News: Drug and Hate Crimes on Long Island
(Long Island, N.Y.) A forty-four-year old man from Lindenhurst was accosted by police at Kennedy (JFK) airport on Monday. The man had been transporting roughly seven pounds of cocaine in a secret compartment of his suitcase. Police say that the search was done at random, but that the stash was easy to spot by the unusual thickness of the bottom part of his luggage.
The amount of cocaine found in the suitcase was estimated to be $160,000 at street value. The U.S. Customs and Border Protections Office was involved in the case, being that the man recently arrived from a flight out of the Dominican Republic. The man claimed to be coming from an enforcement exam.
According to a 2009 National Monitoring the Future Survey given to eighth graders, sophomores, and seniors, cocaine use is at its lowest since the 90’s. The survey also shows that marijuana still tops cocaine as the most popular form of illegal drug use. It is unsure how much serious time the man will face for his attempted smuggling.
A thirty-year-old man from Holbrook is trying to appeal his case for the attempted murder of two Mexican illegal immigrants. He was charged with twenty-five years for the crime that took place on September 17th 2000, in which he and an accomplice beat two men with a crowbar and shovel in an abandoned building in Farmingville. In the early morning hours, he lured the men from a 7-11 known for harboring immigrants awaiting work-contracts with the promise of work.
His accomplice had a knife and stabbed at least one of the men before they were able to make their escape. Luckily, they were rescued by a passerby on the Long Island Expressway while one of the men was bleeding profusely from his wounds. The accomplice turned himself in a month later.
The grounds for his attempt at an appeal is that he was forced by police to disrobe and expose multiple tattoos, which were of a white supremacist nature. Photos of his tattoos were later shown in court, and used as evidence supporting his targeting of Mexicans.
A tattoo on his upper neck, near his hairline read “ACAB” or “All Cops Are Bastards.” A second tattoo on his right upper arm read “FTW” or “Fuck the World,” and a third tattoo on his arm read “NYHC” or “New York Hate Corps/ Hard Core.” There were also multiple swastikas – including a Nazi swastika on his right upper chest – skinheads with “Doc Marten” boots, skulls, Vikings, and cartoon men depicted with large noses. He also had a drawing of a white fist and Celtic cross near the swastikas.
The accomplice was a twenty-year-old acquaintance who received fifteen years for his role in the crime. He claimed to be eating dinner with his family in Maspeth, Queens when he got a call from his friend to help out with noisy neighbors who were having a party. His family told him to stay out of it and let his friend contact police; he agreed until he decided to call back his friend at about 4am for the rendezvous.
He admitted to having been drinking heavily, using drugs, and taking LSD before speaking to his friend. He claimed that he was out of control after drinking, and that his anger gave him the desire to beat people up. His friend provided him with the opportunity, but he claimed to have stabbed the man in self-defense. He also claimed to have worn a gray suit, slicked his hair back for the crime, and later had his racially affiliated tattoos covered.
