2ND SUSPECT IN PARAMUS HEIST NABBED

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 6, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B04

A 40-year-old Fairview man who was arrested Monday night in Woodbridge for credit-card fraud has been identified as the second suspect in a Jan. 16 Paramus bank robbery in which a 15-year-old Bronx boy was arrested, police said.
Leon Busiello, also known as John Rizzo, of 685 Prospect Ave., was being held in the Middlesex County Jail on Tuesday, Paramus Police Chief Joseph Delaney said.
On Tuesday, a Paramus Municipal Court judge set $100,000 bail for Busiello on charges of bank robbery and possession of a weapon while committing the robbery, Delaney said.
Busiello gave the youth, whom police declined to identify because of his age, a note that he read to a teller at the Midland Bank in the Bergen Mall on the day of the robbery, Delaney said.
“Give me all the money, large bills, no singles, or I’ll kill everyone. I have a gun,” Delaney said the youth told the teller. Busiello, who Delaney said drove the boy and a third suspect to the mall, was standing nearby with a gun.
Busiello took most of the $8,772 that the teller handed the boy and escaped, as did the third suspect, Delaney said. A Bergen County police officer driving nearby arrested the boy, who had $1,600 in his possession, in the parking lot behind the bank.
The boy is being held in the Bergen County Juvenile Center in Paramus, awaiting a hearing on charges of bank robbery and threatening to kill people in the bank.
Busiello faces charges of fraud and illegal possession of a weapon in Middlesex County. Delaney could not provide details about the incident.

Keywords: PARAMUS; BANK; ROBBERY

SHOPPERS SIGN UP TO SUPPORT TROOPS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, January 27, 1991

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

A constant question in letters written home by American servicemen and women in the Middle East is how the public is reacting to their being over there.
If the more than 3,000 signatures collected on banners at two Paramus shopping malls Saturday are any measure, then support for the men and women if not for the war itself is overwhelming, said family members who organized the banner-signing.
“Every signature that goes on there is one more support for our men and women, and they will know how the public really feels, that they really care and have pride in them,” said one of the organizers, Joan Piazza of Paramus. Her 21-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Steven Piazza, is on the front line in Saudi Arabia with the U.S. Marine Corps 81st Platoon.
The Bergen County chapter of the American Red Cross Military Family Support Group, formed shortly after the first deployment of servicemen and women in August, set up tables inside Paramus Park mall and Garden State Plaza at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The white nylon banners each had a yellow band with black lettering above and below reading “Support Our Troops, Come Home Soon. “
By mid-afternoon, people were searching for space in the cotton margins of the banners. Shopper after shopper walked up to the tables, many simply to sign their names, others to write such messages as “You are in our hearts and prayers. God Bless. “
Sandy Rosenberg, 54, of Paramus said she signed the banner because although she is against the war she wants the men and women serving in the Middle East to know that she supports them and wants them to come home safely.
Kevin Mendillo, 29, of Fort Lee commended the military family support group for its effort to boost the morale of the troops.
“These guys are putting their lives on the line, risking their lives to protect us,” Mendillo said.
The banners will hang atop the Bergen County Courthouse, Piazza said. When the war is over and the soldiers and sailors return, the banners will be presented to them at a “big party. “

Keywords: USA; IRAQ; KUWAIT; WARFARE; DEFENSE; SAUDI ARABIA; MIDDLE EAST; PARAMUS

Caption: COLOR – JOE GIARDELLI / THE RECORD – Nancy Monaco of Fort Lee signing a banner at Paramus Park mall. PHOTO – AL PAGLIONE / THE RECORD – Bergen County Executive William “Pat” Schuber, left, and Sheriff Jack Terhune at courthouse ceremony honoring U.S. troops.

TEEN AWAITING HEARING ON BANK HEIST AT MALL

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, January 19, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | Page A07

A 15-year-old Bronx boy faces a hearing in juvenile court on charges he robbed a Bergen Mall bank, police said.
The juvenile was holding a torn bag containing $1,600 of the $8,772 taken from Midland Bank on the mall’s lower level when two police officers arrested him outside the bank shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday, Police Chief Joseph Delaney said.
Police charged him with bank robbery and threatening to kill people at the bank.
“Give me all the money large bills, no singles or I’ll kill everyone. I have a gun,” Delaney said the youth told the teller as he slid a note to her. The youth did not have a weapon, he said.
The youth tore the bag when he pulled it through the teller’s window, and he was picking up money that was falling from the bag as he fled, Delaney said.
Bergen County Police Officer Charles Banks and Paramus Officer James Gormley arrested the youth in the bank parking lot shortly after the robbery.
A hearing on the charges against the youth, who is being held in the Bergen County Juvenile Detention Center in Paramus, will probably be next week.

Keywords: PARAMUS; BANK; ROBBERY

BURGLARY SUSPECT CAUGHT ON THE RUN

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, December 13, 1990

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

Moments after borough police dispatched officers to The Leather Warehouse on Route 4, where a burglary was in progress, a Hackensack detective arrested one of the suspects as he ran from the scene, police said.

Luigi Stalaj, 36, of 2565 Coldan Ave., the Bronx, was released from Bergen County Jail on Wednesday on $75,000 bail.

Paramus police charged Stalaj with burglary and theft, possession of stolen property, and possession of burglary tools. A judge set bail at $50,000, Chief Joseph Delaney said.

Stalaj also was charged by Hackensack police with resisting arrest, possession of stolen property, and possession of burglary tools, and bail was set at $25,000, said Hackensack Police Capt. John Aletta.

Stalaj, working with an accomplice who scaled a fence and escaped, stole 25 coats valued at $11,000, along with $7,000 in cash from a register and a bank bag at the warehouse, Delaney said. The accomplice lost a sock and a shoe when he scaled the fence, he said.

The suspects triggered an alarm when they entered through the rear of the store about 1:20 a.m. Wednesday, Delaney said.

The chief said Hackensack Detective Sgt. Michael Mordaga, driving along Anderson Street, near the city’s border with Paramus on Route 4, responded when he heard Paramus dipatching officers.

Delaney said Mordaga saw a man carrying an armful of coats dart across Coles Street in Hackensack.

Mordaga chased the man and arrested him in the back yard of a nearby home. He was assisted by Hackensack Police Officer Vincent Pedone.

Police recovered a van, two piles of coats dumped behind houses in the area, and a bag containing burglary tools, Delaney said.

MAN FLEEING COPS STRUCK ON RTE. 4; ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO USE FAKE CREDIT CARD AT BANK

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 21, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01

A man fleeing Paramus police after he tried to get $2,500 from a bank using a fake credit card was struck and badly injured Tuesday when he ran into speeding traffic on Route 4, police said.

The man, who police said was carrying only false identification, underwent surgery at Hackensack Medical Center on Tuesday evening. Paramus Police Chief Joseph Delaney said the man’s legs were shattered and he suffered severe internal injuries when he was struck by a Mercedes-Benz in the fast lane on the westbound side.

“He could have just as easily been killed, the way he ran into the highway,” Delaney said.

“I don’t know how he ever expected to get across the highway, especially at that time, with the traffic across Route 4,” Delaney said. “He probably didn’t see the footbridge. There’s a footbridge right above him on Forest Avenue.”

The chain of events began at about 11:20 a.m. when the man tried to obtain $2,500 from First Fidelity Bank at 10 Forest Ave. with the credit card, police said.

A teller called police, whispering that she needed assistance, Delaney said, but the call was discontinued before the desk officer could ask for more information.

Thinking a bank robbery was in progress, the officer dispatched several cruisers to the bank.

Police Officer Steve Mercer, who saw the man run out of the bank as he arrived at the scene, chased him on foot to the roadway, where the man darted into the traffic, crossing two lanes before he was hit.

Police believed the man drove to the bank and were looking for a car late Tuesday, Delaney said.

Delaney said police later learned that about $4,500 had been obtained from banks in Florida with the credit card, which police said was issued to a fictitious person in Florida.

The chief said the man carried only the Florida identification, “which was obviously fraudulently manufactured,” Delaney said, adding that police would try to establish his identity through fingerprints. “Even at the hospital, when they were asking him questions relative to who he is, where he’s from, he was being extremely evasive. “

Delaney said investigation of the accident caused a backup of the busy lunchtime traffic on Route 4 for about two hours from Forest Avenue to Hackensack Avenue.

The traffic jam caused ancillary roads to River Edge and Hackensack to clog, Delaney said.

Caption: PHOTO – LINDA CATAFFO/THE RECORD – Paramus police collecting evidence around the car that struck a man fleeing from them Tuesday.

3 ARRESTS IN CAR-THEFT TRY AT GARDEN STATE PLAZA

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 14, 1990

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

Three Paterson men who allegedly tried to steal a car in the Garden State Plaza parking lot Monday were arrested after a chase by car and on foot into Rochelle Park, police said.

Manny Torres, 18; John Velez, 19, and Miguel DeJesus, 20, were charged with theft of an automobile and attempted theft of an automobile and were being held in the Bergen County Jail Tuesday.

Torres, facing additional charges of eluding police and resisting arrest, was being held on $7,500 bail. Velez and DeJesus each were being held on $2,500 bail.

Police Chief Joseph Delaney said one of the suspects confessed the three were looking for a car to steal, after stealing the 1990 Hyundai they were traveling in from the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne earlier in the day.

Lt. Don McNair of the Paramus Police Department Street Crime Unit saw one of the men trying to break into a car in the Garden State Plaza parking lot at about 4 p.m. and called for help, Delaney said. They fled when they saw McNair approaching in his car.

McNair, assisted by officers Kurt Massey and Albert Sadro in another patrol car, chased the men as they drove south on Route 17, Delaney said. The men abandoned the car and fled on foot after the car struck an embankment in Rochelle Park, he said. They were arrested a short distance away.