CRASH JAMS GWB TRAFFIC FOR 9 HOURS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, June 6, 1991

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

A predawn accident on the westbound express lanes of Route 95 leading to the George Washington Bridge created massive traffic delays Wednesday.
The traffic jam was especially acute during the morning rush hour, as it took New Jersey-bound motorists as long as two hours to cross the bridge, said Catherine Bowman, the bridge’s operations supervisor.
The accident, on the upper level express lanes, involved an overturned garbage truck and two cars. It occurred about 2 a.m. near the Port Authority’s George Washington Bridge bus station, said Port Authority spokesman John Hughes. Details were not available.
Hughes said westbound traffic backed up as far as the New England section of the New York Thruway and was rerouted onto local streets and the Henry Hudson Parkway. The westbound lanes were closed for nine hours because of difficulty righting the truck, he said.
Bowman said the bridge’s lower level lanes were closed for construction at the time of the accident and were not opened until 6:30 a.m., adding to the congestion.
A special crane was used to right the truck about 11:30 a.m., and the lanes were reopened about noon, Hughes said. He said the cause of the accident had not been determined late Wednesday. Although the cars suffered extensive damage, no one was injured, he said.

Keywords: BRIDGE; NEW JERSEY; NEW YORK CITY; MOTOR VEHICLE; ACCIDENT

TONS CONFISCATED, 8 ARRESTED; NEW JERSEY’S BIGGEST DRUG BUST

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, June 1, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | Page A01

In what is being called New Jersey’s largest drug haul ever, undercover U.S. Customs Service agents Friday seized 4,700 pounds of cocaine, 7,000 pounds of marijuana, and $995,000 in cash, and arrested eight men connected to the shipment, officials said.
“New Jersey, unfortunately, is becoming a central transit place for heroin, cocaine, and other forms of narcotics,” said Robert van Etten, special customs agent in charge.
Friday’s arrests culminated a four-month investigation in which customs agents infiltrated a New York metropolitan area drug-smuggling organization that was supplied by the Cali drug cartel in Colombia, Van Etten said. The marijuana was to be delivered to Illinois and Indiana, he added.
The cocaine had a wholesale value of $58.2 million, and the marijuana was valued at $11.2 million wholesale, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart Rabner.
Van Etten said a private transport plane brought the drugs first to Miami, then to Newark International Airport about a week ago. The drugs were transferred to a rented truck, which was seized by agents in Newark Friday.
Among those arrested were North Jersey residents Enidio Abreu, 42, of 310 Warwick Ave., Teaneck, and Julio Menendez, 29, of 1614 83rd St., North Bergen.
The eight were charged with conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and marijuana. They were being held without bail in the Union County Jail.

Keywords: DRUG; NEWARK; PROBE; SHIP; NEW JERSEY; SMUGGLING

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – BB BRUSH / THE RECORD – Workers in Newark unloading cocaine and marijuana seized Friday after a four-month investigation.

TROOPERS BEING TRAINED TO DISPATCH; THEY’D REPLACE LAID-OFF CIVILIANS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, May 24, 1991

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

The state police on Thursday began training 29 officers in dispatching in the wake of notices sent to 123 of the agency’s 127 civilian dispatchers that they would be laid off next month.
The two-day instruction of senior troopers and sergeants at Fort Dix ensures that the agency will have trained people operating its criminal-justice information system should the layoffs go through, said Capt. Thomas Gallagher, a state police spokesman.
The dispatchers union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission, and has asked the state Department of Personnel for an affirmative-action review because the dispatchers are predominantly women and minorities, the union’s president said.
Dominick Critelli, who heads the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which represents the dispatchers, also questioned the wisdom of laying off dispatchers who earn between $18,000 and $25,000 a year and replacing them with officers who earn about $45,000.
Public safety would suffer because fewer troopers would be enforcing the law; at the same time, the state won’t see the expected $3.3 million savings from the layoffs, Critelli said.
“I can’t see cutting services in the area that they are cutting because there is nothing gained economically,” he said. “What you are talking about is a loss in services for basically the same dollar amounts if these people lost their jobs and go on to collect unemployment and receive some type of social assistance.”
Gallagher said public safety would not suffer because the people being trained to do the job work in the offices. They would just have to assume the additional responsibility of operating the dispatching system, he said.
The $3.3 million savings expected from laying off the dispatchers should bring to $7.2 million the amount saved by state police labor cuts this fiscal year and in next year’s budget.
Earlier this year, the state police cut $1.1 million from this year’s budget by laying off 32 inspectors from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Enforcement Bureau, Gallagher said.
The savings from the dispatcher layoffs, plus $2.8 million expected from the laying off of 160 security guards in state buildings, would be applied to next year’s budget, he added.
Civilians have been working as dispatchers since the state created the position in 1970 as a way to put more troopers on the road.

Keywords: POLICE; NEW JERSEY; INFORMATION; EMPLOYMENT

FASTER FINGERPRINTS FOILING FELONS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, May 11, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS Page A01

Christopher Villone was in a Bergen County Jail cell on burglary charges one day in late March when investigators walked in and told him he was being charged with four more counts of burglary.
The state’s year-old Automated Fingerprint Identification System had analyzed prints found at a burglary scene in River Edge and identified Villone as a suspect. He was subsequently tied to three other break-ins.
Without the automated system, it’s unlikely that Villone, a 19-year-old Bergenfield resident, could have been tied to the additional burglaries, police said.
Until recently, police in North Jersey could not take full advantage of the computer because they had to travel to Trenton to use it.
But last month, the system was installed at the state police barracks in Totowa. Officials are looking forward to the benefits it will bring.
The computer has 1 million fingerprints in its memory and can identify suspects within 23 minutes.
Since its installation in May 1990, it has identified suspects in more than 360 cases, including 28 homicides, state police Sgt. Phil Boots said.
But before the system came to the Totowa barracks April 23, only five of those identifications were for Bergen County crimes. Other North Jersey law enforcement agencies fared little better, Boots said.
Before computerization, a detective who took fingerprints from a crime scene had to compare them with file cards containing fingerprints of known suspects, Boots said.
It would take 167 years to do what the computer does each time it is presented with a print from a crime scene.

Keywords: NEW JERSEY; POLICE; COMPUTER; TECHNOLOGY; CRIME

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – Linda DeVries operating computerized fingerprint system.

MAN HELD IN STUDENT’S DEATH PAROLEE FACES MURDER CHARGE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, April 14, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Edition: All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

A 23-year-old Spring Valley, N.Y., man on parole for possession of a loaded weapon was being held without bail Saturday in the stabbing death of Kissinger Shiimi, a Ramapo College student leader.
Peter Ralph Finley, who police say is a Jamaican national, was arrested in Brooklyn on Friday. He was charged with second-degree murder and was being held in the Rockland County Correctional Center pending a hearing.
Shiimi, a 30-year-old senior majoring in political science, died about 5:30 a.m. April 6 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, N.Y. He had been stabbed five times by one of two men arguing with him over a fender bender outside the Atlantic Gas ‘n Go, a Spring Valley gas station and convenience store, police said.
Tom M. Jones, Ramapo College’s director of public relations, said Finley’s arrest is a relief to students who have been grappling with the violent death of Shiimi, whom they regarded as a peacemaker and bridge-builder.
Hinyangerwa Asheeke, Namibia’s ambassador to the United Nations, on Friday escorted Shiimi’s body back to Namibia, the southwest African country where Shiimi fought oppression, then escaped to come to the United States to build a better life.
Asheeke was Shiimi’s uncle, but they first met about a month ago at a reception celebrating Namibia’s first year of independence from South Africa.
At Ramapo, Shiimi won the Aly Makwaia Scholarship named for an African student at the college who was stabbed to death in 1987.
On the day he died, Shiimi and two fellow students had gone to a nightclub in Spring Valley. They stopped at the gas station about 4:30 a.m., when the car the three were traveling in tapped the bumper of the other car. Police refused to say who was driving the car that carried Shiimi.
Two men in the other car argued with Shiimi and one stabbed him, police said. The men, along with a woman in their company, fled in a red Nissan with a white stripe. Police described both men as having Jamaican accents, and said one had a gold front tooth. It was unclear from police reports Saturday whether Finley has a gold tooth.
At the Spring Valley Police Department’s request, detectives from the New York Police Department’s 70th Precinct in Brooklyn had been checking the home of Finley’s relatives on Sterling Street, said Sgt. Mary Wrensen, a city police spokeswoman. They found Finley there about 8:30 p.m. Friday. He had an airline ticket to Florida, police said.
Police are looking for the other man and the woman. No further details of the investigation were available.

Keywords: NEW JERSEY; COLLEGE; STUDENT; MURDER

BROTHER OF JERSEY CITY MAYOR CHARGED WITH DRUNKEN DRIVING

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, March 10, 1991

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

Thomas W. McCann, acting head of the Hudson County Parks Division and brother of Mayor Gerald McCann, was charged Saturday with drunken driving.
Police said tests revealed that McCann, 38, of 238 Pearsall Ave., had a blood-alcohol level of 0.21 percent, more than twice the level of 0.10 percent at which a driver in New Jersey is presumed to be drunk.
Jersey City police Officer Ed Jennings was dispatched at 7 a.m. to Coles Street and Newark Avenue where a man was reported to be asleep behind the wheel of a stopped vehicle. McCann, police said, was behind the wheel of a white 1988 Dodge Ram, a Hudson County government vehicle.
Jennings, in his report on the arrest, said McCann was “slumped” over the steering wheel and the motor was running. The car was in gear, and McCann had his foot on the brake, Jennings said. Jennings said he and other officers tried to wake McCann up and succeeded after “repeated” attempts.
Neither McCann, who was released on his own recognizance, nor his brother, the mayor, could be reached for comment Saturday.

Keywords: PARK; HUDSON COUNTY; ALCOHOL; ABUSE; TEST; NEW JERSEY; JERSEY CITY; GOVERNMENT; OFFICIAL

MARINE FROM TEANECK DIES DURING TRAINING EXERCISES

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, March 10, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A04

A 20-year-old Teaneck man died, apparently of a heart attack, while undergoing combat water survival training Friday at the Marine Corps training base at Parris Island, S.C., a Marine spokesman said.
Danilo A. Marty Jr., was training at an indoor swimming pool to upgrade his water survival safety qualifications from third class to second class when he collapsed about 2:30 p.m., Capt. J.R. Mill said Saturday.
“It looked like . . . during the evolution of that exercise, he obviously must have experienced difficulties,” Mill said. “While they were trying to get him out of the pool, he apparently collapsed.”
Marty, who was in the pool with approximately 55 other men when the attack occurred, was pronounced dead at 3:47 p.m. Friday at the Beaufort Naval Hospital, Mill said. The cause of death was listed as “cardiopulmonary arrest, secondary to aspiration” a heart attack, he added.
Marty arrived Feb. 14 at Parris Island and began the 12-week cycle popularly known as “Boot Camp,” Mill said.
“You think it is hard to lose a Marine in combat. You can compound that a hundredfold when we lose a recruit in training,” he said.
Marty’s family has already been notified of his death, Mill said. The Martys, whose telephone number was unlisted, could not be reached for comment Saturday. Before Marty could be deemed medically fit for recruit training, Mill said, he would have undergone two complete medical examinations.
A typical day for recruits begins about 4:30 a.m., and training, which lasts until about 8 p.m., is fitted in between personal care and meals, Mill said. The safety qualification training began about 1:30 p.m. Friday and was to go on until 3 p.m. Marty, in attaining his third class safety qualification, demonstrated he could take care of himself, Mill said. Friday’s training was to teach him how to do that and take care of a wounded Marine at the same time, he said.
Although what Marty was doing when he began experiencing difficulty is now the subject of investigation, Mill said, the recruit was in the pool wearing full Marine gear, including boots, utilities, helmet, flak jacket, H-harness, cartridge belt, two magazine pouches, two full canteen with covers, a rubber rifle, duplicate of a M-16 A2 service rifle, and a standard 40-pound pack.

Keywords: TEANECK; DEATH; VICTIM; DEFENSE; NEW JERSEY

N.J. CUTS ALCOHOL BUREAU

By Patricia Alex and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Thursday, March 7, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A09

The “backbone” of the state bureau enforcing liquor laws will be gutted under a cost-cutting plan that calls for 32 of the 72 enforcement agents to lose their jobs by the end of the month, inspectors said Wednesday.
The agents, who work for the New Jersey State Police Alcoholic Beverage Control Enforcement Bureau, said they feared the layoffs were the first step toward total elimination of the unit.
But Chris Florentz, spokesman for the state Division of Law and Public Safety, which ordered the cuts, said he was aware of no such plan.
Many areas of the division are facing similar cuts, as are departments throughout state government. “We decided these cuts could be made without seriously affecting the ability of the agency to monitor and regulate the alcoholic beverage industry,” said Florentz.
The bureau is charged with enforcing laws that affect the more than 1,200 legal liquor purveyors in the state, including statutes that prohibit the sale of liquor to minors. The agency also ferrets out illegal establishments and investigate liquor license applications.
“I find it very hard to believe that the state can lay off half our force and still believe that we can work as effectively,” said Edward Corrales, a senior inspector.
Corrales said the unit’s investigations often lead to fines that offset its operating costs.

Keywords: NEW JERSEY; ALCOHOL; GOVERNMENT; LAW; FINANCE; COST; LICENSE

HOSPITAL ESCAPEE IS CAPTURED; FLED IN DUMP TRUCK, THEN IN STOLEN CAR

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, December 9, 1990

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

A 24-year-old man who escaped from a New York mental hospital by driving a dump truck through a fence and then stole a car in Hackensack was being held in lieu of $15,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail after Atlantic City police captured him Thursday.

Hackensack police charged James Coyle of New City, N.Y., with robbery for stealing the car, and with receiving stolen property the dump truck, which he discarded at a gas station. Atlantic City police charged him with resisting arrest, driving with a revoked driver’s license, and receiving stolen property.

A spokesman for Hackensack Police Chief William Iurato said charges are also pending against Coyle in New York in the theft of the dump truck.

Coyle had been involuntarily committed to the Rockland County Psychiatric Hospital in Orangeburg, N.Y., on Dec. 3, according to a police report by Hackensack Detective Sgt. Hugh J. Farley.

Shortly after dawn Thursday, while workers from P & H Construction Co. of Wanaque were repairing the sewer system on hospital grounds, Coyle allegedly stole the dump truck, which had a trailer attached, and drove it through a fence.

At about noon that day, the truck arrived in Hackensack and pulled into the Exxon gas station at the corner of Johnson Avenue and Orchard Street, Farley said in the report. John Packard, 57, of 630 Main St. was at the pump filling his 1979 Cadillac with gas when Coyle arrived, he said.

Coyle knocked Packard to the ground, finished pumping the gas, and took off in the Cadillac, driving south on Johnson Avenue, police said. After Packard made a report of the robbery, Hackensack police alerted other police departments with a description of the car and Coyle.

At about 6:30 p.m. on the same day, Atlantic City Police Officer Donald Barker responded to a report that a patron at a gas station had refused to pay.

N.J.-CRUISING WHALE IS ESCORTED BACK TO SEA

By Michael O. Allen and Joan Verdon, Record Staff Writers | Thursday, November 22, 1990

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

A humpback whale with an unusual affinity for New Jersey waters was given a police escort out of the state Wednesday, after a brief visit to Newark Bay and the Hackensack River.

Whales commonly swim past the Jersey shore on their way to the coastal waters of Maine, but the 30- to 35-foot humpback with a black body and white flippers apparently likes the Garden State, said Bob Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.

Schoelkopf, who helped the state police marine unit guide the whale through New York Harbor on Wednesday, said the same whale visited the Delaware, Raritan, and Shark rivers two years ago.

The wayward whale was first spotted swimming up the Hackensack River on Tuesday afternoon by workers at a Public Service Electric and Gas Co. generating plant in Jersey City. Marine police boats did not spot the mammal again until 7:30 a.m. still in the Hackensack River.

Officer Bryan Stillwell of the state police marine patrol said police boats and workers from the Stranding Center formed a semicircle around the whale and revved their engines to encourage the animal, who risked being grounded as he swam up river, to move seaward.

The whale was escorted through the Kill Van Kull and New York Harbor and past the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.