“Our legacy has been tarnished:”
Council okays Mott Haven jail A Bronx pastor was
Pastor charged
with murder in
machete attack
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, O BTR CTOBER 25-31, 2019 3
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Despite outrage and opposition
from Mott Haven residents,
the city’s plan to build
a community jail complex in
the south Bronx is moving forward.
The NYC Council made a
historic 35-14 vote Thursday,
October 17 approving Mayor de
Blasio’s plan to shutter the notorious
Rikers Island facility
by 2026 and replacing it with a
borough-based jail system in
the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn
and Manhattan.
“What we are doing today
will reshape this city for generations
to come and will impact
the lives of every New
Yorker,” said City Council
Speaker Corey Johnson. “We
cannot undo all the mistakes
of the past, but we must do everything
we can to move away
from the failed policies of mass
incarceration.”
Just days before the initial
vote, the City Council announced
steep reductions in
the height of each proposed
detention center—from 450
feet to 245 feet—due to concerns
raised by the four communities
housing the new
jails.
The proposed Mott Haven
jail, to be constructed at the
site of an NYPD tow pound on
The proposed site of the Bronx borough-based jail. File photo
Concord Avenue and East 141st
Street, will rise 195 feet as opposed
to 245 feet—equivalent of
24 fl oors high to 19 fl oors high.
It is the only borough-based jail
that will not be located adjacent
to a criminal courthouse.
Councilmembers Diana Ayala,
Mark Gjonaj, and Rafael
Salamanca Jr. voted in favor of
closing Rikers Island.
“With reduced heights and
a projected jail population of
3,300 by 2026, the boroughbased
jail plan will shrink our
criminal justice system and
put us on the path to decarceration,”
Ayala said.
The original borough-based
facilities were designed with
an expected average daily jail
population of 5,000 by 2026, according
to the City Council.
Though Salamanca voted in
favor of closing Rikers Island
in Queens he voted against
the new Bronx facility urging
Mayor de Blasio to also close
the Vernon C. Bain Center, a
jail barge fl oating off Hunts
Point.
Meanwhile, Ruben Diaz Sr.
joined his son, Bronx Borough
President Ruben Diaz Jr. in opposing
the plan.
The borough president denounced
the city’s failure to
engage with the community
on site selection for the project.
Diaz is advocating for the
Bronx jail to be relocated adjacent
to the existing Bronx Hall
of Justice.
“With our citywide inmate
population at a historical low,
the Mayor’s offi ce has already
admitted that the size of these
jails can be reduced, which further
validates that the Bronx
jail could be moved to its proper
location next to the court system,
like the other boroughs,”
Diaz said.
A vicious opponent to the
jail, community activist Arline
Parks, CEO of Diego Beekman
Mutual Housing, said the future
of the community has vanished.
She, along with the residents
of Diego Beekman Housing,
have waged a long, successful
battle to take back the
streets where the mayor is now
siting the new jail.
“It will go down in history
as the worst thing to happen to
Mott Haven,” Parks said. “The
future of Mott Haven was sacrifi
ced for interests that have
nothing to do with criminal
justice reform.
“The City Council people
should be representing their
people, and not going against
them.”
Parks blamed her councilwoman
for the Mott Haven jail.
“The fi rst thing you will see
is a jail for miles away and that
will be the legacy of Diana Ayala,
a jail. That’s her legacy,”
Parks added.
charged on Tuesday, October
22, for running over his estranged
wife with a car and
brutally stabbing her with a
machete in front of her two
grandchildren, announced
Bronx District Attorney Darcel
Clark.
The defendant, Victor Mateo,
63, of 4 Eastman Place,
Yonkers, a pastor at the Christian
Congregation, The Redeemer
Church in the Bronx,
was charged with murder,
manslaughter, acting in a
manner to hurt a child and illegal
weapons possession.
Mateo is accused of allegedly
killing his wife, Noelia
Mateo, 58, outside of her Ellsworth
Avenue home in Throgs
Neck at around 6:45 a.m. on
Thursday, Oct 3., according to
Clark.
On that fateful day, Mateo
parked his vehicle near the
home and when Noelia came
out to drive her grandchildren
to school, Mateo allegedly
struck her with his car.
The pastor then got into Noelia’s
car, while she was hiding
beneath it, and repeatedly ran
her over, Clark said.
Afterwards, Mateo allegedly
hacked Noelia to death
with a machete, while her
11-year-old grandson and
9-year-old granddaughter witnessed
the attack.
Leaving Noelia’s defenseless
body on the street, Mateo
fl ed the scene in her car, Clark
said. By the time an ambulance
had arrived at the crime
scene, Noelia was pronounced
dead shortly after arriving
at Jacobi Hospital later that
morning.
Meanwhile, Noelia’s car
was found later that day on
Logan Avenue. The NYPD had
issued a $2,500 reward for information
on Mateo.
He was found and arrested
on Thursday, October 10, in
Hazelton, PA., and extradited
to the Bronx on Tuesday, October
22.
“The defendant cruelly attacked
his wife, from whom
he had been estranged for approximately
a month, in front
of her two young grandchildren,”
Clark said. “We will
pursue justice for the victim,
as well as her family members
who have been deeply
traumatized by the terrible
attack.”
Mateo was remanded and
is due to appear in court on
January 22, 2020.
NYS denies Miracle City Services, LLC drug treatment permit
The effort to obtain an 822
license to permit the operation
of an Outpatient Chemical Dependence
Treatment Service
at 2800 Bruckner Boulevard in
Throggs Neck has hit a wall,
announced Assemblyman Michael
Benedetto on Thursday,
October 19.
On Wednesday, October 16
the NYS Offi ce of Alcoholism
and Substance Abuse denied
the application by Miracle
City Services, LLC, to be a certifi
ed substance use disorder
provider. (See full denial letter
on page 12)
The Bronx Times tried
to reach Marco Bassini,
who purportedly owns 2800
Bruckner Boulevard with
James Perrota. He did not
return the call before press
time.
According to the agency’s
letter “the proposed application
is denied based on the
information submitted and
additional documentation reviewed
which demonstrates
that the certifi cation application
contains several contradictions
and inconsistencies
the severity of which bring
into question the legitimacy of
the submission and character
and competancy of the applicant.”
OASAS was concerned
that the applicant’s ensemble
of LLCs suggested “that Miracle
City Services, LLC was
formed simply to conceal the
identities of the actual principals.”
During the state’s review,
the following entities and individuals
were noted as the
cause of the confusion: Miracle
City Services, LLC; Miracle
City, LLC; Stewart Redevelopment;
2800 Bruckner
Associates, LLC; Stewart Ventures,
LLC; Michael D’Alessio;
Michael Fernandes; and Anthony
Carbone.
Even the applicant’s reported
offi ce location drew the
state’s suspicion. Miracle City,
LLC claims to have offi ces at
2800 Bruckner Boulevard in
Suites 205 and 206, but those
suites were the same offi ces
Miracle City Services, LLC
claimed it will occupy.
The OASAS letter further
states that “Stewart Redevelopment,
LLC, Anthony Fernandes,
Anthony Carbone and
Michael D’Alessio are all currently
being sued for allegedly
conspiring among associated
companies and associates to
defraud real estate investors.”
The pending lawsuits sent up
red fl ags during the review
process.
The area’s elected offi cials
stood fi rmly alongside the residents,
fi ring off letters to OASAS
questioning Miracle City
Service, LLC’s qualifi cations
to operate a drug treatment
counselling facility. First, Assemblyman
Benedetto and
Councilman Mark Gjonaj sent
a joint letter, followed by State
Senator Alessandra Biaggi
and then Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortes, as
community activist Egidio
Sementelli promoted a series
of Saturday protests in front
of the building to ramp up the
pressure.
The facility’s opponents
were concerned with its close
proximity to These Our Treasure,
a special needs school,
and M.S. 304 and J.H.S. 101.
Assemblyman Benedetto introduced
legislation that
would prohibit the siting of a
drug treatment facility within
500 feet of a school, church or
park.
Miracle City Services, LLC
has until October 28, 2019 to
disagree with the determination
and submit an administrative
appeal.