MAN ARRESTED FOR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER’S MURDER
Police arrested 23-year-old Gary Biaz for the murder of 82-year-old Ella-Mae Biaz inside 711 FDR Drive at the Lillian Wald Houses last Friday. Police responded to a 911 call about two women assaulted around 5:35 p.m. and found the senior, who the New York Post reported was Biaz’s great-grandmother, with her wrists and ankles bound with tape.
A 39-year-old woman had also been tied up in the apartment and had managed to free herself and alert the police. The 82-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene and the second victim was brought to Bellevue Hospital for her injuries.
Biaz reportedly stole cash from his great-grandmother and drove off in a car belonging to the younger victim, the Post said. He was arrested later that night after being caught near Bedford Avenue and South Second Street in Williamsburg.
Biaz was charged with murder and attempted murder.
MAN ARRESTED FOR FLATIRON BANK BREAK-INS
Police arrested 39-year-old Daniel Bertini for Flatiron bank burglaries that took place early Monday morning. The New York Daily News reported that Bertini was caught with $915 in stolen coins at 5:35 a.m. inside the Chase Bank at Sixth Avenue and West 18th Street. Police said that Bertini got cuts on his head when he resisted arrest and an officer hit him with a collapsible baton. He later told officers that he has a cocaine habit and had taken money from his mother. He allegedly burglarized that Chase branch, in addition to two other banks, to pay back his mother before she noticed that the money was missing. The Daily News reported that Bertini worked with a crowbar and a change of clothes and tried unsuccessfully to break into a Key Bank on East 22nd at 4:25 a.m. He allegedly managed to break into a Bank of America on Park Avenue South around 4:51 a.m. but didn’t take any money. Police said that Bertini, who lives with his mother in Chelsea, is also a suspect in eight bank jobs in Brooklyn, in addition to four thefts from a Manhattan bar and from a bodega.