SATURDAY • JANUARY 15, 2005 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 • © 2005 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 12 pages •Vol.28, No. 3 BRZ •Saturday, January 15, 2005 • FREE GANGEMIS SETTLE SUIT Former councilman folds after seeing brother on witness list By Jotham Sederstrom ted he had defrauded Samara, paving the way for The Brooklyn Papers Samara to collect $1.7 million from the Lawyer’s Fund for Client Protection. Asenior citizen defrauded by disbarred Bay Asked why Samara chose to seek recompense Ridge attorney Frank Gangemi lashed out at the from the fund rather than pursue the trial further, lawyer’s father during a civil trial in Brooklyn O’Brien said he was confident Samara would be federal court Wednesday, charging that the for- able to collect from the legal fund, which he paint- mer councilman brought on the swindle by nur- ed as more likely than being able to collect from turing his son’s gambling addiction. any of the three defendants, especially Frank, who Victor Sama- is incarcerated. ra, 88, testified “Wonderful on Jan. 12 that results,” Samara Frank Gangemi said after the stole $2.5 mil- settlement was lion from him reached. “When under the watch- a defendant ad- ful eyes of his fa- mits every part ther, John Gan- of your claim, gemi Sr., and his then you know sister, Ursula Gan- you are in the gemi, when they right spot.” were all partners Callan / Tom Said O’Brien, in a family-run “We’re happy Bay Ridge law about this. They firm. agreed on all the But on Thurs- claims made, and day, the Gan- we proved what gemis decided to we needed to settle out of Papers File The Brooklyn prove.” court after Mer- Frank Gangemi, John Gangemi, Sr., and Ursula Gangemi The Gangemis rill O’Brien, Sam- together at their law firm in 1999. could not be ara’s attorney, reached for com- presented a list of witnesses, which, according to a ment on the settlementby press time. source, included John Gangemi’s brother Domenick Frank Gangemi pleaded guilty in 2003 to rob- and Ursula’s estranged husband, Andrew Wasserman. bing more than 20 clients, including Samara, of mil- Smokin’ on Broadway O’Brien said that Ursula and John are free and lions of dollars. He is serving a 5-to-15-year prison clear under the settlement. The main thrust of the sentence. Samara is suing all three Gangemis. Actors Adam Arkin and Ari Graynor star in Broadway’s “Brooklyn Boy,” written by Sheepshead Bay native Donald Margulies. The play is now agreement, he said, is that Frank Gangemi admit- See GANGEMIS on page 3 in previews and opens on Feb. 3, joining “Brooklyn: The Musical” on the Great White Way. Go Brooklyn interviews Margulies on page 6. Victory for Victory Hit-run victim’s nurse parking spots family offers By Jotham Sederstrom dozen “doctors vehicles only” Victory Memorial. But the park- The Brooklyn Papers signs along Seventh Avenue will ing brouhaha elevated to a new be removed within the next several level in October after the doctor’s- Nurses at Victory Memorial weeks, said a spokesman for the only parking signs were installed Hospital, entangled for months city Department of Transportation. on the avenue between 86th and in a fight with hospital officials “We re-evaluated the site in No- 92nd streets. $10K reward to gain parking in close prox- vember and decided this should be The exclusive parking, the imity to the Bay Ridge medical given to the community,” said nurses contend, added to spaces By Jotham Sederstrom tion leading to the arrests of center, have won a small meas- DOT spokesman Tom Cocola. already reserved for doctors on “We have nothing against the nurs- nearby Parrott Place and in the The Brooklyn Papers the two hit-and-run drivers. ure of victory themselves — a Callan / Tom es or the doctors, and Victory is hospital’s underground garage. The family of a lifelong The reward, raised by the number of on-street parking family of victim Joann Ce- certainly a fine institution. But The attention to the doctors has Bensonhurst resident who spaces recently reserved for parking in and around hospitals is a forced more than 300 nurses, glecki, 43, was announced last doctors is soon to be turned was fatally struck just blocks week along with a $2,000 in- challenge all across the city.” technicians and administrative from her home by an back over to the general public. Finding spots within walking employees at Victory Memorial to centive offered by police. The Following a feud that drew the distance of the hospital on 92nd fight for parking scraps that, more Papers The Brooklyn oncoming pickup truck, and renewed push for help, said attention of elected officials and fu- Street at Seventh Avenue has al- often than not, reveal themselves Sign along Seventh Avenue across from Victo- then hit again by a second one of Ceglecki’s five sib- lings, follows a two-week eled a petition signed by more than ways been a problem, contend only after block-spanning, half- ry Memorial Hospital allows parking for doc- vehicle, has announced a 200 hospital employees, about a registered nurses who work at $10,000 reward for informa- charity drive by friends, See VICTORY on page 3 tors, but not nurses. DOT says that will change. neighbors and co-workers and an investigation by police into the Dec. 15 incident, which has netted few leads. “We just don’t want this to Joann Ceglecki happen to someone else’s family,” said Denise Ceglecki, Area cyber cafes are disappearing one of Joann Ceglecki’s four Highway knocked her to the sisters. “Our family would just ground. According to family like to see justice done and members, emergency medical By Jotham Sederstrom have some closure. Our lives technicians on the scene said The Brooklyn Papers will never be the same with- that the first vehicle likely A Third Avenue cyber cafe that along with other Internet- out her.” killed her before a black SUV Ceglecki, a dietician at rolled over her a second time. access businesses in Bay Ridge became a magnet for truan- Coney Island Hospital, was Both drivers sped off. cy, drug dealing and violence quietly closed down last mowed down only blocks Ceglecki was pronounced month following a sharp drop in business. from the home she had shared dead on arrival 45 minutes lat- Ecline, a 2-year-old Internet business at 7603 Third Ave., between for more than three decades er at Coney Island Hospital, 76th and 77th streets, closed Dec. 31 following what the building’s with her stepmother and an- where the aunt to three nieces owner said was a long history of ignored requests to provide ade- other sister, Kristen, on West and a nephew had worked for quate security outside what had become a teenage hangout. Fourth Street at Highlawn Av- 10 years. While not as notorious as similar businesses in Bay Ridge and enue. Since the tragedy, which Sunset Park, Ecline raised the ire of parents and elected officials last Police say that Ceglecki relatives believe happened year after crowds of kids began swelling outside. Some reportedly was crossing south on West while Ceglecki was on her skipped classes to be there and others may have been dealing drugs. Fourth Street at 1:30 pm when way to do last-minute Christ- “This is a good thing,” said Josephine Beckmann, district manag- a dark-red pickup truck speed- mas shopping, police have See CYBER CAFE on page 3 ing westbound on Kings See HIT-RUN on page 4 Bay Ridge issues for 2005 The Brooklyn Papers the number of hit-and-run deaths in Bay of summonses has increased. I hope that When Josephine Beckmann, district Ridge and Dyker Heights dropped in 2004, continues.” manager of Community Board 10, re- thanks in part to a task force formed by po- Besides those mainstays, however, com- lice last February to stem the tide of illegal munity leaders and civic activists predict / Tom Callan / Tom turned to work after New Year’s week- truck traffic, the call she received that Mon- that last year’s other most visible concerns end, her first official telephone call of day may in some regards be a window onto will either find resolve or flourish with new 2005 came from a resident still shaken what’s in store for the district in 2005. twists this year. by the Dec. 22 death of an elderly “Transportation, traffic, parking — it’s al- Topping the list, say elected officials, is an woman struck by a car while crossing ways going to be a problem, every year,” effort to expand to Dyker Heights and Benson- The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn 10th Avenue in Dyker Heights. said Beckmann. “But the number of truck hurst an initiative already underway to pre- Neighbors say they are happy that Ecline, a cyber cafe at 7603 Third Ave., has gone out of business. While Beckmann and others contend that complaints have gone down and the number See 2005 on page 4 ©The Brooklyn Papers. Established 1978. Phone 718-834-9350. Celia Weintrob, Publisher (ext 104) • Neil Sloane, Editor (ext 119) • Lisa J. Curtis, GO Brooklyn Editor (ext 131) • Vince DiMiceli, Senior Editor (ext 125) • Ed Weintrob, President (ext 105) 2 BRZ THE BROOKLYN PAPERS • WWW.BROOKLYNPAPERS.COM January 15, 2005 GRAND OPENING C.C.A.