Home firebombed
Some gang payback and a few bottles of booze led to a dangerous conflagration at a local home this week.
Officials said that three people threw Molotov cocktails — liquor bottles with makeshift fuses — into a home where an 18-year-old Latin King member lived on 57th Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway. The bombs set off a small fire after they were lobbed through an open window at 11:45 p.m. on March 1.
The blaze was put out in a matter of minutes. No injuries were reported.
Responding investigators soon connected the alleged fire bombing to 18-year-old Casimiro Reyes.
Reyes, a resident of Bensonhurst who is also a reputed Latin King member, allegedly attacked the teen’s home because the victim violated a gang rule, according to prosecutors.
He was arrested the next day and charged with arson in the first degree, attempted murder, criminal mischief and endangering the welfare of a child. His two accomplices were still at large a this paper went to press.
Butcher shooter busted
Investigators have arrested one of the men allegedly responsible for last year’s shooting at Romeo Brothers Meats and Foods.
Prosecutors said that 36-year-old Andrew Gibson was taken into custody on March 3 after being connected to the December 18 shooting at the 15th Avenue butcher shop.
Officials alleged that Gibson and another man entered the store near 78th Street at 4:30 p.m. and pulled a gun on the wife of the owner, who was putting in a few hours behind the counter.
“This is a robbery and we’re going to kill you,” one of the thieves threatened as he pointed a gun at her head and forced her to empty the till.
The suspects were fleeing the store with $10,000 when Gibson allegedly turned around and shot the woman in the back.
When the owner returned a few minutes later, he found his wife lying on the floor, writhing in pain.
Paramedics rushed the woman to Lutheran Medical Center, where she was treated for internal and stomach injuries.
After a three-month investigation, cops tracked down and captured Gibson, a Crown Heights resident, charging him with attempted murder, assault and robbery.
Cops grab GPS goons
A week after cops admitted that neighborhood car break-ins were at an all time high, three young men were arrested for allegedly swiping GPS devices in Dyker Heights.
Officials said that 17-year-old Bakay Uulumarat, 19-year-old Alex Lebedev and 22-year-old Aleksand Buratevich were all taken into custody at 6:45 a.m. on March 8 after they were seen allegedly looting a car on 81st Street near 11th Avenue.
Witnesses called police after they saw the three men allegedly “trying door handles” on every car they passed. When they found an unlocked Mercedes Benz, they went inside, swiping a GPS device, police alleged.
Responding officers stopped all three men, allegedly finding five stolen GPS devices in Lebedev’s backpack. At least one of the three men was armed with a knife, police said.
Cops charged the three men with criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
Not quick enough
A neighborhood woman nearly lost her cash during a confrontation on Fourth Avenue.
Police said that the woman was holding a sum of money in her hand near 86th Street just before 11 p.m. on March 7 when Dominick Poveromo, 22, allegedly ran up to her and grabbed her hand in an attempt to get the money.
Poveromo fled the area empty-handed, but didn’t get far. He was arrested on charges of attempted grand larceny, officials said.
Bank blues
Cops have arrested a 47-year-old man who allegedly tried to bilk nearly $6,000 from a neighborhood bank.
Officials alleged that Ashraf Hassan went to the Roosevelt Savings Bank on Fifth Avenue and 81st Street back on December 10, 2009 and deposited a check for $5,840 into his account.
He then withdrew $300 from an ATM and wrote out a check for $2,700 before bank employees realized that the account the $5,840 check had been written from had been closed, police alleged.
The scam fell apart this week when cops took Hassan into custody, charging him with grand larceny, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Caught weaving through town
A 25-year-old motorist was nabbed on drunk driving charges last week when he was caught weaving along the Belt Parkway, police alleged.
Police said that Frank Campo was pulled over in a 2005 Jeep Loredo with Pennsylvania plates on the Belt near the corner of Fourth Avenue and 65th Street at 4:30 a.m. on March 4 after he was seen allegedly “swerving in and out of traffic lanes.”
Campo was reportedly unsteady on his feet and reeked of alcohol, according to prosecutors. He also had his license suspended in New York seven times.
Cops took Campo into custody without incident, charging him with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence.
Noise nightmare
A 72-year-old woman’s complaints about a noisy neighbor were answered by the neighbor’s boyfriend, who jumped and choked the senior until she shut up.
The woman, a resident of 84th Street between Seventh and Tenth avenues, told police that after a particularly noisy night, she knocked on her neighbor’s door at 10 a.m. on February 28 to ask her to quiet down.
Her neighbor’s boyfriend answered the door and attacked her after a short exchange, cops were told. The boyfriend reportedly pushed the senior to the floor and choked her, leaving slight injuries.
Cops were looking for the male as this paper went to press.
Vacation grab
A return from a month-long vacation ended on a sour note for a Colonial Road woman last week.
The woman said that she returned to her home near 68th Street on February 25 to learn that someone had tampered with the lock to the front door.
When she stepped inside, she realized that all of her windows were unlocked and open.
A laptop computer and $500 were taken, officials said.
