10 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • OCTOBER 2021
WEB BRIEFS LI AT A GLANCE
ZELDIN SAYS HE HAD
CANCER, IS IN REMISSION
U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), the GOP New York
State gubernatorial frontrunner whose congressional
district covers the East End, was diagnosed last fall
with cancer that is now in remission, the congressman
confi rmed Sept. 18.
Zeldin, age 41, was diagnosed in November with early
stage chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), for which
he began treatment with no side eff ects and is now in
remission, he said in a statement. He reportedly fi rst
disclosed the diagnosis Friday at an Ontario County
GOP dinner, multiple news outlets reported.
“Over the last nine months, I have achieved complete
remission, am expected to live a normal life, and my
doctor says I currently have no evidence of this disease
in my system,” Zeldin said in a statement. “My health is
phenomenal and I continue to operate
at
110%. At no
point have I slowed down at all and my
lowest gear is always all in.”
In 2018, there were an estimated 61,698 people living
with chronic myeloid leukemia—a cancer of the blood
and bone marrow—in the United States, according to
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
CML makes up 2% of all cancers and has a 70% fi ve-year
survival rate, according to the agency.
–Timothy Bolger
LGBTQ-FRIENDLY SENIOR HOUSING
COMPLEX OPENS IN BAY SHORE
Long Island leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on
Sept. 17 celebrating what they described as “America’s
fi rst suburban” LGBTQ-friendly aff ordable senior
housing complex and LGBTQ community center.
The project, spearheaded by the LGBT Network,
will feature 75 one- and two-bedroom apartments
and an 8,000-square-foot LGBTQ community center
at 34 Park Ave. in Bay Shore. The in-house LGBTQ
center is slated to connect queer seniors with case
management, health services, and other off erings.
LGBT Network President and CEO David Kilmnick
said the building fi lls a void for many LGBTQ seniors
who oft en feel unsafe in other housing facilities.
“When you think about someone who’s now in their
60s or 70s, saying that for the fi rst time in their lives…
they have a home where they can just be themselves —
we need to do a lot more,” Kilmnick said. “Our elders,
while being remarkably resilient, have faced a lifetime
of stigma and discrimination.”
Kilmnick noted that LGBTQ seniors experience
marginalization in all areas of their lives when
compared to straight elders, including higher rates
of poverty, mental health issues, and an overall
lack of support.
–Tat Bellamy-Walker, via Gay City News
SUFFOLK COP
CLAIMING HE RESPONDED TO A Suff olk County police offi cer was arrested on Sept.
15 for allegedly fi ling false paperwork claiming he
responded to six calls which he failed to show up to
over a fi ve-month span last year, prosecutors said.
Matthew Drury, 34, of Lake Grove, was charged in
Suff olk County court with felony counts of falsifying
business records and off ering a false instrument for fi ling
as well as misdemeanor counts of offi cial misconduct.
“We will take careful steps to investigate these allegations
because they are totally inconsistent with Offi cer
Drury’s honorable history of service as a police offi cer,”
Anthony M. LaPinta, his Hauppauge-based attorney, said.
Prosecutors said all the incidents occurred between
May and October. Drury was arraigned at Suff olk
County 1st District Court, where a judge released him
without bail. He is due back in court on Oct. 14.
Drury, who has been on the force since 2016 and was
assigned to patrol the 4th Precinct, has been suspended
without pay, authorities said. He faces up to four
years in prison, if convicted of the top count.
–TB
10 ALLEGED MOBSTERS
BUSTED ON LONG ISLAND
Ten reputed members and associates of the Colombo
crime family from Long Island, including
its leadership, were arrested Sept. 14 on various
crimes related to labor racketeering, attempted
extortion and extortionate collection of credit and
money-laundering conspiracy, federal prosecutors
said.
In Brooklyn federal court, a 19-count indictment was
u n
-
s e a l e
d
charging 14
defendants, including
multiple charges against the
suspects related to multiple schemes
in an alleged long-running eff ort to infi ltrate
and take control of a Queens-based labor
union and its affi liated health care benefi t program
to extort money that should have been used for the
members of the union, a law enforcement offi cial
explained.
“Today’s charges describe a long-standing, ruthless
pattern by the administration of the Colombo crime
family, its captains, members and associates, of
conspiring to exert control over the management of
a labor union by threatening to infl ict bodily harm
on one of its senior offi cials and devising a scheme
to divert or launder vendor contract funds from
its healthcare benefi ts program,” said Jacquelyn M.
Kasulis, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District
of New York.
Among the 14 suspects charged from across the New
York Metro area were 87-year-old Andrew “Mush”
Russo of Glen Head, the boss of the Colombo crime
family, 39-year-old Joseph Bellantoni of Massapequa,
52-year-old Thomas Costa of West Islip, 66-year-old
Ralph DiMatteo of Merrick, 43-year-old Vincent
Martino of Medford, and 56-year-old Michael Uvino
of Garden City. There were also four suspects from
Franklin Square charged: 56-year-old Domenick Ricciardo,
53-year-old Erin Thompkins, 75-year-old Vincent
“Vinny Unions” Ricciardo, and 59-year-old John Ragano,
whose nicknames were “Bazoo” and “Maniac.”
–Bill Parry via Queens Courier
For more daily local news, visit longislandpress.com
IN THE NEWS
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