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Victim Hani Kasem was shot and killed in October inside his Garden Valley Distribution business on 101st Avenue and 99th Street.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Four men were indicted on Thursday in Brooklyn federal court for the extortion and murder of an Ozone Park business owner last year, according to U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Richard Donoghue.
On Oct. 23, three suit-clad crooks burst into Garden Valley Distributors, a grocery wholesaler located on 101st Avenue and 99th Street, demanded money, shot owner Hani Kasem in the face and pistol whipped his son across the head before fleeing empty handed. Kasem, 64, lingered on life support at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center for several days before succumbing to his injuries.
Ppassim Elder, Dwayne Ling, Frederick McCoy, and Mahdi Abdel-Rahim have been charged with extortionate collection of credit conspiracy and extortionate collection of credit. Elder, Ling, and McCoy are also charged with brandishing a firearm in furtherance of those crimes of violence and causing the death of another through use of a firearm.
According to charging documents, Ling, 55, McCoy, 52, and another coconspirator allegedly were the three blazer-wearing bandits. They declared to Kasem and his 32-year-old son that “Sam” or “Big Sam” had sent them to collect his money. Elder, 38, who was known as “Sam” and “Big Sam,” had given the murder victim’s son a loan, which the son used to support the business. By March 2017, Elder demanded full repayment of the loan, but the son could not afford to repay it because much of the money had been used to purchase merchandise for Garden Valley.
In response, according to the indictment, Elder began a campaign of intimidation against Kasem’s son and his family. Among other things, Elder paid Abdel-Rahim to throw a rock through a window of the home of the son and his father. When the rock did not lead to repayment of the loan, Elder sent the treacherous trio into Garden Valley on that Monday in October.
Abdel-Rahim was arrested on March 1 and released on a secured bond. Ling was arrested on March 1 and ordered detained. Elder was arrested in Cleveland on March 2, presented to a magistrate in that district on March 5, and currently is being transferred in custody to Brooklyn. McCoy was arrested last Wednesday and ordered detained.
“No one should have to pay criminals with their life,” said Federal Bureau of Investigation NY Assistant Director-in-Charge Bill Sweeney.
“When criminals loan money to business owners, they know they’re never going to get repaid, it’s why they loan out the money,” Sweeney added. “Once they have the victim on the hook, they use threats, intimidation and violence to harass their victims. In this case, the victim died allegedly at the hands of his debtors.”
