The trial against state Sen. Marty Golden’s nephew — who is accused of viciously assaulting a cop in a boozy Bay Ridge bar brawl in 2010 — starts this week, but attorneys say a jury may not render a verdict on the grueling, witness-heavy case until mid-March.
“We will definitely be doing battle over the next month,” said attorney Arthur Aidala, who is representing Daniel Golden. “There are a lot of witnesses and a very professional career prosecutor [is handling the case].”
Daniel Golden, three of his cousins and another friend were all arrested for participating in the April 10, 2010 brawl, but they will be tried in separate courtrooms.
Aidala would not comment on his defense strategy, claiming that he is still preparing it. The jury was being finalized today, he said.
“[The prosecutor is] still turning evidence over to us,” Aidala explained. “I’ll be up writing my opening statement until [the morning of trial].”
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes refused to touch the case, handing it over to a Queens special prosecutor. State Sen. Golden (R–Bay Ridge) was not involved in the fight, but the fact that the defendant is related to a borough legislator created a conflict of interest, a Hynes spokesman said.
Prosecutors allege that Daniel Golden and his cousins, Kevin Crowley, Michael Crowley and John DeCarlo, with Peter Jung, who is unrelated, got into a ferocious 2:40 am brawl at the Kettle Black on Third Avenue.
Witnesses told investigators that DeCarlo allegedly punched an off-duty cop during an argument inside the bar, prompting off-duty firefighter Rosario Cicero and off-duty Port Authority Police Officer Ryan McCarthy to jumped to the officer’s defense.
Golden backed DeCarlo as bouncers threw everyone out of the bar.
Once outside, McCarthy tried to jot down one of the suspect’s license plate numbers, but DeCarlo, himself the son of an NYPD detective, attacked him, even though the Port Authority officer had his police shield out, officials said.
“I don’t give a f—k,” DeCarlo screamed as he and Golden allegedly pounded on McCarthy, leaving him with a broken jaw. Cicero was also injured after someone involved in the brawl sliced open his arm.
DeCarlo and Golden were arrested for assault, while Jung and Kevin Crowley were charged with menacing.
State Sen. Golden, a former cop himself, has never commented on the case, but the brawl sparked a minor skirmish in a long-simmering political war between the veteran legislator and Councilman Vincent Gentile (D–Bay Ridge).
A week after the Kettle Black brawl, Gentile put out a press release claiming that he “teamed up with the NYPD to ramp up police efforts at late-night hot spots over the weekend” and — in an obvious swipe at the law-and-order Golden — called such bar fights “unacceptable.”
The special enforcement was overblown, however: it had been scheduled weeks in advance of the Kettle Black brawl — and Daniel Golden’s arrest.
