Mario Cuomo Laid to Rest Federal Trial Begins Again His Deep Queens Roots Rekindle Fond Memories During Son’S Eulogy by BILL PARRY
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• JAMAICA TIMES • ASTORIA TIMES • FOREST HILLS LEDGER • LAURELTON TIMES LARGEST AUDITED • QUEENS VILLAGE TIMES COMMUNITY • RIDGEWOOD LEDGER NEWSPAPER • HOWARD BEACH TIMES IN QUEENS • RICHMOND HILL TIMES Jan. 9–15, 2015 Your Neighborhood — Your News® FREE ALSO COVERING ELMHURST, JACKSON HEIGHTS, LONG ISLAND CITY, MASPETH, MIDDLE VILLAGE, REGO PARK, SUNNYSIDE Ex-Sen. Smith Mario Cuomo laid to rest federal trial begins again His deep Queens roots rekindle fond memories during son’s eulogy BY BILL PARRY BY SARINA TRANGLE When retired City Council Speaker Peter Val- lone, Sr. took his seat at former Gov. Mario Cuomo’s With fresh faces in the funeral in Manhattan’s St. Ignatius Loyola Church jury booth, federal prosecu- Tuesday, he had a revelation. “I thought I was listen- tors and defense attorneys re- ing to Mario speak,” he said. sumed their places in White What Vallone heard was an emotional 40-minute Plains federal court Tuesday, eulogy delivered by current Gov. Andrew Cuomo, gestured toward two Queens one that captured his father’s legacy in Queens as political figures and recited well as his disdain for politics. familiar arguments. “In general, he disrespected politicians and Except this time defense at- the political system,” Cuomo told the hundreds of torneys for former southeast friends, family members and fellow lawmakers . “He Queens state Sen. Malcolm never studied politics or joined a political club. He Smith and former Queens never campaigned for anyone and his early life, un- GOP leader Vincent Tabone til his late 30s, was all about becoming a lawyer and were quick to seize on the con- practicing law.” viction of a third co-defendant, And yet, Mario Cuomo, who died Jan. 1 at the age ex-City Councilman Daniel of 82, would be a three-term governor of New York Halloran, whose corruption state from 1983-94. case was severed from theirs He would become a liberal standard bearer at a this summer. time when Reagan conservatism was sweeping the Smith and Tabone success- nation. The man who became known in the press as fully sought mistrials because “Hamlet on the Hudson” began his storied career as the government did not hand a classical political outsider. over hours of a wiretap, but The son of Italian immigrants, Mario Cuomo Halloran’s lawyer continued grew up in a South Jamaica home behind the gro- with the trial, citing financial cery store his parents ran. After his family moved to strain. Holliswood, Cuomo graduated from St. John’s Prep Assistant U.S. Attorney and after a year at St. John’s University he went to Perry Carbone opened the gov- play minor league baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates ernment’s argument by point- organization. ing at Smith and saying he The year was 1952. Cuomo received a $2,000 sign- bribed Tabone, who the attor- ing bonus to play outfield but he was hit by a pitch, ney turned his finger toward The injury ended his baseball dalliance and sent next. him back to Queens. As a registered Democrat Back to St. John’s University and then St. John’s Mario Cuomo was not supposed to make a political comeback after being defeated looking to avoid a primary Law School. As an attorney, Cuomo represented a on the Republican line in the for mayor by Ed Koch. But on Election Night in 1982, he defied the odds. See more group of Corona homeowners whose homes were be- Continued on Page 49 coverage on Pages 4, 5, 12 and 14. AP Continued on Page 5 Vigil held for toddler hit by driver BY MADINA TOURE vigil Tuesday night. address the issue of pedestrian Organizers laid out candles safety and reckless driving. The parents of a 3-year-old forming the number “250” to Hsi-Pei Liao and Amy Tam- girl killed by an SUV joined represent the number of pedes- Liao, parents of Allison Liao, lawmakers, members of trians who died as a result of 3, who was hit by an SUV Families for Safe Streets and reckless drivers in 2014. They while crossing Main Street Flushing residents to honor called for a new state Depart- and Cherry Avenue with her their daughter and 249 other ment of Motor Vehicles com- grandmother on Oct. 6, 2013, A vigil on Main Street and Cherry Avenue honored 250 victims of traffic victims of traffic violence at a missioner who would better Continued on Page 10 violence. Photo by Madina Toure A CNG Publication Vol. 23 No. 2 Vol. 2 No. 2 56 total pages Crime drops in 2014 No more shelters in Cops make fewer arrests as tension with mayor grows Jamaica area: CB 12 BY JUAN SOTO lenges to temporarily house BY JUAN SOTO homeless families and indi- Southeast Queens houses viduals,” he said. “Though The borough was in sync more than its fair share of Queens does have consider- with the citywide drop in homeless shelters. ably fewer shelters than the crime registered last year Out of at least 18 shelters other boroughs, we hear the compared to 2013, but the news in the borough, ten are locat- concerns of the community came as Police Commissioner ed within the area served by and look forward to continu- William Bratton admitted that Community Board 12, which ing our partnership.” police officers are making few- covers Jamaica, South Jamai- CB 12 said that about 30 er arrests and issuing fewer ca, Hollis, St. Albans, South percent of the shelters in its summonses. Ozone Park and Springfield district are located in down- The drop in busts and tick- Gardens. town Jamaica. ets comes as tensions between Because of what it The request comes at a cops and Mayor Bill de Blasio called“unfair and excessive time when several neighbor- escalated. concentration” of shelters hoods in Queens are reject- “At this time, I have not in the district, CB 12 passed ing plans by DHS to build used the term slowdown, a resolution asking the city more shelters. which would indicate it is or- to stop building shelters in The city agency insisted ganized,” Bratton told a news Jamaica and surrounding the expansion of the shelter conference this week. “We neighborhoods. system is necessary because have seen a precipitous de- Although the board said it the number of people enter- cline in all those categories,” is “sympathetic to the needs of ing the shelters “continues to he added, referring to the those desirous of residence in exceed” the number of avail- decrease in the number of ar- safe, comfortable housing,”,it able spaces. rests and summonses in sev- asked the Department of City Councilman Dono- eral crime categories. In the past few weeks, police officers are making fewer arrests and issu- Homeless Services to “adopt van Richards (D-Laurelton) But as crime is going down ing less summonses as the rift between the force and the mayor grows. a policy regarding equitable said he supports the CB 12 to record levels, the rank-and- Photo by Michael Shain distribution of problem popu- resolution. file have been less active on lations.” “I stand in full support... the streets since the killing Bratton noted, “We had a so we are not in a public safety CB 12 requested “a mora- to formally request an end to of Officers Rafael Ramos and lot of things that have been im- crisis by any stretch of the torium on any further build- the saturation of southeast Wenjian Liu in Brooklyn last pacting on activity levels,” re- imagination in New York City ing or expansion of homeless Queens with transient hous- month. ferring to a decline in calls to at this time.” and other problem facilities.” ing facilities,” Donovan said. Hundreds of cops turned 911, the protests over Garner De Blasio spoke at Queens A spokesman for DHS said Richards noted, “This their backs on the mayor when and other police cases as well College Wednesday, welcom- the agency will take into con- glaring imbalance in the he eulogized Ramos and Lui at as the deaths of Ramons and ing the new recruit class for sideration the request by the placement of shelters in this their funerals as a response to Liu, among others. the Police Academy in a bid community board. community and throughout his comments about the force “We are taking a long view to improve his relationships “Our city faces real chal- Continued on Page 49 after the non-indictment in the look,” Bratton said “We are with cops. chokehold death of Eric Gar- looking at very specific pre- “You are joining at a cru- ner, an unarmed black man cincts, to borough, to tours of cial time,”he told the recruits. killed during a confrontation duty.” “We are going to keep driving for a minor offense with the According to the New York crime down... We are going to police in Staten Island. De Bla- Post, from Dec. 29 to Jan. 4, draw this police department sio also supported the protests the number of arrests were closer and closer to the com- that followed the decision by a down 56 percent compared munities it serves and in the Staten Island grand jury. to the same period last year, process make everyone safer.” “People in this city appreci- from 10,818 to 4,221. Parking And the city appears to be ate our police,” de Blasio said violation were down about 93 safer, indeed, at least judging at the news conference to an- percent, traffic violations 92 from the crime statistics. nounce a 4.6 percent overall percent and criminal court In both, Patrol Borough drop in crime citywide.