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RAID AT RACETRACK; 70 SEIZED AS ILLEGAL WORKERS

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 20, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page B08

Federal immigration officials on Tuesday seized 70 workers in a sweep of The Meadowlands Racetrack for illegal aliens, authorities said.

Immigration and Naturalization Service agents, working on a tip and after surveillance of the stable area, took 64 men and six women into custody during the 90-minute raid, INS Supervisory Special Agent Allen Kampel said.

The workers mostly grooms and walkers were finishing their workday, which started about 5 a.m., when the sweep began in the stalls and dormitories at 11:30 a.m. They were taken to the INS field office in Jersey City for processing.

Most of the 70 had false immigration papers that they had presented to the New Jersey Racing Commission, which then licensed them to work at the track, Kampel said.

Stable hands are employed by horse trainers, not The Meadowlands Racetrack or the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, said racetrack spokeswoman Ellen Harvey.

Those taken into custody Tuesday face detention and an administrative hearing to determine whether they will be deported, Kampel said.

“If a person does not have the authorization to live and work in the United States, we are mandated to enforce the law,” he said. “The main point of all of this is that we have the hope that American citizens and other people authorized to work here would be hired to do these jobs.”

Kampel said six of the workers had papers allowing them to be in the country but not to work. Four are juveniles, ages 14 to 16. A majority 64 are from Mexico, with two from Peru, two from Guatemala, and one each from Chile and the Dominican Republic, he said.

Workers who were checked and found to have legal papers milled around the stables Tuesday, watching warily as officers led friends and relatives away in plastic handcuffs. Many either could not speak English or said they couldn’t.

Johnny Ortiz, a 24-year-old groom, said fear of being turned in to the INS is a constant in the lives of the stable hands.

Ortiz, a U.S. citizen, said the workers have little or no education and often work seven days a week for $175 to $325 per week, depending on the trainer who hires them.

Almost all live in dormitories at the track, sometimes three or four to a room, Ortiz said. The rent-free, dormitory-style housing is provided by the sports authority for hundreds of stable hands.

Most of them send the money they earn home to the countries from which they came, Ortiz said.

“It’s a shame for me to see this happen to them, just for the simple reason that these people, they struggle so much,” he said. “I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a lot of people from other countries here.”

The agents were assisted in the raid by state police, Bergen County Sheriff’s Department officers, and U.S. Labor Department officials.

November 20, 1991

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N. BERGEN COP HELD ON DRUG CHARGES

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Monday, November 18, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 1 Star | NEWS | Page A03

North Bergen Patrolman Michael Williams was suspended from the township Police Department on Saturday after he was arrested in Union City on drug charges, authorities said.

Williams was being held without bail in the Hudson County Jail on Sunday, following his arrest by members of the Jersey City Police narcotics squad.

Jersey City Police Sgt. Brian McDonough said Williams would face charges of cocaine possession, distribution, aggravated assault on a police officer, and resisting arrest. North Bergen Police Lt. Bruce McBreen declined comment on the case Sunday, but he confirmed that Police Chief Angelo Busacco had suspended Williams, 34.

About 7:30 p.m. Saturday, McDonough said, Williams bought about 5 grams of cocaine in three clear plastic bags at 61 Graham St., a Jersey City residence that the squad had under surveillance because neighbors had complained of drug activities there.

He drove up to the house, knocked on a window and was let in through a door, McDonough said. When he emerged moments later and left in a car occupied by a woman, the detectives followed in unmarked cars, later stopping Williams at 13th Street and Kennedy Boulevard in Union City.

Williams appeared nervous and informed the detectives he is a North Bergen police officer, McDonough said.

After he was placed in the back of one of the unmarked cars, Williams “became very abusive,” McDonough said, and “in a threatening manner, quickly pulled up his sweat shirt” to reveal a small revolver in a holster.

The officer disarmed Williams and retrieved the drug.

The detectives later executed a search warrant at 61 Graham St., where they arrested three people and recovered $3,029 and an undetermined quantity of cocaine.

November 18, 1991

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4 INJURED AS CAR SLAMS INTO STALLED VAN

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, November 17, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A05

Four men were hurt, one critically, when an out-of-control car slammed into a stalled van as two men tried to help the van’s driver jump-start it.

Authorities are investigating why Reginald Nealy’s car, a 1991 Chrysler, careened into the other vehicles on Route 46 west, near Saddle Brook Mall, at about 5:50 p.m. Friday, Detective Sgt. Harry Reid said.

Nealy’s car crashed into the back of the disabled 1984 GMC van, pushing it 12 feet into the 1989 Hyundai being used to help restart it. The impact knocked down the van driver, Edward Nagle, 31, of 8 Central Ave., Stanhope, and ejected the Hyundai occupants: Kevin Kinsella, 37, of 340 S. Main St., Wharton, and Kent Erickson, 45, of 11 Sierra Court, Sayreville.

Nealy, 57, of 166 Van Buren St., Passaic, was in critical condition at Hackensack Medical Center with facial and internal injuries, a hospital spokeswoman said Saturday. Erickson was treated there and released, she said. Kinsella and Nagle were treated at Kennedy Memorial Hospitals and released, a spokeswoman said.

Reid, Saddle Brook Patrolman Robert McNally, the Bergen County fatal accident squad investigated the collision.

November 17, 1991

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BUS DRIVER SAYS PUPILS ATTACKED HIM BEFORE

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, November 16, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | Section: NEWS | Page A02

The school bus driver who police say was assaulted by five students he was taking to Leonia High School said Thursday’s attack was not the first.

George Sanint, 25, of Fort Lee is in Englewood Hospital, where he is being treated for a broken nose and a fractured left eye socket. Some of the same students attacked him 10 months ago when they were in middle school, but the school failed to do anything about it, he said Friday.

Dr. Frank Marlow, Leonia schools superintendent, said he has no record of an earlier attack.

Meanwhile, one of the accused youths signed a simple-assault complaint against Sanint on Friday, Police Chief John Orso said.

Police planned to have patrol cars follow school buses at random to prevent further incidents. A Taranto Bus Co. spokesman said an aide will be assigned to each bus.

Sanint said that upon boarding the bus in Edgewater, one of the youths blew him a kiss, which sparked unruly behavior and harassment throughout the trip.

“When you are driving a school bus with 52 kids every day,” Sanint said, “you have to concentrate on what you are doing. So it’s very difficult to drive when everybody is harassing you.”

Sanint said one of the students punched him in the eye as he stood in the back of the bus warning the students to behave. Four others then joined in.

Marlow said the district is investigating a report that the fight began after Sanint grabbed a student by the shirt collar. Sanint denies the report.

The youths, 15 to 17 years old, are from Edgewater, which sends its middle and high school students to Leonia. They were charged with aggravated assault-juvenile delinquency.

One youth’s family declined to comment; the others could not be reached.

The students were suspended for two weeks, and other disciplinary measures are possible, Marlow said.

November 16, 1991

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BODY FOUND ON GOLF COURSE IDENTIFIED

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, November 15, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | Page B03

The skeletal remains of a body found on a Rockland County golf course have been identified as those of a 23-year-old Paramus man who had been missing since August, authorities said.

Jay Karl Papa died from numerous stab wounds to the chest, the Rockland County Medical Examiner’s Office said. He was identified Wednesday through dental records.

Papa’s body was discovered Monday afternoon in bushes at the old Chateau D’Vie Golf Course in New Hempstead by a man walking his dog.

Dr. Frederick Zugibe, Rockland medical examiner, said it was unclear whether Papa was killed at the scene or was dumped there later.

“This is such a horrible death. He was a nice kid,” said Paramus Police Chief Joseph Delaney, whose department, along with state and federal authorities, had been working on Papa’s disappearance.

Delaney said Papa, a 1986 graduate of Paramus High School, had been missing since the last week of August.

Fort Lee police found Papa’s red, two-door 1987 Mitsubishi parked on a borough street, near Route 9W, about a week and half ago, Delaney said. The car’s doors were locked, and there was nothing in it.

Residents in the area said the car had been parked there since Labor Day weekend, Delaney said.

Papa was wearing an extra-large short-sleeve shirt with a Florida State University logo, a crucifix, slacks, and white sneakers, the chief said. A Mitsubishi car key found on the body started the car found in Fort Lee.

Ramapo town police are investigating.

The Chateau D’Vie Golf Course is now being redeveloped under the name of the New York Country Club Golf Course.

Delaney said he played in the same windmill softball league with Papa, and that his father, former Paramus recreation commissioner Victor Papa, coached teams in the league.

“A very nice kid, very polite. He was liked by many people, especially people in the league,” Delaney said.

“The family was well-known and respected in the community.”

Caption: (5s, 3s, 2s, 1s) PHOTO – Jay Karl Papa in Paramus High School yearbook picture, 1986.

November 15, 1991

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SCHOOL BUS DRIVER IS BEATEN BY STUDENTS

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, November 15, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | | NEWS | Page B01

A 25-year-old school bus driver was attacked by five of the students he was taking to Leonia High School Thursday morning and was hospitalized with facial injuries, police said.

George Sanint, an employee of the Taranto Bus Co., suffered injuries to his nose and left eye, Fort Lee Police Chief John Orso said. Sanint was in stable condition in the Englewood Hospital emergency room Thursday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The youths, Edgewater residents between the ages of 15 and 17, were each charged with aggravated assault-juvenile deliquency and were released to the custody of their parents, Orso said. Edgewater sends students from seventh grade through high school to Leonia.

Dr. Frank Marlow, superintendent of the Leonia school district, said the five boys have been suspended for two weeks.

“The school district has taken very strong actions against the youngsters involved, and we are investigating the alleged involvement of the bus driver as well, the extent to which he instigated this,” Marlow said. “This is not to excuse the students. They’ve been severely punished. We just don’t tolerate behavior like this.”

The incident occurred about 7:50 a.m. on Anderson Avenue, near Route 5 in Fort Lee. Marlow said the school was investigating a report that Sanint stopped the bus when he heard two students, one black, the other white, hurl racial insults at each other in jest.

“From what I heard, the bus driver thought the remarks were directed at him,” Marlow said.

November 15, 1991

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POLICE TAUGHT ABOUT ABUSE LAW

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, November 14, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | Page B01

A police officer responds to a call about a woman’s screams. He arrives at the home where the screams were heard and is confronted by a man who tells the officer to leave. Nothing is amiss, says the man.

Should the officer break down the door or walk away?

Under the state’s Domestic Violence Prevention Act, which took effect Tuesday, the officer may decide to enter the home. Under the old law, he could not.

More than 150 officers from Bergen County were briefed Wednesday at a workshop on provisions of the new law, which places a burden on police to make arrests in domestic violence situations if they see injury or other evidence of battery.

“It’s a very pro-victim law,” said Paul Brickfield, Bergen County first assistant prosecutor. “If you have injuries, the defendant is going to be arrested, even when the victim is opposed to the arrest.”
Under the old law, police could not do anything if the victim declined to file a complaint. The new law, in effect, says police must file criminal and civil complaints against the person suspected of committing the violence, then arrest him or her.

Even as they welcomed the law, several officers Wednesday pointed out ambiguities that they say may hamper enforcement. River Edge Police Lt. Ron Starace, echoing a concern of many in the audience, said the new law appears to address obvious cases but not the gray areas where evidence of domestic violence is not apparent.

“There’s going to come a point in time when somebody is going to have to go inside that house,” Starace said. “The law, as it is now written, says we can’t walk away.”

Among other provisions, the law:

– Permits police to seize weapons at the scene of violence if they determine that they present a risk to the victim;

– Expands the definition of whom domestic violence law covers to include not just family or blood relations but also other people who live in the same household, including same-sex roommates, partners in a homosexual relationship, and people staying with a family though not related by blood;

– Requires a court order to rescind a restraining order, and mandates that police must arrest the person being restrained from the victim if they are found together, even in cases of apparent reconciliation.

In some areas, the law raises constitutional questions, Oakland Police Sgt. Robert Haemmerle said. He cited the provisions on the seizure of weapons and the forcible entry of a residence as two aspects that could pose constitutional problems.

Midland Park Police Chief Thomas Monarque advised officers to err on the side of caution and protect the victim by entering the house and seizing weapons. Monarque is a member of the county domestic violence working group that advises the prosecutor’s office on the issue.

“That’s what I would want my officers to do,” said Monarque. “We are in untried constitutional grounds here, but we also have protections built into the new law.”

The officer is protected under the law for any good-faith action taken to protect a victim in an area where the law mandates an arrest, Brickfield said.

“It’s always an emotional situation,” Brickfield said. “Usually, the victim wants the defendant out of the house, the defendant is surprised police are going to remove him from his home to take him to jail.”

As police officers in the county implement the law, the Prosecutor’s Office will address problems and issues when they develop, he said.

Also participating in the day-long workshop were Lucia Van Wettering, an assistant Bergen County prosecutor who handles domestic abuse cases; Mary Pillarella, team leader of the domestic violence intake unit at the Bergen County Superior Court, Family Court; and Gina Plotino of Alternative to Domestic Violence, a county counseling agency for victims and defendants in domestic violence cases.

Caption: 2 PHOTOS – AL PAGLIONE / THE RECORD 1 – Ridgefield Park policeman Frank Schwarz listening to 2 – Susan Kulik, an assistant Bergen County prosecutor, at a domestic violence workshop.

November 14, 1991

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MAN, 63, CRITICALLY HURT IN ROBBERY

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Friday, November 8, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page C08

A 63-year-old city man was hospitalized in critical condition after he was beaten and robbed in the basement of his Windsor Road home Thursday morning, officials said.

The robbery occurred about 12:45 a.m. when the victim returned home from his liquor store in New York City, police Capt. C. Kenneth Tinsley said. Police declined to identify the victim.

The victim’s wife had heard a noise downstairs and thought it was her husband coming home from work; she went downstairs when she heard a second noise and didn’t hear him call out to her, Tinsley said.

“She went to the basement and saw her husband bleeding, and his hands were handcuffed. He was incoherent and was bleeding from the nose,” Tinsley said. The victim had been struck on the head with a blunt object.

“We don’t have any information as to how many suspects we are dealing with right now,” Tinsley said.

Tinsley added that police have not been able to talk to the victim, who was being treated at Englewood Hospital on Thursday.

Police were investigating whether the victim was followed home from New York City, Tinsley said, adding that two gold rings and a brown briefcase were stolen. It was unclear what was in the briefcase, or whether anything else in the house was stolen, he said.

November 8, 1991

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RISE IN WEAPONS USE ALARMS BERGENFIELD

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, November 8, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page C01

Police and town officials in Bergenfield are concerned about a spate of recent incidents involving groups of teenagers and young adults armed with weapons such as a rifle, knives, baseball bats, and lead pipes.

In the third such incident in recent days, six teenagers from Hackensack who were armed with a baseball bat and lead pipes were arrested early Thursday as they searched for a youth with whom they had fought, police said.

On Monday, police arrested four men and eight juveniles from Englewood who were armed with a .22-caliber rifle, knives, and baseball bats as they drove into Bergenfield to retaliate against borough youths for a fight the previous Monday.

And in the most serious incident, a 20-year-old borough man was hospitalized last Friday after he was beaten and stabbed twice, Police Capt. George Grube said. Six of the eight young people arrested were from Bergenfield.

The incidents appear to be symptoms of a nascent rivalry between Bergenfield youths and some from out of town, similar to the long-standing rivalry among Hackensack, Teaneck, and Englewood youths that often flares into violence, Grube said.

“It’s amazing that we haven’t had any innocent people get hurt,” he said. “But how long can you go on if things continue like this? We’ve been having this problem for about a year and a half. It’s just that it’s escalated now. There’s more weapons. We are finding groups of kids coming from out of town armed.”

Councilman Vernon Cox said: “It’s obvious this is going to have to be something that is not just a Bergenfield solution, but a regional solution. We are going to have to look for cooperation from our adjoining communities that the other kids with the weapons are coming from.”

Anna L. Ramirez, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for a council seat in Tuesday’s election, said that she had not heard of the recent arrests and that a better effort should be made to inform residents of what is happening.

“I don’t think enough of it is being told to residents of Bergenfield for them to want to do anything about it,” she said.

Ramirez said she hopes the new administration coming into office will have a better plan on how to keep youths out of trouble.

Grube said his main concern is for the safety of Bergenfield residents, and he promised that troublemakers coming into Bergenfield would find police waiting for them.

“We have to send a message out that if they are going to come in here with bats and knives and guns that we are going to take steps to put them away,” he said. “We are dealing with individuals that I believe understand only one thing, and that is enforcement. That is what we are going to do.”

November 8, 1991

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EIGHT FACE CHARGES IN ASSAULT ON MAN

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, November 7, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B03

Seven men and a woman were charged Wednesday with aggravated assault in connection with a beating and stabbing last week that sent a 20-year-old borough man to a hospital, police said.

The victim, whose name is being withheld because police fear further attacks on him, was stabbed in his lower back and in his side, had two front teeth kicked out, and was beaten about his left eye, which was swollen shut, Police Capt. George Grube said.

He underwent surgery after the attack and was in good condition Wednesday, a spokeswoman at the hospital said.

Grube said witnesses told police a dispute over a woman at a party in Bergenfield sparked the attack, which occurred about 11:40 p.m. Friday outside an apartment building on Georgian Court.

A crowd of about 100 people, whom Teaneck and Bergenfield police later dispersed, was outside during the attack.

“Everybody jumped in like it was a picnic on this guy,” kicking him, punching him, and beating him with a baseball bat, Grube said. “They are lucky he didn’t die.”

Police talked to the victim for the first time Tuesday, then arrested most of the suspects later in the day. Tyrone Mack, 21, of 50 Georgian Court, the man whom police accuse of stabbing the victim, was arrested about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and was charged with aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose. He was being held in the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Arrested Tuesday on aggravated assault and weapons charges were Mauricio Zapata, 18, of 17G Georgian Court, and Claudia Jimenez, 19, of 129 Thompson St., Dumont.

Arrested Tuesday on aggravated assault charges were Silvio Zapata, 21, of 176 Lexington Ave., Dumont; Nicky Garcia Jr., 19, of 17D Georgian Court; Douglas Matter, 19, of 11 Frederick Place; Marco Fernandez, 18, of 160 S. Prospect Ave., and John Ortiz, 18, of 33 Bridge St.

November 7, 1991

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