The Curious Cases of Arthur Aidala, “Joe” Hynes and Marty Golden — Part 3*

Two different Baker Street Irregulars have provided leads that indicated Arthur Aidala did have a very significant connection to the Mark Fisher murder case, which took place on October 12,  2003, but which was not “solved” by the NYPD and prosecuted by the Brooklyn DA’s Office for over a year; resulting in two questionable convictions for the murder a year after that 

Arthur Aidala was a lawyer with a client involved in the case less than a week after Fisher was killed on Argyle Road in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn  — In fact, Aidala’s client was the first person arrested after being rounded up for questioning in connection with the Fisher case  —  Jessie Wenzel

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*Originally, it had been intended that this series would have two installments, because it had been thought that there were two significant cases that tied Aidala, Hynes and Golden together  —  It turns out that there are three such cases —  the third is the Mark Fisher murder case, which actually was the first of the three to happen

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Thanks to extensive research by one of my newest Baker Street Irregulars for their own projected exposition on the subject in another context than blogging,  I was given a link to an early report on the Fisher murder case that appeared in the New York Times. That article in the Times discussed an early police lead that came from an unidentified source indicating that the gun that probably had been used to shoot Mark Fisher had been likely supplied by somebody named Jessie Wenzel, who lived on 86th Street in the Bensonhurst-Bath Beach section of Brooklyn (See “Gun Charges in Case of Slain Student” by Michael Wilson 10/18/03, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/18/nyregion/gun-charges-in-case-of-slain-student.html]).

According to the October 2003 Times report, “The man arrested yesterday, Jessie Wenzel, 22, was not charged in the shooting of Mark S. Fisher early Sunday morning in Prospect Park South. In the course of investigating the killing, detectives were told that the person who shot Mr. Fisher might have obtained a gun from Mr. Wenzel, officials said. ***  They began investigating him, and learned that he had three unregistered handguns and a sawed-off shotgun at his home in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, a police official said....  He was arrested on three weapons charges....”

Another report of the Wenzel arrest in connection with the Fisher case appeared in the New York Post, and in pertinent part it said this: “Cops are pursuing all leads, including a tip from a confidential informant who gave them a man’s name and suggested that if someone at the party had a gun, maybe he got it from him, police said yesterday. ***  On Wednesday, cops armed with a search warrant went to the home of Jessie Wenzel, 21, at 1661 86th Street and found four illegal weapons – two .380-caliber handguns, a .45 handgun and a sawed-off shotgun, police said....” (See “Tears for Mark; Kin’s Anguish at Party-slay Victim’s  Funeral” by Perry Chiaramonte, 10/18/03, NY Post [http://nypost.com/2003/10/18/tears-for-mark-kins-anguish-at-party-slay-victims-funeral/]).

However, even though Wenzel’s  October 2003 arrest was made as a result of the Fisher murder investigation, Timesman Michael Wilson made this interesting note about it, “...detectives concluded that Mr. Wenzel had no connection with the [Fisher] killing...” And, Perry Chiaramonte in the Post said this: “Wenzel was arrested on a weapons charge, and cops have determined that none of the guns was the murder weapon, that he was not at the party, and had nothing at all to do with the homicide, police said.”  (The oddness of this[these] statement[s] by police officials after questioning Jessie Wenzel for less than one day will become apparent, because of what follows.)

The cops rounded-up Wenzel on October 17, 2003 during their very early investigations in the Fisher case; that was about five days after the murder of Mark Fisher on October 12, 2003. As a result of Jessie Wenzel’s arrest, Arthur Aidala turned up very early in the investigation of the Fisher murder, appearing  as the attorney for Wenzel in October 2003.

Jessie Wenzel was arrested again in connection with the Fisher murder case on a Friday night in March of 2004; this time along with his younger brother, William Wenzel, age twenty (20). The New York Post gave this account of those arrests: “Police are putting the squeeze on local toughs who may have information in the killing of Mark Fisher – a popular sophomore at a Connecticut college who was murdered on his first foray into Brooklyn last year. ***  Cops swooped on several men this weekend, who are either suspects in the murder of the strapping college football star, or friends of those who police think had a hand in the 19-year-old’s death last October....”  (See “Twist in  Grid Slay” by Larry Celona, 3/24/04, NY Post [http://nypost.com/2004/03/24/twist-in-grid-slay/]).

Larry Celona’s report in the Post went on to say that another person involved in the Fisher case was also arrested  —   “John Guica, 20 – who hosted the party where Fisher was last seen alive – got hit with a summons Friday night for drinking. ***  The same night, an acquaintance of Guica’s, Jessie Wenzel, 22, and his brother, William, 20, were pinched with drugs near their home in Bensonhurst, police said. ***  Jessie Wenzel is already awaiting trial on charges of possession of four handguns found in his home last October. Both Wenzels were caught with marijuana, while the younger brother also had cocaine and Xanax, a criminal complaint charges....”  In the same article, the reporter noted that  “...[a] lawyer for the Wenzel brothers, Arthur Aidala, argued the arrests were a desperate attempt to get more information on the Fisher murder. ‘I guess the Police Department must be somewhat frustrated because they haven’t been able to make an arrest....  However, you would think at this point they would understand that no one in the Wenzel family had anything to do with the Mark Fisher tragedy.’....”   However, it should be noted that Celona's article ended with these provocative lines: “Neither of the Wenzel brothers was at the party the night Fisher [w]as killed. Cops have described them as core members of Guica’s social circle.”

There was a follow-up story in the New York Post about a week later than Celona’s article, which again mentioned John Giuca as a suspect and the Wenzels, as “Giuca friends...”  —  “The investigation has recently begun to focus on John Guica, 20, whom Fisher met while out drinking in Manhattan last October with classmates from Fairfield University in Connecticut....   [Police Commissioner] Kelly said again yesterday the people who partied with Fisher continue to stymie the probe. ***  ‘We’re making some progress in the investigation but it is slow progress hamstrung by an extraordinary lack of cooperation,’ he said. ‘We believe there is more than one person who knows who murdered Mark Fisher.’ ***  Police cracked down on the neighborhood toughs last week, hitting several with summonses – including slapping Guica, who hosted the party where Fisher was last seen alive, with a fine for underage drinking..(See “Kelly Hits Wall of Silence in B’klyn Slay” by Patrick Gallahue, 3/21/04, NY Post [http://nypost.com/2004/03/31/kelly-hits-wall-of-silence-in-bklyn-slay/]). In that article by Pat Gallahue, Aidala was again quoted, as follows in the following passage: “A lawyer for Guica friends Jessie Wenzel and his brother William – who were both arrested on drug charges more than a week ago – said, ‘We just don’t want the Wenzel family harassed any further.’ *** ‘If they had useful information, they wouldn’t pass up a $100,000 reward but you can’t make up something that’s not there,’ said the lawyer, Arthur Aidala.”

Some might ask, Galewyn, where’s the connection of any of this to Hynes and Golden ?

Okay, starting with Golden —

Remember the county-wide and city-wide politics in play between October 2003 and in the early part of 2004, then into 2005.  Golden was in an election year and needed the good graces of Hynes and other top Democrats to avoid a hotly contested election for his Brooklyn state senate seat in 2004, or possibly any election for that seat in 2004 at all. It is widely known that Brooklyn DA Hynes, several key Hynes supporters and several other key Brooklyn Democrats were helping Golden with all of that.

In 2004 both DA Hynes and Mayor Bloomberg were in their pre-election year, and at the same time, Bloomberg’s cops and Hynes’ DDAs and ADAs were having a very tough time putting together any kind of case in a very high profile Mark Fisher murder case, involving a well-to-do out-of-towner  —  that was getting almost continuous coverage across the full spectrum of  media outlets.

This was all  —   VERY BAD PR FOR THE NYPD ...   VERY BAD PR FOR NYC...   VERY BAD PR FOR MAYOR BLOOMBERG...  VERY BAD PR FOR BROOKLYN DA HYNES  AND THE BROOKLYN DA'S OFFICE... The NYC Police Commisioner, Ray Kelly, even had to do repeated press conferences on the Fisher Case; and after a well publicized meeting with Mark Fisher's parents, DA Hynes had to change the whole Brooklyn DA team working on the Fisher case, putting his Rackets Chief Michael Vecchione in charge of the new team.

What Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Bath Beach-etc.- etc.- etc. State Senator was closely identified with all of the above political interests suffering from bad PR from the Fisher Murder case?  What Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Bath Beach-etc.- etc.- etc. State Senator had  Jessie Wenzel, the one named by “a confidential informant who gave [the police Wenzel’s] name and suggested that if someone at the party [where Fisher was killed] had a gun, maybe he got it from [Wenzel]...” in the middle of his State Senate District ?  What Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Bath Beach-etc.- etc.- etc. State Senator already was aligned closely with DA Hynes and already had interacted many times with Attorney Aidala since 1997 ?  What Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Bath Beach-etc.- etc.- etc. State Senator was Mayor Bloomberg’s go-to-guy for any political-PR problems in or near Marty Golden’s bailiwick in Brooklyn ?   What Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Bath Beach-etc.- etc.- etc. State Senator was Brooklyn DA Hynes’ go-to-guy for any political problems inside the Brooklyn GOP that might interfere with any Wilson-Pakula GOP designation for Hynes in 2005 (especially as a trap-door escape-hatch if there was a problem winning the Democratic Primary in 2005) ?  What Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-Bath Beach-etc.- etc.- etc. State Senator very well knew Susan Cleary, Brooklyn GOP Vice Chairperson, who was herself up to her knees with her son, Albert Cleary, who was himself up to his ears in the Fisher murder case ?  (There is more, but I’m tired of this trope —  and I don’t want to chime in with something more about Jerry Kassar, Golden’s Chief of Staff and Phillip Smallman, Albert Cleary's attorney at this time.)

Suffice it to say, from a political (and even a somewhat personal) standpoint, if there ever was a murder case in Brooklyn that State Senator Marty Golden did have a personal interest in and having it "solved" or "resolved" more than the Mark Fisher murder case  —   then I, and a lot of other people, would sure like to know what that case might be (and I would surely be writing about that one too). Admittedly, Marty Golden’s connection to the Fisher murder case is quite tangential. However, like everything else in this bizarre Alice in Wonderland case, because of Golden’s interactions with several others having far more skin in the game than Marty, himself, Golden’s active connivance in this or that having to do with the case cannot be ruled out.

Now, finishing off with Hynes and Aidala  —

2003-2004-2005 were in the middle of the “good old days” for Hynes and Aidala  —  even though Hynes was facing a tough primary challenge, upcoming in 2005, from myriad candidates from various communities, from all parts of the political spectrum and with a variety of very impressive professional credentials. Artie Aidala was one of Hynes’ “insiders” and the Hynes team, including Aidala, was still confident of victory if everybody did their part; and one part of that was insuring that Haynes did get the GOP and Conservative Party lines in 2005.

Also remember, that the continuation of Hynes being the Brooklyn DA after 2006 was almost as important to Aidala and several other members of the Brooklyn Defense Bar, as it was to Hynes himself.

So, there it is.  A third major case with a certain proven connection between DA Hynes and Attorney Aidala; and with a highly probable connection to State Senator Martin Golden through Brooklyn GOP Vice Chairperson Susan Cleary, as well as through her son Albert Cleary's attorney Phillip Smallman.

What next on this blog about the Fisher murder case ?

Among other matters that might come up in due course, this blog will follow-up to try to determine what part, if any, Arthur Aidala played in the solid wall of attorneys that was built around all the material witnesses and key suspects in the Fisher murder case. Several of these attorneys' names have been mentioned in earlier posts and comments on this blog.

At its high water mark the key witnesses and prime suspects in the case totaled about nine to twelve people, virtually all with legal representation  retained or readily available; and in the end, by the time of the jointly conducted trials in this case, that number necked down to about four, five or six, all with lawyers advising them what to do and say every step of the way. Whether and how that might have been coordinated, by whom and why will also be explored in future posts, or possibly even in comments that might soon follow this very post.

There are also pending motions and/or appeals by at least one of those already convicted in the case; there are writers working on at least one more book and at least one movie or TV-movie project that is in development and being pushed by a star player in a current TV hit legal drama, both are about the Fisher murder case; and of course, several journalists are continuing their inquiries into the case. If any of that discloses any new information for those writing posts on this blog, or contributing to it in any way, that will be passed along to those following this blog as soon as it is obtained, analyzed and processed.

In short, the search for justice in the Mark Fisher murder case is still a work in progress.