SATURDAY • JUNE 12, 2004 Including The Bensonhurst Paper Brooklyn’s REAL newspapers Published every Saturday — online all the time — by Brooklyn Paper Publications Inc, 55 Washington St, Suite 624, Brooklyn NY 11201. Phone 718-834-9350 • www.BrooklynPapers.com • © 2004 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 16 pages • Vol. 27, No. 24 BRZ • Saturday, June 19, 2004 • FREE Shot to death at The Loft By Jotham Sederstrom Police say the June 12 shooting happened in a basement bathroom The Brooklyn Papers about an hour before the bar was to close. Around 3 am, an unidentified man pumped at least four shots into A man was shot to death early Saturday morning in the bath- Valdes, who served five years in prison after an arrest for robbery in room of the Loft nightclub on Third Avenue in Bay Ridge. 1989, according to Kings County court records. The gunman, who has Mango / Greg Residents within earshot of the club at 91st Street expressed concern thus far eluded police, may have slipped out the front door after climb- but not surprise at the 3 am murder of Luis Valdes, a Sunset Park ex- ing the stairs from the basement, say police. convict. Following the murder, Councilman Vincent Gentile voiced renewed “That stinkin’ place on the corner,” said Ray Rodland, who has lived support for legislation that would allow off-duty police officers to moon- on 91st Street between Second and Third avenues for 20 years. “Even light as bouncers — in uniform — at bars and restaurants. The bill is Papers The Brooklyn if you’re farther away, at 4 in the morning that boom-boom music currently stalled in a City Council subcommittee for public housing. Members of the city champion Fort Hamilton High School girl’s handball team pose with their coach Frank wakes people up. And the shouting and the arguments, it doesn’t stop.” “If a uniformed police officer had been allowed to act as security out- Benigno. Below, team captain Teresa Yue on the school’s courts on 86th Street and Colonial Road. side The Loft, I believe it could have prevent- ed this shooting,” said Gentile. A spokesman for the State Liquor Authori- ty said that since its reestablishment as The HANDBALL Loft in January, the bar has received no viola- tions. Police at the 68th Precinct said this week that the bar has not drawn an excessive number of complaints. “I don’t know that they’ve been extremely CHAMPS! troublesome in terms of noise complaints,” said community affairs officer Robert Pinnisi. By Jotham Sederstrom Gil Cesar, a Christian missionary with the The Brooklyn Papers Times Square Church in Manhattan who lives around the corner from The Loft, said he slept Like an exclamation mark at the end of a declaration to through the shooting, as well as the ensuing Brooklyn’s storied connection to handball, Fort Hamilton parade of police cruisers and an ambulance High School’s girls’ team has taken the city champi- that arrived shortly after. Nonetheless, he said onship. crowds congregating outside the bar near clos- The Tigers, a handball team with 20 players of all grade lev- ing time routinely rouse him from sleep. Mango / Greg els, defeated Boys & Girls High School on May 22. “They’re very noisy,” said Cesar, who The 3-2 win in Central Park turns the tables on the Bedford- seemed more concerned for the well being of Stuyvesant team, which in 2001 took the title after beating Fort the young crowd than the noise they produce. Hamilton, then only in its first year as a PSAL-sanctioned program. “I pray for them because they are very wild,” “This is the year we got over the hump,” said Frank Benigno, he added. The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn See CHAMPS on page 5 Bust drug delivery service By Jotham Sederstrom The service, which employed at least tant because it attacks both sides of the close this week when members of a police The Brooklyn Papers eight drivers and a Santeria fortune-teller, narcotics trade,” Police Commissioner department gang investigation team ar- thrived for more than a year while stash- Raymond Kelly said at a press confer- rested the group, including its alleged District Attorney Charles Hynes ing large quantities of cocaine and heroin ence on Tuesday. ringleader brothers —Tracy and Richard this week announced a 133-count in apartments at 9717 Third Ave. and 167 “Citizens of this city do not want ei- Ortiz — who were reared in the building indictment against 15 men and Eighth St., the indictment charges. Under ther side of the equation — the buyers on Eighth Street, which is owned by woman charged with operating a the tutelage of two brothers raised in or the sellers — in their neighborhood Gladys Ortiz, a family member. narcotics delivery service out of Gowanus, authorities say, the business and the department remains vigilant in She was not charged with any crime. apartments in Bay Ridge and Go- grew to include more than 100 customers. underlining that message.” Also arrested was Mercedes Os- wanus. “This operation is particularly impor- The year-long investigation came to a See DRUGS on page 6 / Greg Mango / Greg The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn Faith healers from the New Hope Fellowship ministry Laura Goebel (left) and Jerry Big bucks for ‘Magic’ man Dominguez pray for a passerby on 86th Street and Fourth Avenue on Saturday. By Jotham Sederstrom born brainiac, it wouldn’t be surprising Championships, in which he and his of the year,” said Chris Galvin, vice The Brooklyn Papers if he was a little nervous. teammates took top honors last year. president of organized play for Wizards But he’s not. Two years ago, however, Gary was of the Coast, the company that distrib- More than six million people in 75 In 1997, Gary became the youngest barred from the contest because it con- utes “Magic: The Gathering.” “You get countries play the game, but chances player to win the national “Magic” title flicted with another important event — these parents showing up and they get Miracles on are your neighbor never heard of it. since the game was created in 1993. his graduation from Dartmouth College very, very excited. In terms of intellectual contests, it ri- Each year since, he’s been invited back (“Mom refused to let me go,” he says). “People have heard a lot of things vals chess, but the game is still discard- to the competition as well as the World “This is one of the biggest weekends about ‘Magic,’ things like that they’re ed by many as a trend. socially maladjusted guys living in the And while particularly skilled players basement,” said Galvin. “But it’s really earn more than $1 million in prize mon- just like any other community of hobby- 86th Street ey each year, it will never, ever rise to ists.” the velvety smooth image of poker in Except that this one involves higher By Jotham Sederstrom happened, but I’ve seen miracles,” said Monte Carlo. stakes. Over the course of eight years The Brooklyn Papers Dominguez, who with a revolving roster of And that’s just fine by Justin Gary, a playing the game, which he learned volunteers has been blessing a melange of Bensonhurst resident who counts him- from a cousin who was engrossed in it If ever there were a crossroads in Bay faith-seekers near the intersection since last self among the world’s top-10 players of while a student at Harvard University, Ridge, a neighborhood already known summer. “Magic: The Gathering,” a card game Gary has earned an estimated $127,000. for its ability to reinvent itself in a bor- To be sure, Dominguez, 58, claims to have that combines the strategy of chess and Last year alone, he earned about ough noted for its wide-open embrace, witnessed the first steps in 17 years of a previ- poker with the fantasy of the game $60,000. the intersection of Fourth Avenue and ously wheelchair-bound Jewish woman in her “Dungeons & Dragons.” His last job, he said, was at a deli- 86th Street might just be it. 60s, the sobering of a dozen alcoholic men “For the most part, it’s a great com- catessen in Florida at the age of 14. “I There, a gyro stand operates within spit- and the “re-Christianing” of dozens more. munity,” said Gary, 24, who has man- was miserable,” he said, shuddering at ting distance of a Chinese restaurant, which More apropos of Coney Island, the collection aged to parlay his knowledge of the the thought. churns noodles across from an ice cream of marvels, he said, represent only a fraction game into a career that has kept him free So what exactly is “Magic”? Accord- shop. An Irish pub, meanwhile, does fine in of the godliness going on in Bay Ridge. and clear of an actual job for the better Mango / Greg ing to the makers of the game, each close proximity to a pizza place. Wedged between a deli and a pub, and at part of a decade. player uses his — and it is mostly “his” So the idea of unfolding a pair of small, an opposite corner outside of Souvlaki Gyro, “With $25,000 riding on the game, — own deck of cards. Assortments of lemonade-like stands for the express pur- the kiosks draw anywhere from three to 800 obviously tensions can be high,” he not- cards are purchased by the package and pose of non-denominational, free-of-charge people in need of prayer each Saturday after- ed. “But it’s a great community.” currently 6,700 different cards exist.