Generation Of Vipers
It was a week of high snitchery, as New Yorkers turned each other in to the police left and right.
On Monday afternoon, a concerned citizen riding the bus through Carroll Gardens saw another passenger-one of those ne'er-do-well teenagers-showing off a new toy to a friend. Unfortunately, that new toy was shaped just a shade too much like a handgun for the woman's taste, so she hopped off the bus and frantically told police.
Cops pulled the bus over and dragged the toy-toting teen, 16-year-old John Hernandez (who probably should've known better), off the bus in handcuffs and hauled him away. He was later given a summons.
Construction worker/professional snitch Otto Montenegro, 36, got his comeuppance a few days earlier, when his boss allegedly caught him wearing a wire. Montenegro, part of the crew turning the old Brooklyn Board of Ed building into luxury condos, was helping authorities prove his boss, 52-year-old Steven Russell, was paying workers under the table.
Upon discovering the wire and being a bit peeved at having been secretly recorded, Russell allegedly beat the living snot out of Montenegro, reportedly telling him as he did so: "I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna put you in a Dumpster, and nobody will know you were here."
Russell tells the Daily News that he was, in fact, trying to defend Montenegro, who was being attacked by fellow workers. Nevertheless, he's still being charged with assault.
East New York DJ Kenneth Haynes, 40, was found dead in his apartment Tuesday; all of his expensive DJ equipment had been swiped. It wasn't immediately clear how or why the man now known as "DJ Bloaty" met his untimely demise, but there were no signs of forced entry, which narrows things down a bit.
At about 9 Tuesday morning, an employee at a garbage transfer and recycling station in Brooklyn couldn't help but notice the human torso roll past on a conveyer belt. Not sure whether or not torsos were considered recyclable, he called a supervisor who, in turn, called the cops. The ME will now determine cause of death-though if you ask us, having its arms and legs and head chopped off might've had something to do with it.
And speaking of body parts, 17-year-old Robert Bell was leaving his summer-school classes in the Bronx on Wednesday when he was confronted by members of a local street gang.
They reportedly accused Bell (mistakenly, it seems) of stealing a gang member's cell phone. Then, using those favorite summertime fashion accessories-baseball bats and a machete-they went all Pope of Greenwich Village on him, knocking him down and hacking off his thumb. This, they presumably figured, would complicate any future cell-phone usage on his part.
A passerby helped get Bell and his thumb to the hospital, where doctors were able to reattach it. At last report, police were still searching for the chop-happy thugs.