Little Ferry Police Archives - MICHAEL O. ALLEN

COCAINE PROFITS AID CRIME FIGHT

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, March 6, 1992

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

Leonidas Paula’s ill-gotten gains from the cocaine sales he made from his Little Ferry apartment until he was arrested 16 months ago will go to good use helping local law enforcement fight crime.

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the Little Ferry Police Department recently were on the receiving end of a check for $135,000, which was split 50-50. It was their share of $169,000 that Paula forfeited as part of a 15-year prison sentence for three counts of cocaine distribution and one count of maintaining a drug-production facility.

“This is just a great way to hurt drug dealers because you are hitting them where it hurts in the pocketbook,” said Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy.

The 1986 Crime Control Act provides for law enforcement agencies to share in the proceeds from criminal investigations in which they were involved. Robert Van Etten, U.S. Customs special agent-in-charge, presented the check in Fahy’s office.

“It’s like Christmas in March,” Little Ferry Police Chief Donald Fleming said. “We are going to be frugal with the money. . . . We are going to update the narcotics division in the detective bureau, buy some new equipment, and send people to courses.”

Paula was charged in November 1990 after five men who had bought cocaine from him were arrested coming out of his North Village apartment, which was under surveillance by Little Ferry police and the Bergen County Narcotics Task Force. Among other things, authorities seized $9,282 and bank accounts in New York City and numbers to safe-deposit boxes that later yielded $169,000.

March 6, 1992

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SUSPECT CAPTURED, WITH HELP OF TIPSTER; LEFT SON WITH COPS AS HE DUCKED ARREST

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, July 19, 1991

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

An anonymous tip Wednesday led to the capture of a 42-year-old man who last week had fled police leaving his son in their custody after being recognized as wanted on several charges.
Officers from five municipal police departments chased Nicola Lomuscio after he bolted from his home at 176 Woodland Ave. and arrested him about 4:45 p.m., said Little Ferry Detective Sgt. Michael Walsh.
Lomuscio was being held on $56,536 bail in the Bergen County Jail on Thursday. Little Ferry police charged him with eluding police and with two counts of resisting arrest. Police in Hackensack, where the case originated, charged Lomuscio with violating a restraining order, harassment, theft, and escape from custody.
Hackensack Police Capt. John Aletta said the incident began July 11 at their headquarters, when an officer recognized Lomuscio as the man they wanted in connection with a domestic abuse case and other charges. Lomuscio had come to report that someone had assaulted his 10-year-old son. He fled, leaving the boy, Aletta said. The assault claim was determined later to be unfounded, police said.
Hackensack police released the boy to his mother, who lives in the city.
Police had been unable to find Lomuscio at home since that incident, until a caller told police Wednesday that Lomuscio was heading toward Little Ferry, Aletta said. Four borough officers were waiting outside his home when he arrived. He defied the officers, entered the home, and escaped out the back door, Walsh said.
Police from South Hackensack, Moonachie, and Ridgefield Park and a Bergen County Police K-9 unit joined the brief chase before Lomuscio was arrested on Route 46 in Little Ferry, Walsh said.

Keywords: POLICE; LITTLE FERRY; HACKENSACK; ABUSE; THEFT; ASSAULT

July 19, 1991

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