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Crime & Safety

Year In Review: Top Crime Stories of 2011

Robberies rose 40 percent in the 76th Precinct in 2011

 

This week Carroll Gardens Patch is looking back at some of the biggest stories of 2011.

We continue today with crime. This year was a difficult one in the 76th Precinct. Overall crime rose eight percent, and robberies rose forty percent. Residents reacted by attending outreach meetings with the police, , and creating in order to stay safe.

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Curiously, the spike in criminal activity in the area does not reflect a citywide trend—felonies rose by only a quarter of a percent in New York this year. NYPD Captain Jack Lewis of the 76th Precinct believes that the most likely explanation for the jump in crime is the changing demographics of the area.

At a , he noted that the majority of robbery victims in the neighborhood are young professionals who moved here only recently. Thieves target these individuals because they are more likely to be carrying valuable electronics such as iPhones and iPods, Lewis said.

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Unfortunately, this year's crimes included not only robbery, but also homicide. Here are some of the top stories, in chronological order.

Deadly shooting at psychedelic art gallery

A carpenter named Tajeme Sylvester, 31, was last January while making renovations at a new age art gallery near Hamilton Street in Red Hook. Sylvester was working in a space known as the “Lotus Temple of Visions” run by a self-described “space age herbalist” named Divine Elohim, who was out of town when the shooting happened.

An unknown assailant attacked Sylvester and shot him in the head and the chest. A police source told the New York Post that Sylvester most likely knew his attacker, since there were no signs of forced entry. No arrests have been made and the case is still open.

Police officer dies in line of duty

A ten-year veteran of the NYPD in March after being pushed over a railing on St. Marks Place in Boerum Hill.

Officer Alain Schaberger, 42, was responding to a domestic violence call at 4:22 AM when the incident happened. While trying to handcuff career criminal George Villanueva, also 42, Officer Schaberger was pushed over a metal railing and onto a flight of stairs nine feet below, breaking his neck.

Thousands of officers of Islip for Schaberger’s funeral. In their eulogies, Mayor Bloomberg referred to Schaberger as a “quiet, gentle soul”, and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly added that “Alain gave his life in performance of his one duty: protect the public.”

Villanueva pled not guilty on the charge of murder in April. He remains in prison awaiting trial.

Pizza man stabbed and charged with attempted murder

Locals reacted with a mixture of fascination and disgust following the daytime knife fight between Mark Iacono, owner of the popular pizza joint, and longtime acquaintance Benny Geritano in April. The two men during the Smith Street fracas. Both have made a full recovery.

Iacono and Geritano were both , but charges were dropped when both men . The cause of the fight is unknown—one popular theory involves a love triangle, another says it was over a monetary debt—and neither man is talking.

Geritano is a well-known associate of the Gambino crime family, and he returned to prison in October for failing a drug test and violating his probation. Luckily for Iacono, customers have not been deterred by his brush with death and business at Lucali continues to thrive.

John Katehis convicted in brutal murder of WABC newscaster

After his first trial ended in deadlock, a second jury Queens teenager and self-described "Prince of Darkness" John Katehis of murdering WABC radio reporter at his Carroll Gardens home in 2009. Katehis received the of 25 years.

In 2009, a 16-year-old Katehis responded to an ad on Craigslist, visiting Weber’s apartment expecting to be paid for sex. After a rough sexual encounter, he stabbed Weber 50 times. Throughout both trials, Katehis’ attorney argued to no avail that he was acting in self-defense.

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