Hold on “Marty” — Something Doesn’t Smell Right With This “Salvatore Perrone Case” — State Senator Martin Golden has been “on top of this case” before it really was much more of “case” than the single corpse of a Bay Ridge Merchant shot in his Fifth Avenue Store

Now Golden  is buying into the NYPD  “slam-bam-thank you-mam-duffle-bag-man-solution” that was there before they even had a suspect named “Salvatore Perrone” —   a  63/64 year old Staten Island man, who somehow became a “serial killer” between July 4th and Thanksgiving Day 2012

Shortly after a Bay Ridge merchant, Mohammad Gabeli, was murdered in his 5th Avenue store, Valentino Fashion between 78th and 79th Streets, State Senator Martin Golden, at a gathering of Arab-Americans on Shore Road, announced that he was offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the “cold-blooded killer”.  A few weeks later, on July 29th, Golden was cranking up his re-election campaign and holding a press conference in front of the scene of the first murder, 7718 5th Avenue.

There was another murder in August at a Bensonhurst 99 cents store, which was located at 1877 86th Street, the victim was Isaac Kedare. This time there was a solid description of a man and a woman who were being sought for questioning in connection with the two related murders. According to an account in the Daily News, which was largely quoted by Joe Trutonico in the blog “Bay Ridge Odyssey,” “a witness said the suspect bumped into him and barked ‘What are you looking at?’ before he fled into a nearby Mexican bakery…” Minutes later, the same man was reportedly seen getting into “a black or gray, two-door jeep.” The suspect was clearly described as a 5-foot-5 male weighing around 140 pounds. An accompanying  police sketch showed a black man with dark glasses. This sketch was distributed up and down 5th Avenue in Bay Ridge, both by the NYPD and various community groups.

There was a third murder  —  this time the victim was Rahmatollah Vahidipour, who was killed between 4:30 and 7:11 p.m. last Friday in his store, She She Boutique at 836 Flatbush Avenue, near Caton Avenue. Security cameras showed four people who were captured on video between 6 and 6:52 p.m. on the night of the killing. The police seemed to zero-in mainly on the first person in the video. He was referred-to by the cops as “John Doe Duffel Bag.”   The video of that man and the phrase “...Duffle Bag...” were repeated over and over and over on TV and cable news.

Fast forward — Fast forward  —  Fast Forward  —

Salvatore Perrone was confronted by police at the Farmacon Pharmacy, 8007 5th Ave # 1  Brooklyn, NY 11209 after a “tip” had brought them to that location, which is less than three short block from the original murder scene. Apparently, a pharmacy employee told cops that he recognized somebody referred to as, “[John] Doe Duffel Bag,” having been a regular customer who would often come in at night.

Based on the New York Post’s account, supposedly from an employee of the Farmacon Pharmacy on Fifth Avenue, two detectives approached Perrone who was in the pharmacy and convinced him to come with them to the 68th precinct.  The employee is quoted as follows,  “He was in here no more than a minute.... They must have been following him.”

According to the Post here is the Cracker Jack police work that broke the case:

“Perrone spent approximately 24 hours being questioned — and cracked only when he thought he was confessing to a federal agent, a law- enforcement source said. ***  “He says he worked for the FBI and CIA. He was leery talking to the NYPD,” the source said. “He wouldn’t talk to anyone but the CIA or FBI.” So cops played along. ***  “They brought in someone claiming to be a CIA agent,” the source said, which is when Perrone spilled his guts about the crimes. “The guy is crazy.”

Wait, it gets even better all the evidence is in the duffle bag that was famous even before Salvatore Perrone was. Here’s how the Post puts it:
“Perrone allegedly told cops the murder weapon was at his girlfriend’s house in Midwood. Police found the .22-caliber Ruger rifle with a sawed-off stock in a bag, said the sources, adding that his fingerprints were found on the weapon. ***  And cops recovered a 12-inch kitchen knife with dried blood on it and two Buck folding knives, each with seven-inch blades....”

A confession by the alleged “serial killer”;  all the evidence in one bag that ties directly  to the “serial killer”  —   it sure sounds like a slam dunk. Why a Brooklyn ADA is already saying that Perrone will spend the rest of his life in jail.

Here’s the complete statement on State Senator Martin Golden’s official website at www.nysenate.gov/senator/martin-j-golden:

“STATEMENT BY STATE SENATOR MARTY GOLDEN ON ARREST OF BROOKLYN SHOPKEEPER KILLER

Brooklyn – State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn) today is commending the work of the New York City Police Department who has arrested and charged Salvatore Perrone with the killing of 3 Brooklyn shop owners.

Senator Marty Golden stated, ‘I applaud the efforts of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and the men and women of the NYPD who have devoted countless hours to this investigation. I know that solving these murders has been a priority since the first shooting this summer in Bay Ridge, near where Salvatore Perrone was arrested yesterday’.”

There are some real problems with this case that any half-motivated defense attorney could blow wide open.

Another big problem for “Marty Golden” is that if Salvatore Perrone is so crazy-bad to actually be this 63/64 year-old “serial killer”;  why wasn’t he picked up within a week or two after the first murder, not very long after the Fourth of July. Perrone was reported to have been well known among Fifth Avenue merchants and had business dealings with the first victim  —  instead, Perrone was only brought in after two more killings, and just a few days before Thanksgiving?