News: Murder Trial for LI Multi-Millionaire

(Long Island, N.Y.) The murder trial for a forty-two-year-old Dix Hills man and co-owner of the Synergy Fitness chain was scheduled to begin this week. The multi-millionaire was arrested from his Dix Hills mansion in September of 2008 for three separate incidents of murder. The trial was initially delayed due to the dismissal of multiple jurors.

The crimes date back to June 23rd, 1994 when he was suspected of orchestrating the robbery of an armored car. Along with at least two other co-conspirators, he allegedly held up a check-cashing van in Muttontown for $100,000. The forty-seven-year-old armored guard was shot and killed, and is survived by his now sixty-three-year-old widow from Lindenhurst.

Though he wasn’t deemed to be the man to pull the trigger in the heist, the man who did was allegedly associated with a notable crime family. Following the crime, the shooter bragged about the armored car stickup in addition to a separate crime involving the break-in of Filene’s Basement in Manhasset. After getting arrested for racketeering offenses in New Jersey, the gunman was shot and killed on August 12th 1994.

Police believed that the Dix Hills millionaire was behind the killing and had attempted a cover-up. Authorities have stated that in addition to co-owing the chain of gyms on Long Island and New York City, the man lead a life of burglary and car theft. The gunman’s body was dumped in a plastic tool trunk/crate and found thirty miles off Fire Island by US Coast Guard officials four days after the murder.

A second co-conspirator of the 1994 robbery was the brother-in-law of the front man to a 1980s popular heavy metal band called Twisted Sister. His sister was a costume designer, and he worked in Queens in construction. He was killed August 13th, 2003 by a bullet between the eyes on his way to work. Authorities believe this was the second act of murder belonging to the cover-up attempt.

Supporting this theory is the alleged DNA evidence linking the gym co-owner to the original robbery. At the time of the incident, at least one eyewitness claimed to have spotted the robbers fleeing in a red Blazer getaway car with Florida license plates. Police recovered the vehicle nearby, which had been scrubbed clean, and proceeded to have it stripped for evidence.

In July of 2000 FBI officials on the case got a court order to compare the DNA from the hair strands recovered from the vehicle to that of the Dix Hills millionaire. The match proved similarities between the samples, but was deemed inconclusive. Nonetheless, authorities say that the results were enough to worry their suspect and caused him to talk about the previous murders with the second co-conspirator. The co-conspirator is believed to have made an audio recording in 2000 of a conversation discussing the millionaire’s guilt in the scandal prior to his wrongful death.

FBI officials claim that the cover-up attempts only aided their arrest. Instead of getting away with the original crime, the suspect will now face greater charges. Authorities assigned to this case claim that the cover-up murders did nothing but give him a fresh trail.

The former gym co-owner pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in the US District Court in Central Islip. He was held without bail and was scheduled for a second court appearance a few months following his arrest in 2008. According to some reports, his trial was originally supposed to begin on March 22nd of this year.

News: Update for Gilgo Beach Victims

(Long Island, N.Y.) The search for missing person Shannon Gilbert has continued as of seven this morning. Last week, police involved with the investigation discovered a fifth set of remains about a mile from the area where four female remains were discovered last December. Since last week’s finding, authorities have determined that the remains are human, and that they don’t belong to Gilbert.

Today’s search will span for twelve hours and shut down areas of Ocean Parkway including all westbound lanes from the Nassau/Suffolk County border to Tobay Beach. The area at Captree Bridge will also be shut down, and police have suggested that residents wishing to visit Jones Beach from those areas should search for alternate routes. Today’s endeavor includes a full-scale investigation involving cadaver-sniffing dogs and a vigorous search for evidence. Police will start at Oak Beach and move west to the county line.

It has not been determined if last week’s remains are linked to the four women who have been identified as victims of a serial killer. Many questions remain including the gender of the remains and the duration of time they had been buried. It is unknown whether the fifth set of remains was also found wrapped in a burlap sack like the others.

The fifth body was found on March 29th west of Cedar Beach and a mile east of Gilgo. Reports claim that a police officer from the Marine Bureau discovered the remains while he was scanning the dunes from his vehicle. He had been driving slowly along Ocean Parkway at the time of the discovery. Both the Homicide Canine Marine Bureau and the Aviation Bureau have been involved in the search.

Since then, the remains have been taken to the County Medical Examiner’s office in Hauppauge. Members of the Homicide Squad from the Suffolk County Crime Lab, County Police I.D. Section, and Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner have all been helpful in identifying the remains. Police expect more information leading to identification in the near future.

On March 31st authorities determined that last week’s remains did not belong to Gilbert, the twenty-four-year-old Jersey City woman that has been missing since May 1st of last year. All of the bodies were found after police had been looking for Gilbert; the first was discovered on December 11th, 2010. The original discovery was made three miles west of the Robert Moses Bridge at a quarter to three in the afternoon.

About two days after the first set of remains was discovered three more were spotted within five-hundred feet of each other. Some reports stated that they all belonged to petite Caucasian women and were buried equidistant from each other. Two days after authorities discovered the second set of findings, the FBI offered its forensic services to assist investigators with the case.

As part of the investigation into Gilbert’s case, a resident of a gated seaside commune in the area told police that a woman came to his door at about a quarter to five in the morning at the time of her disappearance. According to reports, he claimed that she fled before he could access police, and that a man in an SUV drove by looking for her shortly after. Neither was seen again, and some reports stated that police had seized a white SUV from an Oak Beach residence as a part of their initial investigation.

The resident claimed that the woman appeared ‘disoriented’ and was pleading for help. The person who supplied Gilbert with transportation to the area said he waited for her for an hour before leaving. According to reports, the client she was scheduled to visit was questioned several times by police before he was released without charges and ruled out as a suspect. His car and home had also been searched by authorities.

News: Long Island Safety Tips

(Long Island, N.Y.) Since the disaster in Japan has led Long Islanders to consider their own preparedness in the face of Mother Nature, many are evaluating individual safety plans. Long Islanders have always been under threats of flooding and erosion due to the proximity to a major body of water. Should a terrible disaster ever reach the Long Island shores, it’s important for residents to keep on the side of caution.

One important tip for Long Island residents is to continually monitor local media reports and heed instructions from government officials. Research shows that residents who keep attuned to updates in storm changes and weather patterns are able to make more informed decisions when it comes to their safety. Experts say that being proactive is the best defense against natural disasters.

It’s recommend that every Long Island residence should have at least one kit equipped with essential supplies for a minimum of three days. Some items that should be included in the kit are containers with bottled water, flashlights, can-openers, paper plates/utensils, and a radio. Non perishable food such as dry milk, boxed drinks, peanut butter, canned meats/tuna, beans, bread/crackers, cereal, and dried fruit should also be included.

In addition to a supplies kit, it is also recommended that every home have a first aid kit and a bag with hygiene supplies and a change of clothes. Blankets and pillows can go a long way, and a spare stash of important documents can also be useful during an emergency situation. It may be essential to keep handy credit cards, IDs, heath insurance cards, and cash in the face of a natural disaster.

In the case of an evacuation, it’s recommended that Long Island residents plan exit routes in advance and avoid taking the shortcut roadways. Roads are often blocked during an emergency, making it useful to plan a refuge destination. Out-of-town emergency contacts should be alerted and kept accessible at all times. For children, it may be helpful to draw maps of the house and assign a meeting place for the whole family in the event of a disaster.

For the protection of homes, a good investment could be on storm shutters, window-securing devices, and plywood for makeshift protection. Attaching plywood to windows and roofs in the anticipation of damage could help to keep your home safe from a storm. It’s also important to trim all trees and bushes in the area of the home and stow away all lawn furniture to prevent further damage.

In preparing a possible getaway vehicle in the event of an emergency evacuation, keep keys handy and fill the gas tank. Try to limit the amount of cars to one per family in order to avoid the congestion of roadways. It may be useful to have battery-operated lanterns and fire extinguishers stocked in cars as well as the home.

For Long Island homeowners who have purchased flood insurance, it may be helpful to take pictures of your home before and after the storm hits in a way to document the damage. In the case of flooding, make sure that all electrical units are unplugged before leaving the house. If evacuating, keep in mind that most public shelters won’t allow pets, and never return to your home until authorities declare it’s safe to do so.

If you’re forced to stay at home during an emergency situation, it’s important to avoid windows and keep to higher grounds, especially so in the case of floods. Last year’s Nor’easter left 250,000 Long Island residents without power. Since then, over $7 million has been put into improving Long Island emergency response systems.

News: Recent Tragedies on Long Island

(Long Island, N.Y.) A fire ravaged a four-story building in Brooklyn on Monday killing three residents. Among the deceased were a fourteen-year-old and a three-year-old girl. A sixty-two-year-old man was also killed in the blaze that broke out in the building’s top floor.

The incident occurred in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn near Putnam Avenue. Police estimate that the flames ignited at roughly five-thirty that night, causing at least sixty firefighters to respond to the call. The fire was brought under control and flames were extinguished within an hour.

In addition to the fatalities, two firefighters were stabilized after suffering from smoke inhalation. A forty-seven-year-old man was brought to a local hospital in critical condition, and at least three others were injured from the blaze.

Though it hasn’t been determined what caused the fire, police say that the origins of the fire are suspicious because it didn’t begin near a fire source. Authorities believe that the fire started in the building’s stairwell and some reports claimed that it may have even been started by young children in the building who were known to play there.

In a separate story, a fifty-nine-year-old motorcyclist from Farmingdale was killed after he crashed into a car in Hicksville. The man was riding on a 2010 Harley Davidson and traveling east on Duffy Avenue at roughly a quarter past three on Tuesday afternoon. The man was rushed by ambulance to the Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, but was pronounced dead roughly forty minutes later.

In a different incident, a forty-four-year-old recycling plant worker from Westbury was crushed into heavy machinery while on the job. The type of equipment he was operating was called a debris sorting conveyor belt, and he was an employee at the Emjay Environmental Recycling building in Brentwood. The man was trapped inside the machine and stuck within the belt after his arm got lodged while operating the system.

The man’s coworkers alerted police at roughly four-thirty on Tuesday afternoon and emergency responders arrived shortly after. They told authorities that the man was last seen alive roughly three and a half hours earlier. He was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel who first responded.

The Town of Islip Fire Marshall’s Office will be handling the investigation into this work-related fatality. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration will also be looking into details concerning the case. According to statistics obtained by a national workplace census from 2009, at least 4,340 fatal injuries are reported in the United States each year. That number has decreased significantly from the 5,214 work-related fatalities reported in 2008.

A factor involved in the decrease of the total annual fatal work injuries is the economy. The total hours worked in the United States fell by at least six percent in 2009. Experts estimated that an even sharper decrease was experienced in the construction-related fields. In the private construction sector, hours worked yearly fell at least sixteen percent.

Similar statistics estimate that transportation-related incidents accounted for at least two-fifths of all fatal work injuries in 2009. Occupational fields that saw an increase in work-related injuries were classified under buildings/ground cleaning and maintenance.

News: Possible Body Found at Gilgo Beach

(Long Island, N.Y.) Authorities discovered what could be a fifth victim of the Gilgo Beach/Craigslist serial killer. The remains recovered last night are believed to be human but need to be analyzed by examiners for more definitive results. Human remains were found belonging to four different women last winter in the same vicinity.

Police had postponed their investigation of the Gilgo Beach area due to the harsh winter weather conditions and frozen grounds, but had announced they’d resume the search for more human remains in the spring. Their investigation also included Oak Beach, which is about three miles from Gilgo.

The twenty-four-year-old missing woman from New Jersey who sparked their search, Shannon Gilbert, was not found among the four remains, but sources say that the remains will be tested to see if she is now among the victims. Gilbert, like the four women found in the area, had been visiting a client after advertising services on Craigslist; all of the women slain were in their twenties. Gilbert has been missing since May.

Cadaver dogs were used to assist police in yesterday’s search. So far, no suspects have been named by authorities. Some reports claimed that police intended to search a laptop belonging to the boyfriend of one of the girls. Police believe that he is one of the last people to see her alive and may have even contacted the killer to arrange the meeting off Craigslist.

Tuesday’s discovery was found after a search that spanned the entire day in a location that was east of the original findings. In addition to cadaver dogs, helicopters were used to locate any suspicious areas from an aerial view. Some sources have stated that in the current state of the investigation, there is no evidence supporting the theory that Tuesday’s remains have any connection to Gilbert.

The remains found yesterday were located about a half-mile away from the initial discoveries. The last time Gilbert was seen alive was May 1st, 2010 in the same area of the findings. The four bodies of the girls were identified this past January. Due to the findings, authorities have stated that Ocean Parkway will be closed at least up until Wednesday morning.

Some reports claim that at least three canine units comprising of cadaver dogs and Suffolk County Police Officers were used in yesterday’s search. During the investigation, a mobile command post was set up by authorities in a nearby parking lot as the police helicopter patrolled the air. Police have estimated that the bodies have all been dumped at Gilgo Beach over a period of at least eighteen months.

Sources have stated that police efforts towards finding Gilbert are tireless and that authorities are exhausting everything available to them in their search for more remains. Likewise, they are relentlessly following all leads and linking information to help track down the killer. In previous statements, police officials have claimed that the girls’ professions will have no bearing on their commitment to tracking down their killer and solving their case.

News: Recent Robberies on Long Island

(Long Island, N.Y.) A forty-two-year-old man from South Floral Park was arrested Sunday for robbing a bagel store where he was formerly employed. This is the third time the man stole from the same place within the month of March. He was charged with three counts of third-degree robbery and is believed to have been prompted to steal to support a drug habit.

The bagel store called “My Three Sons Bagels” is located on Covert Avenue in Stewart Manor. Detectives from the Third Squad responded to calls of the break-ins. The robber’s arraignment was held on Monday at the First District Court in Hempstead.

The first incident occurred on March 15th at roughly ten in the evening, and the second occurred less than ten days later on March 24th at roughly eleven-thirty. Both times the burglar entered by prying open the rear basement window of the bagel shop. The third and final incident occurred hours after the second at one-thirty in the morning on March 25th. In that incident, he entered through the back door of the building.

In another story, four teenagers were charged for robbing a pedestrian and a gas station employee at gunpoint on Sunday night. The incidents occurred in Huntington and Huntington Station, and the teens were arrested shortly after the robberies. Patrol officers had spotted a getaway car in Greenlawn, and were quick to accost the teenaged muggers.

In a separate incident of robbery, a sixteen-year-old high school student was beaten and robbed Monday night on his way walking home from Valley Stream High School. The incident occurred at roughly seven-thirty at night on the corner of Central Avenue and West Jamaica Avenue.

In this case, the robber hit the teen behind the jaw and wrestled him to the ground. The teen’s cash and cell phone were stolen before the robber ran from the area. Police detectives from the Fifth Squad were called to the scene and are currently undertaking an investigation to capture the teen’s mugger.

Another story of robbery involved an unidentified man who stole $450 worth of items from a CVS in the Port Plaza shopping center in Port Jefferson. Among the stolen items were medicine and dental products. Sixth Precinct police detectives responded to the call.

The thief in this case stole thirteen bottles of Tylenol cold medicine worth an estimated four hundred dollars. He also stole three boxes of Colgate teeth whitener valued at fifty dollars. Authorities suspect that the stolen items may be used to make illegal drugs, and stated that cold medicine is often used to make crystal meth. Another possibility is that the thief intended to resell the items to stores willing to restock and re-sticker the products.

The same CVS was robbed about two months before this week’s incident, and over a thousand dollars worth of merchandise was stolen by a different robber. Police say that they have a photo taken from a security camera of the man responsible for the recent robbery. They are offering a $500 reward to anyone with information leading to an arrest and have instructed the public to anonymously call Suffolk County Crime Stoppers.

News: Tax Issues on Long Island

(Long Island, N.Y.) While Nassau County faces a variety of financial issues, one that has many Long Islanders holding their wallets tighter is that of property taxes. The current county executive, Edward Mangano, inherited the task of having to reform the old policy of property tax assessments. Steps have been taken to help keep one of America’s richest counties out of the financial hole.

The county issued an eight week window for Nassau County homeowners to challenge their property tax assessments. During that time, Nassau County officials have brainstormed to deal with what’s known as the broken assessment system. In place long before Mangano’s administration, the system compensates homeowners for faults in assessments, including the hefty share awarded to school taxes.

It’s been estimated that the county spends $250 million a year under this broken assessment system, contributing to the county’s $1.6 billion dollar debt. While county officials have been battling the legality of turning authority over to NIFA (Nassau Interim Finance Authority), a state-watchdog agency, many residents are in outrage over lapses in the system. Some residents have stated that they have received late letters from the county detailing their assessed property values. Some were left with less than two weeks to challenge the assessments before the close of the eight week deadline.

Not surprisingly, some residents claim that this has hindered their ability to challenge assessments. While the information for property tax assessments is available on the Internet, many don’t know to look there and insist on waiting for the assessments via mail. Some residents claim that though their annual assessments have lowered, their taxes have increased in the following year. Others claim that their taxes have increased solely in response to reductions granted to their neighbors.

Many things can lead to higher property taxes including court orders, exemptions, and shifts in value. Some residents accuse the county of using transparency to prevent residents from challenging their assessments. Of those who have challenged assessments, some claim that the county has made it nearly impossible to collect what has been granted to them.

Nassau County residents who have challenged property assessments complain of the steep lawyer fees that go along with the process, saying that up to fifty percent of their judgment could be lost to fees. Some claim that they are still waiting for money that was awarded to them last year. Others say they are forced to challenge their assessments every year because the lapse in estimated value, which led to what they were awarded, hasn’t been reflected in their paperwork.

Mangano has proposed a variety of reforms for the property tax issue, and has been claiming all along that Nassau County officials are more than capable of managing county finances without the interference of NIFA. To help keep Nassau out of the hole, he suggests freezing property tax assessments for a period of four years and phasing out the borrowing used to pay the $100 million in tax refunds each year. Tax refund expenses have been a main factor in bringing the county to near bankruptcy.

Residents of Nassau County claim they can’t afford their property taxes and have sold their homes as a result of their continual rate increase. A resident of Roslyn Estates, whose home was assessed at $1.2 million, has stated that he hasn’t been able to sell his home for $800,000. Not surprisingly, he claims that he also can’t afford the $26,000 in taxes each year. He is one of many Nassau County residents that have stated that their property taxes are not a true reflection of their homes’ value.

New York State has some of the highest property taxes in the country. It’s estimated that one in three Long Island homeowners are overtaxed. Last year sixty thousand Nassau County residents challenged their tax assessments. Some still say the real issue supplementing the county’s financial woes is the union workers who would rather take from the county then make concessions.

News: DJ Megatron Slain in New York City

(Long Island, N.Y.) A thirty-eight-year-old man known as DJ Megatron was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest after heading to a store around the block from his Staten Island home. The shooting occurred at two in the morning on Sunday. Reports stated that the DJ was traveling alone and killed instantly.

The DJ, a lifelong Staten Island resident and graduate of Curtis High School, allegedly just moved into a new home. The injuries he suffered were caused by a single wound that impacted his left ribcage, lung, and heart. No arrests have been made by authorities following their investigation.

Some reports stated that the thirty-eight-year-old was recently engaged to the twenty-four-year-old mother of his children. In addition to his fiancé, he is survived by an eleven-year-old daughter, four-year-old son, and nine-month-old baby boy. Friends and family of the DJ claim that he had a great personality and wasn’t on bad terms with anyone prior to his untimely death.

According to reports, police have no motives, but believe the attack may have been impersonal based on the nature of the crime. Family members of the DJ are in agreement with police, and stated that he must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s possible that the DJ was a victim of a botched robbery.

Alternate reports have stated that the DJ’s cell phone was recovered from the scene, and that he may have been distracted at the time of the incident. It’s still unclear whether he was talking on the phone prior to being shot. Some reports have claimed that witnesses spotted at least four young men running from the area at the time of the shooting.

The DJ’s sixty-year-old mother was informed of her son’s death by a phone call to her home in Georgia, and claimed to have always considered her son a golden child. Family members of the DJ are currently accepting donations to a fund for his children and funeral expenses. The manager of the DJ was known as “J. Smoove”; among his mentors were Funkmaster Flex and Fatman Scoop.

At the time of the shooting, a bystander called 911 after hearing a gunshot. The DJ was laying face-up on the pavement by the time medical personnel arrived at the scene. Reports detailing the aftermath of the shooting have stated that the DJ’s head was close to the curb and a baseball cap rested near his side.

A New York City Police Department forensics team spent at least four hours analyzing the area. Though no motive has been uncovered after the investigation, some reports have alluded to a possible altercation between the DJ and an unidentified person who wrote nasty messages in response to some of his online videos. The posts claimed that the DJ owed him money, but neither friends nor family members of the DJ could confirm any knowledge of financial debts.

The DJ had a long career in the music industry and appeared on television as a BET segment host. He worked for a variety of hip-hop and R&B radio stations in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. He also appeared in several independent and low-budget films that include “Killa Season” and “State Property 2.” He was also known for interviewing bystanders about topics that ranged from sports to “the five elements of hip-hop.”

DJ Megatron started in the business as an intern and began his career at Kiss-FM. Friends of the DJ say that he claimed to have been thinking of pursuing roles for local television news. In addition to a career in the music business, the DJ was also involved in charities and was known to help up-and-coming artists, especially those from Staten Island.

News: Long Island Cop’s Domestic Dispute

(Long Island, N.Y.) A forty-seven-year-old retired Hempstead Village Police detective has been arrested for assaulting his forty-six-year-old wife. The woman is a commanding officer of the 81st Precinct in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant. She was at the home of a friend, a New York City Police Detective, when her husband attacked her.

Reports were conflicting as to whether the husband and wife had been estranged prior to the incident. Some say that the two were separated and living in separate apartments. Others claim that they shared a home in Baldwin and were planning on taking a vacation to Jamaica the following week. Though they’ve been married for ten years, at least one neighbor of the couple claimed to have heard frequent arguing.

Likewise, the accounts of the incident and what led up to the assault were conflicting. Some reports say that the husband had been suspecting his wife of having an affair with the NYPD detective she was visiting. In those accounts, the husband claims to have followed his wife to the detective’s house in the Baywood section of Islip on the morning of the incident. He said his wife told him she was going to work, and because he had been looking for evidence of the affair, he waited in his car for about two hours.

The attack occurred before ten on the morning of March 21st. Another report claimed that the husband recognized the detective after seeing him at a bar with his wife the night before the incident. Regardless, both the wife and the detective deny any accusations of having an affair.

Allegedly, the husband began to pound on the front door to get his wife’s attention. She then told the detective that she would deal with her husband, but instructed him to lock the doors and remain inside the house. She met her husband on the porch and locked the door behind her. The couple then engaged in a heated argument.

The altercation became physical when he threw her to the ground and began to punch and kick her head and body. Other accounts of the incident, documenting the husband’s version, claim that she attacked him and he fell onto her body. He claimed that they are both good people who snapped.

Other reports claimed that the wife’s piercing screams became so loud that the detective retrieved his firearm to protect her. The husband then kicked open the front door, but was confronted by the detective when he attempted to approach him. The detective demanded that the husband vacate his property. The husband proceeded to leave after he assaulted his wife a second time and yelled profanities. Allegedly, he threatened her, ordering her not to come home and to remain at the detective’s home.

In the wake of this incident, the wife suffered from contusions, swelling and bruising, back and head pain, and was hospitalized for broken ribs. She requested and received an order of protection against her husband by the judge at his arraignment. The court proceeding was held the following day at the First District Court in Central Islip.

In addition to being the commanding officer of a Brooklyn Precinct, the woman is a twenty-four-year NYPD veteran and comes from a family of cops. Her four sisters and a brother are members of the force; another brother is a corrections officer and another is a bounty hunter. She was appointed to the commanding officer position after a crime-stat fudging scandal was associated with the former leader.

Her husband, who surrendered at the Third Precinct in Bay Shore, is being charged with three misdemeanors of third-degree assault, second-degree criminal trespass, and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

News: Deadly Snake Missing from Bronx Zoo

(Long Island, N.Y.) Workers of the reptile house at the Bronx Zoo discovered that an adolescent Egyptian Cobra was missing last Friday afternoon. Though they are confident that the snake has been confined to a non-public area of the building, zoo officials closed the reptile house over the weekend. The snake belongs to a highly venomous species that can kill an adult human in as little as fifteen minutes.

The snake is twenty inches in length, but belongs to a species that can reach between five and eight feet in the wild. It is a member of the hooded species that is native to northern Africa. In its natural environment, it can kill an adult elephant in three hours by dispersing 175-200mg of venom in a single bite.

If left untreated a single snakebite can cause irrecoverable damage to nerve tissue. Death results from paralysis and respiratory failure. Experts believe that the snake’s immediate reaction to humans is to escape, but also note that it is likely to attack when threatened.

The Bronx Zoo, which opened in 1899, is run by a nonprofit organization called the Wildlife Conservation Society. Zoo officials are confident that the snake will be found curled in a dark corner of the building. They say that the snake went missing from an off-exhibit enclosure in a non-public and relatively isolated area of the reptile house. Experts maintain that this particular species of snake seeks enclosed areas and will normally avoid open spaces.

Zoo workers say that their best chances of finding the snake will be when it gets too hungry or thirsty to remain in its hiding space. They claim that the reptile house will be shutdown while the search is ongoing, and will remain closed indefinitely. This particular species of cobra is known for its large, broad head and snout and large eyes with round pupils. They appear brown or black in color and have necks that can reach between six and seven inches.

In the wild, Egyptian cobras are nocturnal and are not afraid of humans. They are attracted to human dwellings by chickens, rats, and livestock. They feed on small mammals, lizards, toads, and other snakes.

Egyptian cobras have a couple of claims to fame, and have made headlines for other reasons. In the fall of 2006 a case involved an Egyptian cobra that was kept as a pet and went missing from a home in Canada. The snake was missing for at least six months before authorities believed it hid between the walls of the home. The owner was fined $17,000 and was sent to jail after the home was forced to be evacuated.

The Egyptian cobra has a long history of meaning, and was especially significant in ancient times. The snake was considered a symbol of royalty in Roman Egypt and was formally known as an “asp.” It was used in Greek and Egyptian executions for those who were deemed to deserve a nobler death.

Egyptian cobras are perhaps most known for their association with the ancient queen Cleopatra. According to myth, it was believed that Cleopatra experimented on prisoners doomed for execution and found that the asp bite was the least terrible of venomous deaths. She believed it was less painful because the victim would become sleepy and suffered from less muscle spasms prior to death. An Egyptian cobra was smuggled into her fig basket and assisted her suicide.

The recent events at the Bronx Zoo have many animal activists taking a stand against the captivity of such animals. Also, many followers of this story have noticed the coincidence between the missing snake and the recent death of actress Elizabeth Taylor, who once played Cleopatra in a movie with co-star and former husband Richard Burton.