MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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AUTOPSY CONFIRMS MURDER, SUICIDE

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MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, May 10, 1992

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

Investigators have ruled that the death of a Fort Lee man and his 5-year-old daughter was a murder-suicide, Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said Saturday.

Raif Gandell, 42, shot his daughter, Kira Gandell, twice in the head before shooting himself through the mouth, Fahy said. The bodies were discovered about 8:05 a.m. Friday on the bed with a .32-caliber automatic handgun between them.

Fahy said an autopsy indicated the two died between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.

Gandell and his wife, Jill Markowitz, of the Half Moon House Apartments at 2400 Hudson Terrace were in marriage counseling and he had been depressed over the marital problems, Fahy said.

A baby sitter reporting for work the next morning could not enter the apartment because the door was latched with a chain from the inside. However, she found a note from Gandell underneath the door telling her what he had done, and saying that she should call the police.

Markowitz, who was out of state on a business trip, was informed of the deaths Friday. She returned home that day, but could not be reached for comment. Gandell was a medical social worker at Englewood Hospital.

ID: 17376812 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

May 10, 1992
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3RD TEEN TIED TO SHOOTING; Joins Bergen Pair Arrested Last Week

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 22, 1992

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

A 17-year-old Closter boy on Tuesday became the third Bergen County youth charged in connection with last week’s robbery of a Queens doctor and the shooting of two of his patients, police said.

Hyun Kim of 82 Legion Place was the driver of the getaway car in the robbery, said New York City Police Sgt. Don Costello.

Kim, arrested on a complaint of excessive noise in Fort Lee on Sunday, was charged in a Queens courtroom on Tuesday with first-degree robbery and assault, Costello said. Further details on the Fort Lee incident could not be obtained Tuesday.

James Jhang, 17, of Englewood Cliffs was arrested a week ago across the street from the office of Dr. Moo Young Jun on Sanford Avenue in Queens, moments after he and Seung Kim, 16, of Closter went into the office pretending to be patients, then robbed the doctor, police said.

As the suspects were leaving, a retired police officer and his 20-year-old son were walking in. They crossed paths and the son, Steven Barberisi, was shot by Jhang in the stomach as he opened the office door, police said.

Robert Barberisi, who retired from the police force in 1989, then struggled with Jhang and was shot in the arm, police said. He bit Jhang in the arm, forcing him to drop the gun, which Barberisi picked up and fired, Hardiman said. Seung Kim was hit in the left shoulder and was arrested at the scene.

The third suspect, who was waiting in the car and who police now say is Hyun Kim, fled. Costello said the youths were being held Tuesday in the Queens House of Detention.

ID: 17375023 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

April 22, 1992
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2 BROTHERS SHOT, THIRD IS CHARGED; Family Argument Erupts Into Gunfire

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, March 1, 1992

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

A feud between brothers spilled onto a front lawn, where an Oakland man fired nine shots at his two brothers, striking each once in the back, police said. The victims were spared serious injury because the bullets were slowed by the doors of the Jeep in which they were attempting to escape.

Anthony Rucereto and his brother John drove themselves to Englewood Hospital immediately after they were shot, Police Chief Michael Affrunti said. A spokeswoman at Englewood Hospital said they were treated and released.

Vincent Rucereto was arrested without incident on numerous charges among them attempted murder after the shooting Friday night on the lawn of his mother’s home at 248 Lexington Ave., the chief added.

“They were trying to get away from him and that’s when he started shooting at them,” Affrunti said. “It’s an argument over money. I don’t have details yet because we haven’t had a chance to interview these people.”

The brothers 70-year-old mother with whom Anthony, 50, and John, 31, live injured her hands when she fell trying to separate her sons, the police chief said. The woman, whose name was not given, was also treated at Englewood Hospital.

The argument among the Ruceretos began somewhere outside of Dumont, then continued when they arrived at their mother’s house about 10:40 p.m. Friday.

When his brothers tried to drive away, Vincent, armed with a .22-caliber automatic handgun, fired nine shots into the vehicle, the police chief said.

“John Rucereto was struck in the back,” Affrunti said. “It penetrated the door of the car first so it didn’t go that deep into him. The other brother, Anthony, was also hit in the back but it didn’t penetrate him because that bullet also went through the car first.”

Two stray bullets also hit the house, the chief said.

Vincent Rucereto, 48, of Rutgers Drive, Oakland, was being held in Bergen County Jail on $90,000 bail. He was charged with two counts of attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, Affrunti said.

ID: 17370170 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

March 1, 1992
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SPECTATOR SEATS AREN’T ALL NEEDED BUT PRESS OVERFLOWS COURTROOM

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, January 16, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A11

Although spectators started gathering outside the Bergen County Courthouse about 7 a.m. on Wednesday, several of the 53 seats set aside for the public went begging on the day of opening arguments in Gary S. Spath’s reckless manslaughter trial.

The spectators who lined up before a double-glass door leading to the first-floor courtroom were waved in 10 at a time by Sheriff’s Officer George Kellinger shortly before the 9 a.m. start of the trial.

The initial seating included 39 spectators, plus six representatives of families of Spath and Phillip C. Pannell, as well as members of the press. Only 31 spectators attended in the afternoon.

Everyone entering the courtoom was frisked, sent through a walk-through metal detector, and then reinspected with a hand-held metal detector. Bergen County Undersheriff Jay Alpert attributed the tight security to anticipation of heavy demand for seats and the number of witnesses expected to testify at the trial.

All of the 19 seats set aside for the press were taken, and a special media room was set up on the second floor to handle the overflow. Nearly a score of reporters, cameramen, and technicians crammed into the 12-foot-square room to stare intently at two television monitors tuned to coverage of the trial provided by Court TV, a cable network. Space was so tight many sat cross-legged on the floor.

Several of the spectators including Beverly Lefkowitz, president of the Teaneck Parent-Teacher Association said they were drawn to the trial because they had closely followed the case since Spath shot Pannell in April 1990.

“The case reflects a lot of turmoil in the town that many of us are trying to address,” she said.

Lloyd Riddick, 57, a retired Teaneck resident, said he was attending to show support for the Pannells.

“Something happened to a friend of mine, an African-American, and I see the way the system is leaning. So, if my appearance here evens the scales of justice a little bit, then I’ll do so. Anything I can do to help,” he said.

Caption: PHOTO – AL PAGLIONE / THE RECORD – The trial of Teaneck police Officer Gary S. Spath getting under way in a Hackensack courtroom Wednesday morning.

Notes: MAIN STORY FILED SEPARATELY – OPENING ARGUMENTS FOCUS ON ISSUE OF PANNELL’S GUN. DID SPATH KNOW OF WEAPON? THE SPATH TRIAL – Page a01

ID: 17366199 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

January 16, 1992
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MAN HELD IN HANDGUN ATTACK ON WIFE

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, January 4, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | Page A04

Yvone Kaiser told police her husband returned home a few days ago with a 9mm handgun he had just bought on the street in the Bronx and pointed it at her.

“It only takes one shot, right between the eyes,” Kaiser, 29, told police he said to her at the time.

On Thursday, after a dispute over money, Kaiser stood six feet away and fired the gun at his wife as she sat on a living room couch holding their 15-month-old daughter, Jacklyn, police Capt. Gary Fiedler said. The shot missed.

The couple’s other daughter, Julie, 4, was standing nearby, as were Yvone Kaiser’s two daughters from a previous marriage Crystle, 9, and Monique, 11. Her husband then left the room, and she called police.

Kaiser, 27, was being held in the Bergen County Jail Annex on Friday on $500,000 bail. He was charged with attempted murder, simple assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and possession of a firearm without a permit.

Teaneck Municipal Judge James E. Young also issued a temporary restraining order against Kaiser, barring him from going to the couple’s Alpine Drive home, and granted temporary custody of the children to Yvone Kaiser. As mandated in the new Domestic Violence Prevention Act, a hearing will be held in two weeks to determine whether the order should become permanent.

The incident began shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, when the self-employed transportation consultant closed his office, which is in the house. He sat next to his wife on their bed and asked her how much money they had. She took the money out of her purse and counted $2,200, Fiedler said.

“Impossible, it should be $3,200,” she told police he screamed, then slapped her. “You stole my hard-earned money. Where did you spend it?”

She then went into the living room, where her husband followed her with the gun.

Police later found the gun that they say was used in the shooting, along with empty shell casings and two other handguns. They also found ten $100 bills in the bedroom, but Fiedler said he did not know if that was the missing $1,000 that the couple were fighting over.

ID: 17365053 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

January 4, 1992
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DRIVER USES GUN TO VENT FRUSTRATION

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, December 19, 1991

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

A 19-year-old Englewood man fired several shots in the air, apparently in frustration that the car he was riding in was hemmed into a spot at a parking lot behind The Rink in Bergenfield on Wednesday, police said.

Werner Lewis of East Terrace Circle, being held on $10,000 bail at the Bergen County Jail Annex, was charged with firing the handgun as patrons left the rink about 1:17 a.m. Wednesday, Deputy Police Chief George Grube said.

Two men in the car with Lewis, Miguel Brown of 304 West Palisade Ave., and Marlon Anderson of 217 Wilber St., both 18 and from Englewood, were charged with illegal possession of the same handgun and were being held on $5,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, Grube said.

About 20 off-duty police officers were working as security guards at The Rink that night, one of the busiest nights there, Grube said. They found a .32-caliber handgun, three spent shells, and nine live rounds in the car, he added.

“Apparently, he didn’t try to hit anybody,” Grube said of Lewis.

The deputy chief said it was the third shooting in Bergenfield during the past nine days. A man fired two shots Sunday into the bulletproof window at the South Washington Street Amoco gas station during a robbery, Grube said. The attendant was uninjured, although the man escaped with $58.

A 27-year-old Englewood Cliffs man was freed on $20,000 bail Dec. 8, after being charged with firing a gun at a crowd outside a Bergenfield Tavern. No one was hit.

Grube said Wednesday’s shooting at The Rink was the second one there this year. A man fired a shot into a crowd in January but did not strike anyone, he said.

ID: 17364080 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

December 19, 1991
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TEANECK YOUTH SHOT IN LEG

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By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, October 13, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A10

A 16-year-old Teaneck youth was shot in the leg accidentally Friday as he and three other township youths played with a gun at the victim’s home on Genesee Avenue, police said.

The victim, whom police declined to identify because of his age, was treated at Holy Name Hospital for a wound above his left ankle and was released, said Detective Sgt. Robert Adomilli.

A 15-year-old boy who was being questioned by police Saturday about the shooting was charged with illegal possession of the .22-caliber handgun used in the shooting and aggravated assault, the sergeant said.

The shooting occurred about 5 p.m., Adomilli said. Someone reported a drive-by shooting, but police were able to determine within an hour that the youths had not been telling the truth, Adomilli said, adding that it did not appear that the shooting occurred as a result of an argument.

The investigation was continuing, Adomilli said.

Keywords: TEANECK; YOUTH; SHOOTING

ID: 17357985 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

October 13, 1991
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KILLER’S HOME WAS WELL-KNOWN; HIS NEIGHBORS HAD COMPLAINED

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, October 11, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 1 Star | NEWS Page A11

Type: PROFILE

The white brick and stucco home at Derrom and 14th avenues where Joseph M. Harris lived has been inspected many times by city zoning officials following complaints by neighbors that it was an illegal rooming house.
Neighbors standing outside Thursday as police entered and left sounded the same complaints, saying blaring horns, loud arguments, and fights at the house often punctuated the evenings. Harris is accused of killing four people during a murderous spree early Thursday morning.
City records show zoning officials began receiving complaints that the home was an illegal rooming house in 1985, zoning officer Thomas Shadiack said Thursday. “We went out there and found there were two rooms in the basement that were rented out,” he said.
Marianna Costa of Haledon owns the stately, spacious home where Harris lived in a second-floor room, above a kitchen at the back of the house.
The house has five bedrooms, five baths, and parquet floors throughout, Costa said. There are two fireplaces, one cobblestone and the other green marble, and one room has a bar with leather trimming and stainless steel fixtures.
Costa bought the house more than a decade ago for her daughter, but a year or so later the daughter decided to move and Costa made an option-to-buy agreement with Carmen Johnson, who put $2,000 down and agreed to pay several hundred dollars a month toward the purchase.
The city cited both Costa and Johnson for illegal conversion of the house to a rooming house after the September 1985 inspection, Shadiack said. Costa convinced a judge that Johnson was responsible for the house, he said, and Johnson pleaded guilty to the charge. She was fined $1,000, plus $25 in court costs.
Records show that zoning officials, responding to more complaints by neighbors, went to the house five times between February 1987 and June 1989 and asked for an affidavit listing the occupants of the house in October 1988. The city sent several letters to Costa and Johnson as a result of those inspections, but no legal action was taken.
Johnson on Thursday denied the home was a rooming house and said all those living there were related to her and didn’t pay rent.
In a Dec. 12, 1988, affidavit, filed by her lawyer, Clifford S. Hinds of Paterson, Johnson listed the following as occupants: herself, her husband, Earl; sons, Archie and Herman Burrell; daughter, Christine McDonald; and husband’s nephew, Harris.

Keywords: PATERSON; RIDGEWOOD; MAIL; EMPLOYMENT; SHOOTING; MURDER; JOSEPH M. HARRIS

Caption: (Early editions only) PHOTO – ED HILL / THE RECORD – Members of a police bomb squad on Thursday leaving the home at 215 Derrom Ave. in Paterson where Joseph M. Harris lived.

ID: 17357902 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

October 11, 1991
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ROBBERS KILL N.J. SHOPPER; TENAFLY MAN INTERVENED

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, October 5, 1991

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

A 24-year-old Tenafly man who walked in on an armed robbery at a New York City clothing store and intervened was shot and killed by one of the robbers, police said Friday.
Benjamin Peisch of 91 Oak St. died at the scene on Thursday, 34th Precinct Detective Matthew Fallon said.
“He had an altercation with one of the people committing the robbery. They hit him a couple of times, then shot him,” Fallon said.
Peisch was shot once in the chest as he struggled with one of three men during the robbery, which occurred about 6:25 p.m. in the basement of Daisy Bariete Store, a unisex clothing store at 568 W. 171 St., Fallon said.
Peisch was an innocent bystander who “seemed to have walked into an apparent robbery in the store” and decided to get involved, Fallon said, adding that police were looking on Friday for witnesses.
No one else was injured, and the men escaped with an amount of money police would not disclose.
Peisch is believed to have been a 1986 graduate of Tenafly High School.
Sgt. Norris Hollmon, a police spokesman, said police used identification in Peisch’s wallet to trace him to Tenafly late Thursday. Tenafly Police Chief Allen Layne said he was called by New York police about the death at 10:19 p.m., and that his officers notified the family. Hollmon said the family identified Peisch’s body later that night.
A man reached at the family residence on Friday declined to comment.

Keywords: TENAFLY; ROBBERY; NEW YORK CITY; SHOOTING; MURDER; CLOTHING; STORE

ID: 17357301 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

October 5, 1991
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SUSPECTED KIDNAPPER IS SHOT; WAVED DYNAMITE AT MARSHALS

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, October 3, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 1 Star | NEWS | Page B01

A 50-year-old man wanted for masterminding the kidnapping of a Union County businessman for ransom two years ago was shot and wounded by one of two U.S. marshals in North Bergen as he waved a stick of dynamite at them, authorities said.
Julio Sosa Rodriguez of Jersey City was holding a lighter to the dynamite, threatening to ignite it, and refusing the agents commands to drop it, said Arthur Borinsky, U.S. marshal for New Jersey.
The shooting occurred about 10:40 p.m. Tuesday at the corner of 14th Street and Paterson Plank Road, said township police Lt. Timothy Kelly.
The marshals learned that Sosa was going to be in the area and, accompanied by local authorities, approached a van where they suspected he was hiding, said Bill Licatovich, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Marshals Service in Washington.
When they told Sosa to come out, he emerged holding the dynamite, authorities said.
Sosa, who was shot in the upper torso, was in custody at the Jersey City Medical Center on Wednesday. A hospital spokesman said he was in stable condition.
He was wanted on a Sept. 7, 1989, complaint of kidnapping and illegal possession of firearms, said Union County First Assistant Prosecutor Michael Lapolla.
On Sosa’s order, Nydia Gonzalez Melendez and Hese Ayala, also known as Johnnie Ayala, kidnapped George Sanchez of Elizabeth in Union City on Sept. 1, 1989, Lapolla said.
Sanchez had a business in Union City, Lapolla said.
Sosa was in phone contact with the two men as they tried to get Sanchez’s wife to pay a $100,000 ransom.
The call to Sanchez’s wife, made by Gonzalez, was traced to a pay phone in Hoboken, and he was arrested there.
“When [Gonzalez] didn’t return,” Lapolla said, “the victim convinced Ayala that he had taken off with the ransom money, and he persuaded Ayala to take him home, that he would give him money.”
Ayala was arrested when he got to Sanchez’s home.
Both men pleaded guilty and are serving prison terms on kidnapping charges.
Sosa, however, was not seen again until Tuesday.

Keywords: KIDNAPPING; SHOOTING; NORTH BERGEN; POLICE; BOMB

ID: 17357143 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

October 3, 1991
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