Arrest Made: Brooklyn Store Owner Homicides
Remarks by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Press Conference Announcing Arrest of Salvatore E. Perrone
I’m joined by Kenneth Taub, Chief of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau; and from the Police Department, Chief of Department Joseph Esposito Chief of Detectives Phil Pulaski and Deputy Chief Raymond Ferrari, Commanding Officer Detective Borough Brooklyn.
I also want to recognize Deputy Chief William Aubry, Commanding Officer of the Forensic Investigation Division. He went home to get some sleep, but he and his team did outstanding work to seal this case.
Seated in the front rows to my right are just some of the scores of detectives who have worked on this case since July. Many are home right now, catching up on their sleep. They’ve worked 40 hours straight in some instances.
NYPD homicide detectives today arrested Salvatore E. Perrone of Staten Island in the shooting deaths of three Brooklyn merchants after he made statements implicating himself, and after the .22-caliber rifle he used in the slayings was recovered from his duffel bag and subjected to ballistic tests.
Those tests indicated that shell casings found at all three crimes scenes were fired from Perrone’s rifle. Perrone’s fingerprint also was lifted from the murder weapon.
The victim Rahamatollah Vahidipour was killed Friday sometime after 4:30 p.m. and before 7:11 p.m., when his body was discovered. He became the third casualty of this suspected serial killer.
The Ruger 10-22 carbine found in Perrone’s bag was used to kill: Mohamed Gebeli, age 65, on July 6 at Valentino Fashion in Bay Ridge; Isaac Kadare, age 59, on August 2nd at amazing 99-cent deals in Bensonhurst; and 78-year-old Mr. Vahidipour on November 16th at She-She Boutique in Flatbush.
Perrone was recognized yesterday at a pharmacy in Bay Ridge, and voluntarily agreed to accompany responding officers to the station house. Detectives obtained a warrant to search Perrone’s duffel bag, which was found at his girlfriend’s apartment. It was the same bag that Perrone was seen carrying in videotaped images of him in the vicinity of the most recent homicide.
When crime scene detectives searched the bag early this morning, they found the carbine with a sawed-off stock, and a combination laser/flashlight attached to its barrel with duct tape and two, thick pink rubber bands. It had a single live round in the chamber. They also recovered a box of 22-caliber long-rifle ammunition, an empty magazine, and a 12-inch kitchen knife with dried blood on it. Detectives also found two Buck folding knives, each with seven-inch blades.
The carbine had originally been shipped by the manufacturer in 1977 to a federal firearms dealer in Manhattan known then as Biddle Purchasing, which is no longer in business.
Perrone was an independent seller of men’s and women’s apparel who called on small merchants in Brooklyn. After his photograph was circulated, we received several calls from proprietors of similar stores to inform us that they recognized Perrone as a salesman who would periodically visit their stores.
Perrone, who is 63 and divorced, owns a home at 1173 Clove Road on Staten Island, but resided off and on over the last several years with a girlfriend in Brooklyn. He is a native of Bensonhurst.
After a second victim was killed with a .22 caliber gun in August, detectives checked the ballistics of prior years’ shootings involving twenty-two’s, but none was found to be linked to this case.
The individual who yesterday recognized Perrone as John Doe Duffel Bag from the images circulated by the media called police. That individual does not want to be identified.
But I want nonetheless to commend his vigilance and civic-mindedness, as well as all the others who called with useful information. We also appreciate the media’s cooperation in circulating Perrone’s photograph.
District Attorney Hynes had a family obligation that prevented him from joining us this evening, so Ken Taub, Chief of the DA’s Homicide Bureau, is representing him today.
We work every day with Brooklyn prosecutors to combat violence in Brooklyn. This case had a special urgency, and Ken Taub and his staff gave it their all.
PB:DCPI/jcf
