Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Cop Charged With Making Illegal Guns for Outlaw Biker Gangs

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Gregg Marinelli is charged with making guns to sell to biker gangs

PLATTEKILL, New York — A New York police officer has been charged with manufacturing dozens of illegal handguns and assault rifles and selling them to outlaw motorcycle gang members, authorities said.

Gregg Marinelli, 38, who is a sergeant with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection Police, is accused of making the guns — including at least one fully automatic assault rifle — in his Plattekill home.

He then allegedly sold them to people who are legally barred from possessing weapons because they had felony convictions, such as members of outlaw motorcycle groups.

Marinelli is accused of using his marked police car to sometimes deliver the guns, which had no serial numbers, making them hard to trace.

Authorities say the investigation into Marinelli arose out of a recent drug trafficking case, dubbed “Operation Bread, White and Blues,” which looked as cocaine and pain pill trafficking by members and associates of self-professed “outlaw” motorcycle clubs. During that probe, investigators learned that Marinelli alerted a suspect that he was a target.

Investigators recovered numerous guns, gun parts and tools used to manufacture weapons at Marinelli’s home. State Police have also recovered 13 handguns and assault rifles from others which were manufactured and sold by Marinelli.

He faces a slew of charges including criminal sale and criminal possession of a firearm and hindering prosecution. He is being held on $600,000 bond.

Man Charged in Phony Abduction Ploy to Avoid Super Bowl Pool Payout

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Robert Brandel is accused of trying to take a punt on paying out on a Super Bowl pool he ran

NEWFANE, New York — Talk about a fumble!

An upstate New York man landed behind bars after staging his own abduction in an elaborate scheme to avoid paying out on a Super Bowl pool, police said.

Robert Brandel, 60, of North Tonawanda, was found tied up in the back seat of his Ford F-150 on Wednesday afternoon, the New York State police said.

Brandel claimed that he had picked up two men on Monday who had been involved in a Super Bowl pool he had run but one of them pulled out a gun and stole $16,000 in cash he had won from the game.

Cops say Brandel claimed the men made him drive around western New York for two days against his will before tying him up in the back seat of his truck and leaving him a supermarket parking lot near Niagara Falls.

But upon further investigation, detectives determined that Brandel had made up the elaborate tale and had created fictitious names to fill in the boxes in the $50,000 Super Bowl pool, with the hopes of pocketing the cash.

The gambit failed and he was left far short of being able to make the payouts, so turned to fabricating the abduction tale to explain why he didn’t have the money, cops said.

 

Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine Faces Life For Alleged Role in Violent Street Gang

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The 22-year-old rapper has openly boasted in his songs about his gang connections

NEW YORK — Platinum-selling rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine has been charged with being part of a vicious street gang that pushed drugs and shot numerous people, including an innocent bystander at the Barclays Center earlier this year.

The 22-year-old rapper, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, was one of five alleged members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, a brutal Brooklyn street gang, charged in a federal racketeering indictment. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

At 6ix9ine’s arraignment, the judge deemed him a danger to the community and a flight risk and ordered him held without bail.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman noted that there was “troubling” evidence offered by prosecutors that showed that 6ix9ine directed or participated in multiple acts of violence over the last eight months.

“The defendant is quite violent,” prosecutor Michael Longyear said.

Longyear said 6ix9ine was captured on surveillance video sitting in a car and filming his co-defendants carry out a violent robbery against a rival gang member in Times Square.

6ix9ine also was caught on video boasting about shots recently fired by a co-defendant inside the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, Longyear said.

The rapper’s lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, said his client had fired some of his co-defendants as part of his management and security team last week and was offered protection by federal agents on Saturday after some of them were overheard on wiretaps threatening his life. 6ix9ine refused the offer, Lazzaro said.

6ix9ine’s album “Day69: Graduation Day” was among the top records on iTunes following its February release. He is known for the multiplatinum hit “Fefe” with Nicki Minaj, which peaked at No. 3 on the pop charts, and “Stoopid,” featuring the incarcerated rapper Bobby Shmurda.

But 6ix9ine also has had a series of run-ins with law enforcement and has publicly identified himself as a member of the violent Bloods gang.

Prosecutors said the gang carried out acts of murder, robbery and narcotics trafficking in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn since at least 2013.

6ix9ine recently pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in Brooklyn in connection with a May traffic stop.

In a 2015 case in New York, 6ix9ine was sentenced to probation for his involvement in a sexually explicit video of a 13-year-old girl.

The video, posted on social media, showed the girl performing a sex act on another man while 6ix9ine “stands behind the child making a thrusting motion with his pelvis and smacking her on her buttocks,” according to court documents.

 

Runaway Elephant Leaves Cops With Big Rescue Job in Tiny New York Town

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Fritha the elephant just wanted to take a little midnight stroll

WESTTOWN, New York — An elephant never forgets … except maybe its way home.

Police in a small town outside of New York City were surprised to receive a call about a plodding pachyderm wandering around the streets late Sunday.

“Never a dull moment in Troop F,” the unit of the New York State Police posted on its Facebook page.

The elephant, a 46-year-old female named Fritha, had escaped from a nearby animal sanctuary where it has lived much of her life. The owners of the Sanctuary for Animals say Fritha hails from Vietnam and came to the U.S. after the Vietnamese War where she suffered burns from a napalm bomb.

The sanctuary says Fritha got away simply because an employee forgot to turn on the electric fence that keeps her in at night.

Other animals at the sanctuary include camels, zebras, horses and cows.

 

Uber Driver Charged in Death of ‘Car Surfing’ Teen Who Fell off Roof of Vehicle

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Ryan Mullen (l) died from head injuries after he fell from the roof of Danyal Cheema’s car

CENTRAL ISLIP, New York  — An Uber driver was charged with manslaughter for letting a teen “car surf” on the roof of his taxi from the boy fell and later died, authorities said.

Danyal Cheema, 24, was behind the wheel on Sept. 23, when 16-year-old Ryan Mullen and two pals — who had been out drinking at several parties — offered to pay him to let two of them ride atop his Toyota Highlander while the third boy filmed, prosecutors said.

Cheema agreed and Mullen and another boy climbed on the roof of the SUV while the third teen videotaped them on Snapchat, Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said. As Cheema began driving, Mullen fell and struck his head on the pavement.

He sustained a fractured skull, but went home and died in his sleep later that morning.

“The defendant made a reckless decision and engaged in reckless conduct that caused the death of a young boy, and he will be held accountable,” Sini said, according to Newsday.

Under the law, second-degree manslaughter means disregarding an obvious risk and causing a death as a result of reckless conduct. Cheema faces 5 to 15 years in prison if found guilty. He pleaded not guilty.

Ryan’s mother, Janice Mullen, told WABC-TV: “There was an adult present, and the adult should have said, ‘No, that’s a bad decision. You’re not allowed to do that.’ ” Ryan’s father, Matthew, asked: “What if the driver was responsible enough to say no?”

Cheema’s attorney, Christopher Renfroe, said his client has expressed remorse for Mullen’s death and does not have a prior criminal record. A spokeswoman for Uber said the company is cooperating with the investigation.

NYC Dominatrix Bound, Beaten and Robbed of $4K in Sex Toys

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The thieves made off with the madam’s magic bag of sex toys

NEW YORK — That’s a lot of whips.

A crew of masked robbers bound and beat a dominatrix in a New York hotel room before making off with her cash and bag stuffed full of sex toys.

“They stole $4,000 worth of toys from me — the whole bag, all of the strap-on dildos, nipple clamps and leather harnesses,” 27-year-old madam, Barbara Schreiner, told the New York Post. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now.”

Cops say Schreiner was waiting for a $2,500-an-hour customer at a Ramada Inn in Queens on Monday, when three men wearing masks barged in with guns drawn and ordered her to get down on the ground.

They then bound her hands with duct tape and kicked and punched her, leaving her with two black eyes.

They then pointed a gun at Schreiner— a former prostitute who now performs private sadomasochistic sessions — and demanded she give up the pin code for her debit card.

Then then took off and used her card five times.

Schreiner recently moved to the Big Apple from Niagara Falls, and said she typically meets with two or three clients per day.

“I deal with guys in power— judges, criminal lawyers, and doctors asking me to pee on them, f–k them with dildos all kinds of sick s–t,” she said. “But those a–holes took my toys and now I’m going to have two black eyes. I don’t know what I’m gonna tell my clients.”

She told the Post that she suspects the thugs were hired by her revenge-seeking former co-worker.

 

Worst Driving Instructor Ever Charged With Driving Drunk During Lesson

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Russell Cohen was a very bad driving instructor

RIDGE, New York — Do as I say, but definitely not as I do.

A Long Island driving instructor was arrested after his four teenage students called 911 after they grew nervous that he was driving drunk, police said.

Russell Cohen, who was working as a substitute teacher for the Suffolk Auto Driving School, was arrested after the students managed to get him to pull over at a McDonald’s at about 11 a.m., according to the Suffolk County Police Department.

The teens said Cohen had been behaving erratically and saying inappropriate things to the female students in the car, so they asked a restaurant employee to call 911, Newsday reported.

When the kids didn’t come out, Cohen sped off and  crashed into the rear end of another car less than an hour later, authorities said.

The 29-year-old driver of the other car was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Cohen, 58, was not hurt, but was charged with aggravated DWI and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

“I’m happy I’m alive,” said student Matt McGeough, 16, of Holbrook.

Mobster Gunned Down While Waiting in Line in McDonald’s Drive-Thru

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Reputed mob associated Sylvester Zottola sits with former Bonanno crime family boss ‘Vinny Gorgeous’ Basciano

NEW YORK — A reputed associate of the Bonanno crime family was fatally gunned down in a gangland hit in broad daylight as he waited in line for a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s drive-thru.

Sylvester “Sally Daz” Zottola, 71, was shot once in the head and four times in the torso after his car got boxed in while he waited in line outside the Bronx fast food eatery. He was pronounce dead at the scene.

The hit was the latest in a series of threatening attacks on Zottola and his family in recent months. In July, his 41-year-old son, Salvatore, was shot outside his Bronx home in what authorities believed was a message meant for his father.

Last September, the elder Zottola was clubbed over the head as he walked near his home by an unknown attacker, police said. Two months later, a gunman tried to force Zottola into a car but failed.

In December, Zottola was stabbed in the neck when he walked on robbers ransacking his home. Then in June, Zottola drove off an approaching gunman by pulling out his pistol and firing several rounds before the man could get too close.

Zottola had been charged with illegal weapons possession following that episode.

Zottola was a noted associate of “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano, who briefly led the Bonanno crime family in the early 2000s.  Basciano began serving a life sentence in 2007.

 

Joy Riding Dirt Bike Driver Busted For Speeding Through NY Supermarket

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Traitin Knight narrowly avoided running down customers with his dirt bike at the supermarket

SCHENECTADY, New York — He’s a full-throttle idiot.

Police have charged a stunt-riding motorcyclist who sped through an Upstate New York supermarket on a dirt bike with reckless endangerment.

Traitin Knight, 23, narrowly avoided running down several startled customers at a Price Chopper in Schenectady on Sept. 1, all while filming his joy ride with a GoPro camera affixed to his helmet.

He later posted the 66-second video — titled “Grocery shopping on a dirt bike!!” — on his YouTube channel and on Facebook. That got the attention of police.

“In the original video, there are multiple victims seen as Mr. Knight recklessly rides through the grocery store with blatant disregard for customer safety,” police said in a statement.

The video begins with Knight revving the motor of the bike in the supermarket parking lot and then making his way through the automatic door, squeezing by a customer as he made his way inside.

He then zips around an aisle and past the produce section, narrowly avoiding running down several customers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7G6sWioXZQ&feature=youtu.be

In a statement to the Schenectady Daily Gazette, a Price Chopper spokeswoman said: “After having brought the incident and video to their attention, we’ve been working with the police on this case.”

Cops caught up with Knight earlier this week and are now asking any witnesses who were in and around the store that night, to contact them.

Authorities Discover Crack Pipe Vending Machines Installed in Public Places

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Officials found three such vending machines seling crack pipes

CORAM, New York — Officials seized three vending machines that purported to be selling pens but actually dispensed carefully disguised crack pipes.

The blue-and-white dispensers mysteriously appeared outside a housing complex, a Home Depot and shopping mall on Long Island.

But while the machines offered “pens” for $2, a close inspection of what came out revealed a hidden glass tube and set of filters — a virtual crack pipe kit.

Authorities were alerted to the machines after residents grew angry and, in one case, smashed one of them open with a sledgehammer.

“There are some people who think they’re going to make some money out of this and prey on a community and promote drug use in a community,” Brookhaven Town supervisor Ed Romaine said at a news conference. “They’re going to be sadly mistaken.”

Officials pulled up three machines over the weekend on the grounds that they violated local codes against alerting public property.

While three machines have been located, officials said they couldn’t be certain there weren’t others and asked the public to report any more that they had seen.