By Forum Staff

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz has allocated $3.64 million of her Fiscal Year 2017 discretionary money to fund capital projects at four of the City University of New York public institutions of higher learning in the World’s Borough: Queens College in Flushing, York College in Jamaica, Queensborough Community College in Bayside, and LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City.

This year’s $3.64 million allocation, Katz noted, comes on top of the $8.75 million previously allocated by the Borough President’s Office between Fiscal Years 2015 and 2016 toward CUNY capital projects.

“As the third-largest university system in the United States, CUNY offers a high-quality and remarkably affordable and competitive higher education that enables the pursuit of the American Dream,” Katz said. “CUNY has been a critical door to opportunities for millions of New Yorkers and their families, and here in Queens we’re proud to be home to some of the best of CUNY schools. This multi-million dollar allocation of public funding is a direct investment into the public colleges of our borough so that CUNY remains able to meet the educational needs of its hard-working students.”

The allocation breaks down like this:

• $1 million to fully fund the construction of recording studios for the new Music and Production Certificate program at Queens College. The money will provide multi-use facilities for classrooms, rehearsal and performance spaces, and laboratories for performers, composers and teachers. Additionally, Katz said, the project will provide the proper acoustical components – sound absorbers, diffusers and ceiling elements – creating spaces conducive to live musical performances and high-quality audio recordings. The studios also will be ideally suited for distance learning applications and webcasting for music students as well as for the college community. Anticipated completion: January 2019.
• $1 million toward the construction of the Center for Career and Employment Training at LaGuardia Community College. The facility, Katz said, will serve as a central location for all LaGuardia students to connect to a network of employers and have access to real-time labor market data. The Center will also offer students advisement and training. The total projected cost of the facility is $6 million, with $2 million possibly coming from the City Council, and $3 million from the State Legislature. Design to begin July 2017, with construction set to start January 2018. Anticipated completion: August 2018.
• $1 million toward creating a modern kitchen and dining hall at Queensborough Community College that will replace the college’s current undersized basement dining hall. The allocation is toward the balance of City funding needed for Phase 2 based on current estimates, with $1 million possibly coming from Albany. Anticipated completion: March 2019.
• $640,000 toward renovating the greenhouse at York College.

“Queens Borough President Katz had provided critical and generous funding for CUNY projects that will enhance program quality, student experience and college value at Queens, York, LaGuardia and Queensborough Community colleges,” said CUNY Chancellor James Milliken. “I deeply appreciate her commitment to CUNY, which has such a positive impact on the borough and city.”

By Forum Staff

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz last week announced a $13 million allocation of her Fiscal Year 2017 discretionary capital funds to pay for expansions, renovations, and enhancements at several borough Library branches.

The funds are based on needs assessments and requests made by the Library, Katz said. The allocation includes:

• $3.5 million for an exterior expansion and $92,000 for security cameras at Queens Library at Baisley Park (this comes on top of a $3.5 million allocation in FY 2016 for interior renovations);
• $3 million for the expansion of Queens Library at East Elmhurst;
• $3 million for an interior expansion of Queens Library at South Hollis;
• $1.4 million for interior renovations at Queens Library of Bay Terrace (this comes on top of a $96,000 allocation in FY 2016 for security cameras);
• $600,000 for window and door replacements at Queens Library at Forest Hills;
• $500,000 for an HVAC upgrade at Queens Library of Pomonok;
• $400,000 for the initial outfitting at Queens Library of North Forest Park;
• $385,000 to install an exterior self check-in system at Queens Library of Queens Village;
• $97,000 for a security system upgrade at Queens Library of Laurelton.

“Borough President Katz has put time, energy and resources into insuring a strong library system to serve the educational and informational needs of the borough,” said Library President and CEO Dennis Walcott. “This capital funding will help us move key library projects forward, so the community has expanded, updated facilities for reading and learning. Queens Library joins the community in thanking the Borough President for her support.”

In FY2016, Katz allocated $14 million for Library capital improvements, including security cameras at the South Ozone Park and Woodhaven branches, and a roof replacement at the Ozone Park library.

“Queens Library’s locations serve as centers of lifelong learning and enrichment,” Katz said. “These are substantial investments for not only renovations, expansions and enhancements, but also for the families of Queens. These funds are designed to help Queens Library continue to be a first-class library system of learning, literacy and culture.”

By Forum Staff

A superseding indictment charging 18 men – including five borough residents – with racketeering conspiracy, murder conspiracy, attempted murder, extortion conspiracy, firearms offenses, and with running an illegal gambling operation relating to their participation in the criminal affairs of the Genovese Family  of La Cosa Nostra was unsealed last week in Manhattan federal court, according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Of the 18 defendants charged in the indictment, 17 are currently in custody, including 13 defendants who were arrested last Thursday morning as part of a coordinated takedown by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, NYPD, and Nassau County Police Department.

The Queens residents that were swept up in the takedown are Robert DeBello, 74, Luigi Romano, 38, and Luigi Caminiti, 35, of Whitestone; Ryan Ellis, 34, of Bayside; and Salvatore Delligatti, 40, of Oakland Gardens.

“Today’s charges show that the mob continues to wreak havoc in our communities, including through a recent murder conspiracy, attempted murder, and extortion,” Bharara said. “With today’s charges, we strike an important blow against the Genovese Crime Family. Whether you are an old school made member of the mob or a young street criminal looking to join it, the message today is clear: the life of a mobster is a dead-end street that ends nowhere good. I thank our law enforcement partners at the NYPD, FBI and Nassau County Police Commissioner, as well as, in particular, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, for the incredible work in this important case.”

According to the 24-page indictment, from at least in or about 2008 through in or about May 2016, DeBello, Ellis, and Delligatti, among others, conspired to participate in the criminal affairs of the Genovese Family through a pattern of racketeering activity. For example, in connection with their involvement in the racketeering activity of the Family, DeBello, as well as Ellis and Delligatti participated in a 2014 conspiracy to commit a murder, in an attempted murder, in a conspiracy to commit extortion, and in the operation of an illegal gambling business.

“This racket was as old as La Cosa Nostra.  From murder for hire to extortion and gambling, there wasn’t a scheme that was off limits to these soldiers and associates of the Genovese Family,” said City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton. “The mob may be diminished, but it’s not dead, and it requires our continued vigilance. I commend of the FBI, Nassau County Police, U.S. Attorney, and team of NYPD detectives who made today’s arrests possible.”

FBI Assistant-Director-in-Charge Diego Rodriguez, who was raised in Briarwood, echoed Bratton’s sentiments.

“The crimes of extortion for so-called ‘protection,’ illegal gambling businesses, and conspiracy to commit murder are woven into the history of organized crime families, but so are the federal racketeering charges that wise guys face after committing those criminal activities,” he said. “Today, 18 defendants were indicted as part of a multi-year investigation by the FBI and our partners at Nassau County Police Department and New York City Police Department. As long as organized crime members and associates keep their criminal ways, we will keep investigating and bringing charges against them.”

By Forum Staff

A Bayside man has been sentenced to 50 years to life in prison for the violent murders of both his parents – first by beating his mother and submerging her head in a tub of water, and then a year later smothering his father to death in his dad’s bed, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Gregory Cucchiara, 40, was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder last month following a three-week jury trial in which he represented himself and offered a bizarre defense that placed all blame on a drug that he said is used to cast hexes.

According to testimony, Cucchiara’s mother, Giusepina Cucchiara, 66, was found dead in the family’s 28th Avenue home on May 24, 2011. She had been struck on the head with a perfume bottle and choked with the pearl necklace she wore before having her head forced below the water in the bathtub. Autopsy results, Brown said, determined the mother of two had died as a result of having her head submerged under water after blunt force trauma.

According to trial records, Carmelo Cucchiara, 75, fearful of his son, immediately moved out of the Bayside home he shared with Gregory and Giusepina after her death and took up residence in a basement apartment in his daughter’s Astoria home. On August 21, 2012, Cucchiara’s daughter found him lying in bed with a pillow covering his face. He had bruising on his forehead and his body was cold to the touch. The Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation. Gregory Cucchiara had visited his father the previous evening and was the last person to see him alive, according to testimony.

Additionally, Brown said, both victims suffered blunt force trauma to their heads before they were killed. DNA evidence found under the fingernails of Giusepina and Carmelo were matched to their only son.

Cucchiara was arrested on Nov. 13, 2012, following an extensive investigation by NYPD detectives and the Brown’s office. Prosecutors believe that drug-addled Cucchiara murdered his parents over money.

“This was a heinous case of cold-blooded murder and the ultimate betrayal of family trust,” Brown said. “The defendant was convicted of killing both his mother and his father. He viciously beat his mother and then forced her head below the surface of the water in a bathtub. In a separate attack, the defendant held a pillow against his father’s face as he laid in bed, suffocating him to death. These senseless, violent crimes more than justify the sentence imposed today by the Court.”

By Michael V. Cusenza

In what Queens District Attorney Richard Brown last week called “a horrifying case of cold-blooded murder,” a Bayside man has been convicted of killing his parents – first by beating and submerging his mother’s head in a tub full of water in 2011, and then subsequently smothering his father to death with a pillow in bed 15 months later.

Gregory Cucchiara, 39, was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder last Friday following a three-week jury trial in which he represented himself and offered a bizarre defense that placed all blame on a drug that he said is used to cast hexes.

According to testimony, Cucchiara’s mother, Giusepina Cucchiara, 66, was found dead in the family’s 28th Avenue home on May 24, 2011. She had been struck on the head with a perfume bottle and choked with the pearl necklace she wore before having her head forced below the water in the bathtub. Autopsy results, Brown said, determined the mother of two had died as a result of having her head submerged under water after blunt force trauma.

According to trial records, Carmelo Cucchiara, 75, fearful of his son, immediately moved out of the Bayside home he shared with Gregory and Giusepina after her death and took up residence in a basement apartment in his daughter’s Astoria home. On August 21, 2012, Cucchiara’s daughter found him lying in bed with a pillow covering his face. He had bruising on his forehead and his body was cold to the touch. The Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation. Gregory Cucchiara had visited his father the previous evening and was the last person to see him alive, according to testimony.

Additionally, Brown said, both victims suffered blunt force trauma to their heads before they were killed. DNA evidence found under the fingernails of Giusepina and Carmelo were matched to their only son.

Cucchiara was arrested on Nov. 13, 2012, following an extensive investigation by NYPD detectives and the Brown’s office. Prosecutors believe that drug-addled Cucchiara murdered his parents over money.

Brown said that Cucchiara “stands convicted of using his hands to force his mother’s head under the water in her bathtub, killing her. Not yet done, he then uses those same hands the following year to murder his father by taking a pillow and suffocating him to death. Such senseless acts of violence demonstrate that the defendant is a threat to society and deserving to spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

Cucchiara is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 23. He faces up to 50 years to life in prison.

michael@theforumnewsgroup.com

Matthew Devlin, 50, pleaded guilty in April to first-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision.

Devlin admitted that he had argued with his mother and brother on the evening of Feb. 12, 2011, Brown said. Following the disagreement, Devlin used an aluminum baseball bat and struck 79-year-old Betty Ann Devlin in the head several times. She was later found in her second-floor bedroom with extensive head injuries, taken to an area hospital in critical condition and placed in a medically-induced coma. Betty Ann died five days later.

Devlin’s brother, John, then 54, was also attacked with the bat and suffered a head wound, which required 35 staples to close.

Brown called it a “senseless and horrifying act,” adding that Devlin “has proven that he is unfit to live in a civilized society.”

The defendant, identified as Yosef A. Loulai, was arraigned on June 5 before Queens Criminal Court Judge Bruna DiBiase on six criminal complaints, each charging him with petit larceny.  Loulai, who faces up to six years in prison if convicted, was ordered held on a total of $6,000 bond/$3,000 cash bail and to return to court on July 30, 2015.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said that, according to the criminal complaints, Loulai was either seen on video surveillance walking up to the entrances of homes or observed by police officers stealing packages from residences in Fresh Meadows, Bayside, Oakland Gardens, Queens Village, and Bellerose, Queens. The packages, each valued between $111 and $183, contained items ranging from clothing to a toilet.

“When people place mail orders, they do not expect their delivered packages to be brazenly stolen off their doorstep as the defendant is accused of doing in this case – even though he had no way of knowing what the packages contained.  What he now knows is that he faces the prospect of being incarcerated for his alleged actions,” said Brown.