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Feb 22

LODI DEATH CALLED MURDER; Woman, 68, Was Found in Closet

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By Michael O. Allen and Janet DeStefano, Record Staff Writers | Saturday, February 22, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | A03

Authorities confirmed on Friday that Ann Li Gregni, the 68-year-old Lodi woman found dead Thursday in a closet in her home, was murdered, but they did not provide details on their investigation.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy would not comment on what kind of wound, if any, was on the woman’s body. The cause and time of the woman’s death had not been determined late Friday afternoon, he said, declining to comment on reports that she had been strangled or suffocated.

Workers at Gibraltar Plastics in Lodi, where Li Gregni worked as a billing clerk for 15 years, called authorities when she did not show up for work Thursday morning. Police and family members discovered her body about 11 a.m. in the brick home on Avenue C she shared with a 16-year-old granddaughter.

Police were searching for an unidentified person believed to have driven away from the house Thursday morning in the victim’s car.

Lt. Richard Desimone said police questioned “a couple of family members,” but declined to say who. The granddaughter’s whereabouts remained unclear.

Li Gregni’s neighbors on Avenue C, a quiet block where the homes are well tended, said they were shaken by the murder. “She was a hard-working woman . . . and we’re in shock over this,” said Angelo Cangelosi, who lives next door.

Neighbors say Li Gregni’s life revolved around her granddaughter, Dawn, who lived with her.

She saved her salary so that she could send Dawn to Immaculate Conception High School in Lodi and eventually to college. They said she planned to retire in May so that she could spend more time with Dawn.

“She was extremely protective of her granddaughter,” said Elizabeth Sanders, Li Gregni’s boss at Gibraltar Plastics.

Feb 21

Love0

FIREFIGHTER ACCUSED OF SEX ASSAULT

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, February 21, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | D03

A former borough fire chief has been charged with sexual assault on a 5-year-old boy, officials said Thursday.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said Joseph D. Schneider of 370 Feronia Way was charged Feb. 13. Schneider, 46, was released after he paid 10 percent of his $2,500 bail.

Mayor Andrew E. Bertone said Schneider was chief of the volunteer Fire Department a few years ago, and that he’s still active in the department. He declined to discuss the arrest.

The complaint, signed by police Sgt. Thomas Farrell, said Schneider touched “intimate parts” of the child. Fahy said the incident occurred between Jan. 25 and Feb. 9, when Schneider took the boy to his basement to show him a military book.

A relative of the boy’s reported the alleged incident to police, and Schneider was arrested about 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 13, Fahy said.

Schneider referred all questions to Brian J. Neary, his attorney. Neary said Schneider pleaded not guilty to the charge Monday.

“We are looking into the situation and hope to act appropriately when all the facts come to light,” Neary said. “He’s a decent man who’s never been in trouble before. And he’s been a community leader. We’ll wait to see the complete scope of the allegation, and we hope to act appropriately.”

Schneider has been a volunteer firefighter for about 12 years, Neary said.

Feb 16

Love0

FIRE VICTIM IS MOVED TO NEW YORK BURN CENTER

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, February 16, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A03

An 11-year-old boy injured in a Palisades Park apartment building fire was moved Saturday to a Westchester County Medical Center burn unit to place him near a machine that would help him breathe if he should need it.

Although the boy, Angelo Gagliardi, is able to breathe through a ventilator, his windpipe was damaged so severely that he may need the extracorporeal membrane oxygenator, which few hospitals have, said Dr. Anthony C. Barbara, chief of the Hackensack Medical Center burn unit and head of pediatric surgery.

Angelo suffered second- and third-degree burns to his arms, legs, and face, and smoke inhalation. Heat from the fire about 1:50 a.m. Friday ruptured the passageway to his lungs.

The special respirator serves as an external lung for people with significant breathing problems, Barbara said.

Barbara said such equipment isn’t readily available, and New Jersey does not have a place where a victim Angelo’s age can receive treatment. Calls to centers in other states were fruitless, he said.

But, with help from the National Burn Victim Foundation, a non-profit agency that arranged Angelo’s transportation, Hackensack Medical Center officials searched a University of Michigan national registry of centers utilizing the machines and came up with the Westchester medical center in Valhalla.

The machine can get him over a rough period with his breathing until the lining of the tracheobronchial tree regenerates, Barbara said. “We felt it was best to transfer him now, while he’s stable, rather than wait for a catastrophe. ”

Also critically injured were Angelo’s mother, Ada Cruz, and stepbrother, Luis Maldonado. A spokeswoman at Teaneck’s Holy Name Hospital, where they were being treated, said Moldonado, 21, and Cruz, 43, had improved Saturday, and that their conditions were stable.

Cruz’s daughters, Monica Nieves, 6, and Christiana Gagliardi, 12, and her mother, Maria Owens, 62, were treated at Englewood Hospital on Friday and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Jose Castro, superintendent of the adjoining 21-unit buildings at 28 and 32 E. Palisades Blvd., said Cruz had just moved into a basement apartment with her four children at the beginning of the month ironically because she was concerned about fire hazards at the apartment she was moving from.

The fire was ruled an accident, but authorities were investigating why the hallway fire alarm was switched off. Tenants often go to the circuit breaker and switch it off, Castro said.

Palisades Park police Capt. John Genovese, coordinator of the borough’s emergency management team, fractured a knuckle getting into the apartment during the rescue. Fire Chief Donald Spohn said borough fire and medical emergency teams were assisted by Leonia, Ridgefield, Fort Lee, Cliffside Park, and Teaneck emergency, fire, and ambulance personnel.

Feb 15

Love0

PALISADES PARK BLAZE INJURES 8, ROUTS 42 FAMILIES; Police Carry Out Those Hurt Seriously

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, February 15, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | A03

A fire at an apartment building Friday morning injured eight people three of them critically and routed 42 families, authorities said.

Two of those critically injured were stepbrothers who were carried out unconscious by police from a smoke-filled basement apartment where the fire started.

Although the fire was ruled an accident, it was unclear what started it, and an investigation continues into why fire alarms and smoke detectors apparently failed to work, Police Chief Alan J. Lustmann said.

Patrolman Scott Maresca, who was the first to arrive at the building at 32 E. Palisades Blvd. about 1:50 a.m., found three of the injured people outside. Maresca, Capt. John Genovese, Lt. Anthony Servis, and Patrolman John Sopelsa entered the basement apartment when they were told more people were inside.

Genovese carried out Luis Moldonato, 21, while his 11-year-old stepbrother, Angelo Gagliardi, was rescued by Maresca, said police, who credited the officers with saving the two stepbrothers lives.

Except for the tenants of four units rendered uninhabitable by the fire, residents of the building were allowed to return four hours later, Lustmann said. Firefighters estimated that 150 people lived in the adjoining 21-unit buildings at 28 and 32 E. Palisades Blvd.

Fire Chief Donald Spohn said the fire was put out within 30 minutes.

Moldonato suffered burns and smoke inhalation and was in Holy Name Hospital, a spokeswoman said. His mother, Ada Cruz, 43, who shares the apartment with three other children, was also in listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Gagliardi was in critical condition at Hackensack Medical Center with second- and third-degree burns, a hospital spokeswoman said. Daughters Monica Nieves, 6, and Christiana Gagliardi, 12, and Cruz’s mother, Maria Owen, 62, were treated at Englewood Hospital and released, a spokeswoman said. Berta Lopez, also a tenant in the building, was treated at Englewood Hospital and released.

Feb 14

Love0

FRIEND CATCHES BOY IN FIRE LEAP

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, February 14, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B08

A 13-year-old boy escaped injury in a fire Thursday when he climbed off a second-floor balcony at his family’s apartment onto a storage shed roof, then jumped into the arms of a next-door neighbor.

Ricky Correale of 147 Washington Ave. admitted he was scared, but was laughing later when he said Sam Aguilar, 15, “saved my life.”

John Godfroy, 72, and his wife Alma, 71, tenants in the first-floor apartment where the fire started, were taken to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck for observation, Fire Chief William A. Weber said.

Following an alarm at 7:53 a.m., firefighters saw heavy, black smoke coming out the front door and windows of the building, which also contains three storefronts and two other apartments.

“The fire started in the bedroom closet,” Weber said. “A [lighted] cigarette accidentally fell into the pocket of the woman’s robe. She then hung the robe up in the closet.”

The fire was under control within 15 minutes, Weber said. Heat and water damage was confined to the couple’s living room and bedroom, although smoke damage extended to the second-floor apartment and a store next door, Weber said.

Correale, whose mother had left for work, was coming out of the shower when he heard a frantic knock on the door and shouts that the building was on fire, he said.

He grabbed a jacket, sweat pants, a T-shirt, and sneakers. Unable to go down the stairs because of heavy smoke, Correale went out the back door onto the roof of the shed.

Aguilar was in the parking lot when he saw the smoke, then saw Correale on the roof, which is about 12 feet from the ground. Aguilar said he told his friend, who weighs about 130 pounds, to jump, and that he would catch him.

“He kept saying, `Are you sure you’re going to catch me? He asked me that like six times. I said jump, jump, jump,” Aguilar said.

Correale said he took another look at the flames shooting out of the first-floor windows. He jumped, and Aguilar caught him in a bear-hug.

Little Ferry firefighters were assisted by the Carlstadt, Hasbrouck Heights, and Moonachie fire departments.

Feb 12

Love0

TWO CHARGED WITH GUN, DRUG COUNTS

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 12, 1992

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

Two men were charged with possession of a sawed-off shotgun and an automatic handgun and were being held in the Bergen County Jail, each on $25,000 bail, Police Chief John Orso said Tuesday.

Robert Cobb, 22, and Robert Scott, 19, were stopped in the parking lot of the municipal building about 9:30 p.m. Monday after detectives on patrol saw them drive back and forth several times, Orso said.

The men told the detectives they lived nearby and that the papers for the car were at their apartment, Orso said.

With the men’s permission, detectives entered the apartment at 2134 Mackay Ave., and found the shotgun and the .25-caliber automatic handgun on the bed, Orso said. They also found in a safe a record of drug transactions and $2,800, he added. Those items were confiscated.

Detectives later found out that Scott had two outstanding warrants, one for failure to appear in Bergen County Superior Court on a burglary charge and the other for failure to appear in Atlantic County Superior Court on a drug possession charge, Orso said.

Charges against the men include unlawful possession of weapons, unlawful possession of hollow nose bullets, and conspiracy to possess and distribute a controlled dangerous substance. Further details on the charges were not available.

Sgt. Bill Cullen, Detective Gary Moleta, and Detective John Klein, all of the borough’s Narcotics Squad, were involved in the arrest.

Feb 08

Love0

INMATES BLAME FOOD FOR JAIL DISTURBANCE; Testify at Hearing on Class-Action Suit

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, February 8, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | A03

Two Bergen County Jail inmates testified Friday that dissatisfaction with the jail’s food led to a hunger strike and a disturbance last month in which one prisoner was bitten three times by a guard dog.

Gary Jones and Gregory Cannell testified at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack at continuing hearings on a 1988 class-action lawsuit filed by the state Department of the Public Advocate to reduce overcrowding at the jail.

Jones and Cannell said that prisoners are dissatisfied with the quality of food and the size of the portions. Until the protest, they said, food often was served cold.

Jones said that, as a leader of a group of white inmates, he persuaded black and Puerto Rican inmates in his dormitory to go on a hunger strike Jan. 11. All 64 inmates from the dormitory skipped lunch that day, he said.

That evening, all but five inmates, who ate because they were hungry and were allowed to leave ahead of the others, dumped their food into the garbage and tried to rush out of the dining hall past corrections officers to return to their dormitory, Jones said.

Officers used dogs to quell the disturbance, Jones said. Cannell said that corrections officers cornered a group of inmates, handcuffed and beat him, then allowed a dog to bite him on his left hand and once on each arm.

As a result of the disturbance, 15 inmates were charged with rule violations, and Cannell and Howard Tucker each face a charge of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.

Cannell, whose testimony will continue next week, hired Westwood attorney Leopold A. Monaco to represent him on the charge. Cannell said inmates had many complaints, ranging from how corrections officers treat them to physical conditions. Monaco said his client has been held in isolation since the incident as punishment.

County officials have maintained that the correction officers actions were proper, saying the inmates provoked the response by rushing for the doors.

The hearings resumed this week before James A. Zazzali, a special master appointed by U.S. District Judge Harold A. Ackerman in September 1989, when the parties failed to reach an out-of-court settlement. They are expected to last at least through February.

Feb 06

Love0

SEARCH BEGINS FOR FIRE’S CAUSE; 3 Garfield families homeless

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, February 6, 1992

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

Investigators continued their search Wednesday for the cause of a fire that severely damaged a Main Street house and displaced three families.

The fact that the probe is ongoing “doesn’t mean it was arson, or anything like that,” said police Capt. Babe Cimino.

A Garfield schoolteacher saw the fire at 7 Main St. at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and called police.

“It spread through the rear of the house rapidly, and eventually consumed the entire house, causing extensive damage to the house and its contents,” Cimino said.

The fire was declared under control about 5:50 p.m. by Fire Chief John Adametz.

A firefighter, two ambulance corps members, and an unidentified woman were treated for minor injuries at Saddle Brook Hospital and released.

The displaced families were able to find temporary shelter with relatives.

Feb 05

Love0

PAIR ARRESTED TRYING TO FLEE

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By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Wednesday, February 5, 1992

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

Two men suspected of a string of robberies in New Jersey were being treated Tuesday at Bellevue Hospital Center for broken limbs after they injured themselves trying to escape from Fort Lee and New York police officers, police said.

Ramon Harper, 24, of Edison and Derrick Sheridan, 31, of Avenel were arrested Monday night in New York, police said.

Rochelle Park Detective Don Simon said the men grabbed a 33-year-old woman as she walked into the West Passaic Street Shop-Rite at about 9:50 p.m. One of them pulled her pocketbook from her shoulder, Simon said.

Fort Lee police spotted the men’s car approaching the George Washington Bridge and chased it into the city.

The suspects abandoned their vehicle and jumped off a roof 25 feet to the ground, where they were arrested, Royster said.

Police said Harper and Sheridan are suspects in recent strong-arm robberies in communities including Hackensack, Lodi, Wayne, West Orange, Denville, Parsippany, and Rahway.

Feb 02

Love0

POLICE QUELL NEAR-RIOT IN TEANECK

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, February 2, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A08

About 100 Englewood youths armed with sticks, stones, and bottles converged on a Teaneck High School dance, but were met by an almost equal number of police officers who quelled a near-riot.

Breaking up sporadic fights at the flanks of crowds and keeping most of the youths apart on opposite sides of Teaneck Road, officers Friday night eventually herded the Englewood youths north into Englewood to put an end to the incident, said Lt. William Broughton, head of the Teaneck Police Department Youth Bureau.

Three juveniles from Hackensack, Englewood, and Teaneck taken into custody were released to the custody of parents or guardians about 1 a.m., he said. Andre Devon Perrin, 18, of West Hudson Avenue, Englewood, was arrested. He was charged with possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, rioting, and resisting arrest, Broughton said.

Perrin, who had a heavy 18-inch fire hydrant wrench when he was arrested, was in the Bergen County Jail on Saturday on $7,500 bail, he added.

Broughton, who was injured when he was hit on the head by a piece of thrown metal, said the only other injuries were to Detective Dean Kazinci, who was hit on the shin with a bottle, and Sgt. Mark Tiernan, who suffered bruised ribs. Neither was taken to a hospital, he said.

Broughton said he did not know why the Englewood youths came to Teaneck, but said they may have been retaliating for a past incident or some perceived slight by Teaneck youths. Sgt. Robert Adomilli said there may have been a dance at Englewood’s Dwight Morrow High School.

“The type of behavior we saw last night is not going to be tolerated by the Teaneck Police Department or the residents of Teaneck,” Broughton said Saturday.

Also responding were about 75 to 100 police officers from the Dumont, Bergenfield, Englewood, Tenafly, Haworth, Palisades Park, Paramus, and Bergen County departments, he said.

Uniformed Teaneck officers went to the corner of Washington Place and Sunrise Terrace about 10:45 p.m., as the Teaneck dance wound down, on a report from residents that youths were fighting, Adomilli said. Officers saw a group of youths but did not see any fighting, he said.

The students at the dance, meanwhile, were told to stay at the school.

A few minutes later, police cars blocked off the Margaret Street bridge when they heard a report that a large group of youths were headed into the township from Englewood.

Police soon heard another report that another group of Englewood youths was coming from Forest Avenue.

“At that point, we knew they were coming to the high school,” Broughton said.

Despite discouragement from police, Adomilli said, a group of about 60 Teaneck youths formed and was ready to meet the Englewood youths.

“It’s a fortunate thing we were there, in the number we were there,” Adomilli said. “I’m telling you, somebody would have gotten hurt. . . . It was very bad scene. We got good support from the surrounding towns.”

Michele March, a member of the Concerned Citizens of Teaneck, was at the scene with her husband, Curtis, who was a chaperone at the dance, helping police calm the youths.

March expressed frustration at what appear to be continuing fights between rival youths in different local communities, especially between Teaneck, Englewood, and Hackensack youths.

“You know what I see? I see a lot of nice kids who just need somebody to point them in the right direction, to tell them that this is not what we are about as black people,” March said.

March commended the police for their professionalism, quick response, and the efficient manner in which they quelled the incident.

“There is a total misfocus here on racism; it’s a black-on-black thing,” she said. “This is a thing that the black community has to solve for itself. We have to reach out to our kids and tell them that we love them, but that we do not accept this kind of behavior; that it is not a way for them to enjoy their future, that they might end up dead or injured.”

Notes: Bergen news page

Feb 01

Love0

ROBBERY SUSPECT AIMS GUN AT COP

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, February 1, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | Page A03

A robbery suspect who had leveled a gun at a police officer dropped his weapon after a second officer, who came up behind the suspect, ordered him to freeze, police said.

The suspect, Thomas O’Kean, had just walked out of a Roy Rogers restaurant on Route 46. He allegedly had a bag of money in his left hand and a gun in his right when he was confronted by Officer Donald Anzalone, said Police Chief Donald Fleming.

Anzalone and Officer Craig Hartless had responded to a silent alarm at the restaurant about 11:25 p.m. Thursday, then waited for the suspect to come outside, because they did not want him to take the five restaurant employees hostage, Anzalone said.

O’Kean allegedly waited for the last customer to leave before accosting the manager, who tripped a silent alarm. After taking money from a safe, a cash-drop box, and a register, the suspect emerged from a side door into the parking lot, where Anzalone, who was behind cover, ordered him to freeze and drop his gun.

Anzalone said O’Kean instead began to slowly raise his weapon, which turned out to be a pellet gun, before Hartless also called on him to freeze.

“He had the gun leveled at me,” Anzalone said. “I don’t know why I didn’t shoot him. I think we both handled it pretty well. The outcome is what we like to see.”

O’Kean, who gave a Lodi address that police could not confirm, was charged with the armed robbery of about $1,800 from the restaurant. He was being held without bail in the Bergen County Jail.

Feb 01

Love0

CRASH KILLS DRIVER OF COUNTY VAN

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, February 1, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star | NEWS | A05

Authorities are investigating the crash of a Bergen County special transportation van whose driver died after he apparently lost control and landed in a ravine.

Detective George Gibbs of the Bergen County Police Department said eyewitnesses reported the van was headed south on Polifly Road about 11 a.m. Thursday when it crossed into the northbound lane, drove through the Exxon gas station on the Hackensack-Hasbrouck Heights border, then landed in a ravine behind the station.

The witnesses said the driver was not visible when the vehicle went out of control.

The driver, Charles Strunck, 49, of Wood-Ridge, was taken to Hackensack Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:22 a.m., Gibbs said.

“Right now, we are waiting for the autopsy report and mechanical inspection of the van. A preliminary inspection indicated everything was OK on the van,” Gibbs said.

Margaret Cook, director of special transportation for Bergen County, said Strunck was on his way to pick up an elderly woman for a doctor’s appointment when the accident occurred. He had just dropped off about 10 passengers at a senior citizens center in Hackensack.

“It will be a tremendous loss to us,” said Cook, who described Strunck as a compassionate and outgoing worker.

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