INSIDE : SUMMER IN BROOKLYN WWW.BROOKLYNPAPERS.COM Happy Fourth! We’ve included a U.S. flag on page 11. Our neighborhood’s independent voice Display it proudly. GOD BLESS AMERICA Published weekly by Brooklyn Paper Publications Inc, 26 Court St., Brooklyn, NY 11242 Phone 718-834-9350 AD fax 718-834-1713 • NEWS fax 718-834-9278 © 2002 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 20 pages including 8 pages GO BROOKLYN • Vol.25, No. 26 BRG • July 1, 2002 • FREE TRAGEDY STRIKES TWICE DUI crash kills Ridge biker Dyker family dies in inferno Eltherios Kiladitis at the wake for his son, Stefanos, on Tuesday. The Brooklyn Papers / Greg Mango Firefighters douse blaze that killed an entire family in building on Fort Hamilton Parkway. The Brooklyn Papers / Valerie Hodgson Staten Island cop charged Trapped by flames, 7 perish with drinking, running light in Ft Ham P’kwy apartment By Heather J. Wilson Kiladitis never regained conscious and and family as “Little Steve” — from life By Heather J. Wilson Hamilton Parkway between Bay Ridge second floor. The Brooklyn Papers died after being taken off life support support at Lutheran Medical Center Satur- The Brooklyn Papers Avenue and 70th Street were trapped and According to published reports, family three days later. day, three days after he was thrown from killed Sunday when fire engulfed their members had huddled around the A Staten Island police officer faces On Tuesday, Kiladitis’ mother, Kallaipi his Kawasaki ZX9 motorcycle by the ac- Chris Theoharis stood across the apartment. The victims included Yasem- youngest child in order to protect her from manslaughter charges for allegedly sat sobbing in front of her son’s casket. tions of an allegedly drunken cop. street from what is left of his fire- ine Nadeem, 30, her husband, Moham- the flames. But when the floorboards gave driving under the influence of alco- Overcome with grief, she could barely Kiladitis was heading west on Fort gutted three-family house Tuesday mad, 44, and their five children: Abeka, way, Zanneb fell into the second-floor hol when he ran a red light and rise to hug the many family and friends Hamilton Parkway around 10:30 pm last while construction workers exam- 13; Romesa, 11; Bisma, 5; Nirma, 3; and apartment where the fire had originally Wednesday when Wilson slammed into plowed into a 21-year-old Bay Ridge paying their respects at his wake. ined the building for unstable frag- 9-month-old Zanneb. sparked from a grease fire. him with the driver’s side of his 1995 man riding his motorcycle on Fort Kallaipi Kiladitis was among the many ments. He just stared. The remains of six of the family mem- Fire Department officials said the June Hamilton Parkway. Chrysler Cirrus as he made a left turn 23 blaze was accidentally ignited shortly mourners at the Dahill Funeral Home on from 88th Street. “It is unbelievable,” Theoharis said, bers were found huddled together in a rear before 2:30 pm by Muzamal Khawaja, Stefanos Kiladitis, of 67th Street, was 65th Street in Borough Park who simply Eltherios Kiladitis told The Brooklyn and repeated at least three times before bedroom of the apartment, near a window who was frying chicken in the kitchen of knocked off his bike and hurled through asked aloud, “Why?” Papers that the impact threw his son more turning away. leading to the fire escape, which, accord- her second-floor apartment. Once the oil the air June 19 after off-duty police officer She and her husband, Eltherios, had than 50 feet from his motorcycle. He sus- An entire family, the Nadeems, who ing to firefighters, had been blocked by caught fire, fire officials said, it quickly Victor Wilson allegedly made a left made the gut-wrenching decision to re- tained what would prove to be fatal head lived for seven years in the third-floor flames. The seventh, 9-month-old Zan- spread throughout the kitchen. After a through a standing red light at 88th Street. move their son — known to his friends See DUI on page 10 apartment of Theoharis’ building on Fort neb, was found below the others on the See TRAPPED on page 4 Honors for teens who chased killer By Heather J. Wilson Hamilton High School athletic field, The Brooklyn Papers where police apprehended him. Angela Coyle hardly knew what On Sunday, Councilman Marty Gold- to say when her 17-year-old en presented City Council proclamations and mayoral certificates to the four teens daughter Lauren called her from outside the 68th Precinct stationhouse. her cell phone to tell her she had “What you all did last Sunday is re- just witnessed a murder on 86th markable, and you deserve to be com- Street in Bay Ridge. mended,” Golden said to the five stu- “I asked her if she was alright, and dents before giving them their awards. then I asked her if anybody did any- “A true sign of courage, bravery and thing,” Coyle said. concern for the community. You all im- “Yes mom, we did,” Lauren Coyle mediately followed him…you instigat- answered. ed a chase of the suspect and I com- Lauren, along with three other Bay Ridge teenagers watched in horror as mend you.” Callan / Tom Ariel Garcia, 25, allegedly thrust a According to neighbors, hours be- knife into the heart of 60-year-old fore Rothman was stabbed Garcia’s es- Leona Rothman as she sat in front of tranged wife had moved into her moth- Borough President Marty Markowitz christens new ferry with a bottle of her apartment building on 86th Street er’s apartment, located in Rothman’s Brooklyn Lager as NY Waterway owners Arthur Imperatore and Arthur between Third and Fourth Avenues on building, after a fight with her husband. Papers The Brooklyn Imperatore Jr. watch the suds fly. The Brooklyn Papers / Greg Mango June 16. Then they gave chase, pursu- The Daily News quoted building man- Adham Deed, Nedel Abusheikh, Chetan Ogaleilf and Lauren Coyle display their honors ing the alleged murderer to the Fort See TEENS on page 6 bestowed by Councilman Marty Golden and Captain Dominick Colasuonno. Ferry christened Brooklyn style Term-limit change By Heather J. Wilson Waterway Ferry at the Brooklyn may extend Marty The Brooklyn Papers Army Terminal and the ship was It took three tries, but on christened “The Brooklyn.” By Patrick Gallahue ter only six years in office, including Borough President Marty Markowitz spoke at the Monday The Brooklyn Papers the body’s most powerful member, press conference making official last Speaker Gifford Miller, as well as two With political races, indictments Markowitz’s third whack, a bot- week’s announcement that continua- of Brooklyn’s most media-prone dele- and old rivalries spicing up the cur- tle of Brooklyn Lager beer broke tion of the free Sunset Park-to-Lower gates — for vastly different reasons — rent City Council, a modification to over the hull of a New York Manhattan ferry started just days after Marty Golden of Bay Ridge-Dyker Sept. 11, had been secured under a the term limits law could extend the Heights and Angel Rodriguez of Sun- six-month contract with the city’s shelf life of seven council members set Park-Red Hook. capping an extraordinary year in City Independence largest ferry service provider. Due to redistricting, the term begin- The city Economic Corporation Hall. ning in 2004 will be a two-year term, signed a six-month, $1.5 million con- With the city budget settled, discus- Week holiday sion among the council has turned to and Miller sees that as an opportunity tract with NY Waterway on Tuesday, to rectify the seeming inequity, by let- The Brooklyn Papers’ offices rethinking the policy that cleared the allowing the company to operate the way for over two-thirds of the fresh- ting those seven members run once will be closed for our annual ferry service from July 24 through the more. The movement picked up some Independence Week vacation, man membership. end of December under government According to the existing law, coun- steam this week when Mayor Michael July 1-7, and The Papers will subsidies. not publish next week. Our cilmembers are entitled to two terms in Bloomberg said in an interview that he offices reopen Monday, July For 10 months, the city’s Depart- office, at least one of which must be a would consider an amendment to the ment of Transportation has operated a Mermaid madness term-limits law. 8, and The Papers will pub- full, four-year period. But seven coun- lish on Thursday, July 11. free ferry service from Pier 4 at 58th “Hillbilly mermaids” Trish Dalton and Robin Adams are in appropriate attire for the annual cil members will be forced out under Bloomberg was quoted in the June See FERRY on page 6 Mermaid Parade on the Coney Island boardwalk Saturday. The Brooklyn Papers / Greg Mango the current rules at the end of 2003, af- See MARTY on page 6 2 AWP THE BROOKLYN PAPERS • WWW.BROOKLYNPAPERS.COM July 1, 2002 For Harper, the eyes have it Need a bat? By Gersh Kutzman Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, who nitely not all games for some left wrist. At this level of the over Tyler Beuerlein, who had for The Brooklyn Papers threw out the ceremonial first Cyclones. Tyler Davidson, an minors, you don’t get an MRI yet to play a game because of Go to Mo’s eighth-round pick out of the unless something doesn’t heal, his injured right elbow, re- Third baseman Brett Harper s pitch on Tuesday night.