12 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • DECEMBER 2021
WEB BRIEFS LI AT A GLANCE
SIX TORNADOES HIT LI
Six tornadoes touched down Nov. 13 on Long Island,
leaving a trail of destruction across the region, the
National Weather Service confi rmed.
The tornadoes were reported from Woodmere to
Levittown, East Islip to Oakdale, Shirley to Manorville,
Hampton Bays to North Sea, Remsenburg to
Westhampton, and one stayed in North Bellport. The
most powerful of the six was the Manorville tornado,
which was confi rmed as an EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita
Scale that ranks tornado strength, with 110 mph
winds, while the others ranked as an EF0, the weakest
on the scale, with estimated 85 mph winds each.
“It is a rare event,” said James Tomasini, an Upton
based National Weather Service meteorologist.
“It’s a late season event. When we think of severe
weather around here, we think of summer.”
There
were no reports of injuries or
fatalities from any of the tornadoes. These are the
fi rst tornadoes to touch down on LI since one was
confi rmed in Manorville in 2019.
-Timothy Bolger
MAN THREATENED LI REP., COPS SAY
A man from Lake Ronkonkoma who threatened the
life of Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Sayville) has been
arrested in connection with the incident, according
to Nassau County police.
Kenneth Gasper, 64, a retired Long Island Rail Road
worker, was arrested aft er surrendering to police on Nov.
10 in Mineola and charged with aggravated harassment
in the second degree. He was arraigned on Thursday
and is due back in court Nov. 24. A judge issued him a
stay-away order from Garbarino and his staff .
Gasper had called Garbarino’s Massapequa offi ce and expressed
displeasure with the freshman congressman’s
vote on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, which
passed in November. According to police, Gasper spoke
to a staff member using profanity and said, “If I see that
mother expletive in the street, I’m going to kill him.”
Aft er tracking the phone call to Gasper’s number, a background
check and search of his home showed he has no gun
permits, no criminal history, and does not own fi rearms.
-Briana Bonfi glio
INFRASTRUCTURE MONEY COMING TO LI
The Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North commuter
rails will receive $2.6 billion in federal funding
under the newly passed Bipartisan Infrastructure
Framework (BIF) bill, U.S. Senate Majority Leader
Charles Schumer announced on Nov. 10.
Standing outside the Massapequa Park LIRR station,
Schumer detailed plans to upgrade several LIRR stations,
including Massapequa Park, St. Albans, and Locust
Manor, to be more accessible to those with disabilities
by adding elevators to the platforms. The federal
dollars will
also fund changes to the Jamaica
station to increase capacity, especially
during rush hour.
“Long Island was a focal point for me in both negotiating
and passing the bipartisan infrastructure
deal because Covid hit us here really, really hard,”
Schumer said. “It was and is critical for the LIRR to
get its own carve-out of federal dollars."
Schumer also revealed other transportation projects on
Long Island that will be made possible by the BIF, including
pavement replacement on the Long Island Expressway,
repairs to three bridges on Heckscher State Parkway, and
pavement renewal on the Meadowbrook State Parkway.
-BB
3 ARRESTED WITH FETTY WAP FOR LI
DRUG TRAFFICKING
Three Long Island men were among six suspects,
including Grammy-nominated rapper Fetty Wap and
a New Jersey corrections offi cer, arrested for allegedly
traffi cking more than 100 kilos of cocaine, heroin,
fentanyl, and crack cocaine across Long Island and
New Jersey, federal prosecutors said.
A federal grand jury indicted Anthony Leonardi, 47,
of Coram, 26-year-olds Brian Sullivan of Lake Grove,
and Kavaughn Wiggins, also of Coram, on charges
of conspiring to distribute and possess controlled
substances. The indictment was unsealed on Oct. 29
at Central Islip federal court.
Prosecutors said the LI trio, Fetty Wap — whose real
name is William Junior Maxwell II — corrections
offi cer Anthony Cyntje, and a Pennsylvania man
traffi cked the drugs from the West Coast to the New
York Metro area between 2019 and 2020.
A f
-
ter the
drugs were
shipped via U.S. mail
or in vehicles with hidden
compartments, the narcotics were
stored in Suff olk County and diluted with
cutting agents into as many four kilos each before
being distributed to dealers, authorities said.
-TB
EX-NYPD COP FROM LI GETS PRISON
A former New York City police offi cer from Long Island
was sentenced Oct. 29 to 48 months in federal prison
aft er authorities said she tried to hire a hitman to kill
her ex-husband and boyfriend’s teenage daughter.
U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert sentenced Valerie
Cincinelli, 37, at Central Islip federal court aft er Cincinelli,
who is from Oceanside, pleaded guilty in April
to obstruction of justice.
In exchange for the guilty plea and admitting that
she “deleted images on iPhones” and participated in
misconduct that interfered with the investigation,
prosecutors agreed to drop two murder-for-hire
charges against Cincinelli, who has been held without
bail since her arrest in May 2019.
Cincinelli allegedly asked an informant to hire a
hitman for the two murders in February 2019 and
the informant tipped off the FBI, authorities said. An
agent then posed as the hit man, contacting Cincinelli
under the guise of having murdered her ex by texting
her a photo of what appeared to be the crime scene,
according to investigators.
-TB & BB
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