental building’s owner where Ali was filmed scratching his alter ego in the elevator is still pressing for $3,200 in damages from the Papa John’s branch on Livingston Street where the deliveryman worked.

Some lawyers say that a judge is unlikely to hold the franchise owner responsible for his former deliveryman’s alleged misconduct, but the landlord says he’s been advised that his complaint will hold up in court.

“Papa John’s hired him, he was their agent,” said Michael Cantor, the owner.

Reader Feedback

Enter your comment below

By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:

You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

First name
Last name
Your neighborhood
Email address
Daytime phone

Your letter must be signed and include all of the information requested above. (Only your name and neighborhood are published with the letter.) Letters should be as brief as possible; while they may discuss any topic of interest to our readers, priority will be given to letters that relate to stories covered by The Brooklyn Paper.

Letters will be edited at the sole discretion of the editor, may be published in whole or part in any media, and upon publication become the property of The Brooklyn Paper. The earlier in the week you send your letter, the better.

Links