File Photo
Azeem Ali was bound with electrical cords, robbed of his bank card and then shot several times in the head by Peters before his apartment was set on fire.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The mastermind behind the vicious February 2013 execution-style shooting death of a fellow Richmond Hill resident, who was bound with electrical cords, robbed of his bank card and then shot several times in the head before his apartment was set ablaze to cover up the crime, has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
In January, a jury found Stephen Peters, 26, guilty of second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping, third-degree arson and tampering with physical evidence. Peters received his prison sentence last week, while a second defendant in the case, Jason St. Hill, 21, pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and was sentenced last month to 12 years, six months in prison.
Peters’ attorney, Edward Muccini, did not return a call from The Forum seeking comment on the sentencing or if his client is appealing the verdict.
According to the charges, Peters and St. Hill went to the 116th Street home of Azeem Ali, 43, shortly after midnight on Feb. 24, 2013. Inside Ali’s second-floor apartment, the victim was beaten by Peters, had his hands and feet tied with electrical cord, and while St. Hill held a gun on Ali, Peters went to the building’s basement for gasoline.
According to court records, Brown said, Peters demanded and got Ali’s bank card, along with his PIN number, and then shot him three times in the head. To cover up the crime, Peters then poured the gasoline on the dead man’s body and around the apartment and set the place on fire. Firefighters responding to the two-alarm fire at the apartment building made the grisly discovery shortly after bringing the blaze under control – Ali’s badly burned body was found in his bed, his hands and feet still bound with the cords.
It took more than 100 smoke-eaters to get a hold of the fast-moving fire.
“Somebody was yelling, ‘Fire, fire,’ and there was smoke all over. I got the kids and ran out,” said one of the tenants, a man who lived with his two children in the other second-floor apartment. “It was very frightening.”
The district attorney added that after leaving the apartment, according to court records, Peters went to a restaurant on Liberty Avenue and used the ATM there to withdraw $100 in cash. Peters also went to a gas station on Atlantic Avenue and attempted to withdraw more money from the ATM there, but was unsuccessful.
Hill, who lived less than a block away from Ali’s building, was taken into custody for questioning around 11 a.m. on Feb. 24, a few hours after the blaze had been extinguished.
“The victim was bound at his ankles and wrists and posed no threat to the defendants, yet the decision was made to fatally shoot him and then – in an attempt to cover up their heinous, cowardly crime – set his residence on fire, thus endangering more lives,” Brown said. “Both men have now been sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment – one of whom will likely be locked away for the rest of his natural life.”
