[Rodd]

Everyone on Staten Island thinks they're in the mob I swear. They should t hrow the book at these tools...

Another night in jail for suspects from fireworks melee
Posted by Staten Island Advance July 05, 2007 4:42PM
Categories: Courts
The 19 people who were locked up after a raucous Fort Wadsworth Fourth of July party that turned ugly when police tried to stop an illegal fireworks display will have to spend another night in jail as they await arraignment.

Late this afternoon, authorities were still sorting out the paperwork on the charges those arrested would face, while their relatives seethed in the back row of Stapleton Criminal Court.

"They're doing this purposely, so they spend more time in jail," fumed one man outside the courthouse, who refused to give his name.

Police arrested 18 men and one woman, many of them for inciting a riot, and issued summonses to 11 more outside 23 Fillmore Pl. in Fort Wadsworth, after they refused to stop launching fireworks despite three separate warnings given throughout the evening, according to police.

When cops returned a fourth time and started making arrests at around 11 p.m., the partygoers fought back and yelled profanities, police said.

Inspector Richard Bruno, the commanding officer of the North Shore's 120th Precinct, tried to approach the alleged ringleader of the fracas, 50-year-old Gabriel Scianna, who lives at 23 Fillmore, cops said.

But Scianna slammed his front door on Bruno's leg, cutting his knee, and a few seconds later, according to police, several partygoers held up their fists and assumed fighting stances.

"Mr. Scianna had turned his block into a circa-1980s Howard Beach-type of environment. And our message is that, on the Fourth of July, that type of conduct will not be tolerated," Bruno said. He also suffered glass cuts of his elbow.

"Howard Beach" was a pointed reference to the fireworks spectaculars that Godfather John Gotti staged most years in Queens.

In 1991, federal authorities arrested Scianna, who lived in Brooklyn at the time, accusing him of being a member of a Colombo crime family death squad, Advance records show. Scianna pleaded guilty to a gun charge in 1992.

In 1993, he was indicted along with William (Wild Bill) Cutolo and five other reputed mob associates, charged with murder conspiracy and accused of plotting hits during the Colombos' civil war. A jury acquitted all seven a year later.

The worst of the struggle happened inside 23 Fillmore, cops said, with people jumping on officers and trying to pull them away from making arrests.

"It was a donnybrook. They were all drunk," said one police source.

At its height, close to 100 police officers were seen swarming the street, leading out dozens of partygoers in cuffs.

Assistant Chief Albert Girimonte, the borough's top cop, said four other officers went to the hospital for minor injuries. In one instance, a partygoer yanked hard on the hair of a female sergeant, he said.

The sheer number of arrests, and the fact that the incident happened late Wednesday night, meant prosecutors weren't able to draw up the necessary papers before the end of business, said William J. Smith, a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

"There was an extensive number of interviews that had to be done," Smith said. "Additionally, Staten Island is the only borough that does not have a night court for arraignment."

But several partygoers and Fillmore Place residents called the delay deliberate, accused the cops of brutality and threatened to file formal charges with the NYPD and take legal action.

They charged that cops came tearing into a crowd of calm and collected revelers, Macing partygoers, cuffing a girl with Down syndrome and bruising a 69-year-old woman.

Fillmore Place, a tightly packed, narrow street barely more than a few hundred yards long, was desolate today, a sharp contrast to the raucous activity of the night before.

The only evidence of the ruckus was large piles of dampened red paper in the street, the debris of expended fireworks.

The residents of 23 Fillmore Pl. initially wouldn't talk to reporters -- at one point, a woman threatened to stab a reporter in the neck and sic a dog on him -- but they eventually filed onto the porch to dispute how police said the night went down.

Referring to Girimonte's assertion that his cops got an A-minus for the success of their fireworks crackdown, Danielle -- the daughter of the homeowners, who declined to give her last name -- said that she gives them "an A++ for brutality."

She claimed that, earlier in the night, cops said they could shoot the fireworks off after 10 p.m. Several other neighbors repeated that assertion, but none of them could provide the names of the officers who gave them permission.

"We lost all our rights," said family friend Ruth Eisenberg, of the Heartland Village section of New Springville. "It felt like, in another minute or two, they were going to start shooting us."

Some partygoers admitted shooting off fireworks in the streets, but contended that the party was meant to give their kids something fun to do in a safe, controlled environment.

"It was just fireworks, it's not like they were shooting off bombs or something," said Ms. Eisenberg.

Heartland Village resident Cheryl Carini said she was "Maced three times, and I don't know for what."

She accused the police of assaulting her 20-year-old daughter, Annmarie, who has Down syndrome.

Annmarie was thrown down, had a knee shoved in her back and was handcuffed, Ms. Carini alleged.

"She could have had a heart attack and died," said Ms. Carini.

Girimonte painted a different picture of the police response, saying that Annmarie was inside 23 Fillmore, spewing profanities at police, then jumped on an officer, sending the officer and herself sprawling to the ground.

"She was not arrested. She was not placed in cuffs," Girimonte said.

And he scoffed at partygoers' assertion that they got "permission" to use the fireworks after 10 p.m.

"No way. Come on!" he said. "No police officer is going to tell them that after 10 o'clock it's OK. What kind of nonsense is that?"

News of the mass arrest even caught the attention of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spoke with Donovan about the incident, said Jason Post, a Bloomberg spokesman.

"The mayor supports efforts by the police to suppress disorderly behavior and improve quality of life," Post said.

Donovan also backed the police actions Wednesday night.

"These allegations demonstrate a brazen disregard for the law as well as for the safety of members of the Police Department," Donovan said. "Whether it was from the mayor's office, the police or my office, citizens were given ample warning that there would be zero tolerance for the use of illegal fireworks."

Joseph Bujka, 25, of the 600-block of Klondike Avenue -- who a month and a half ago was shot in the leg in Eltingville -- is accused of using a mortar pipe to detonate fireworks.

Bujka also got charged with riot, resisting arrest and other charges, as did the following people, as identified by police:

Vito Bucaria, 18, of the 100-block of Sheraden Avenue, Meiers Corners
Michael Bujka, 22, of the 600-block of Klondike Avenue, New Springville
Nicholas Casalino, 17, of the 1100-block of Rockland Avenue, New Springville
Louis Galletta, 19, of the 400-block of Bard Avenue, West Brighton
Brian Guarigia, 23, of Fillmore Place, Fort Wadsworth
James Laborante, 19, of the 200-block of Braisted Avenue, New Springville
Michael Laborante, 16, of the 200-block of Braisted Avenue, New Springville
Vincent Langella, 45, of Fillmore Place, Fort Wadsworth
Joseph Longueira, 17, of O'Gorman Avenue, Great Kills
Salvatore Marotta, 24, of Fillmore Place, Fort Wadsworth
Theodore Marotta, 23, of Fillmore Place, Fort Wadsworth
Paul Militello, 21, of the 100-block of Vassar Street, New Springville
Asaf Ofri, 22, of Travis Avenue, New Springville
Adam Rottenberg, 18, of Bogota Street, New Springville
Gabriel V. Scianna, 18, of Fillmore Place, Fort Wadsworth
Louis Zachariades, 16, of Vassar Street

-- Contributed by John Annese

[Rodd]

It's getting better hahaha I love the look on this fucking idiots face, and the expression on the cops face as well.


Another classic... how many cops does it take to stop teh evil fireworks!


http://www.silive.com/

[Scorned]

The cop on the left.. he's... HE'S MADE OF LIGHT

[Kzin]

Yeah, it's not like we pay taxes to have cops stop drunken yahoos from burning down our homes, who do they think they are???

I love how EVERY SINGLE person on that list is Italian except one, and that's only probably because his mom is the Italian one Glad our Italians (my fam) moved to R.I. instead!