6 JANUARY 5, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM 2016 Year in Review JULY Daring bank robbers fi nally caught Federal agents charged three Brooklyn men who allegedly broke into a Rego Park bank in May and stole more than $4 million in cash and valuables from safe deposit boxes, prosecutors announced on Tuesday morning. Michael Mazzara, 44, Charles Kerrigan, 40, and Anthony Mascuzzio, 36, allegedly used acetylene torches to cut into the roof of the Maspeth Federal Savings branch at 64-19 Woodhaven Blvd. on the weekend of May 20-22 and gain access to the safe deposit boxes inside the vault. Once inside the vault, authorities said, the crooks removed $296,000 in cash and currency, diamonds, jewelry, coins, baseball cards and other val uables totaling $4.34 million from safe deposit boxes that bank customers kept in the vault. Still battling prostitution at this Ridgewood corner For over 30 years the corner at Cypress Avenue and Starr Street at the Ridgewood/Bushwick border has been known as a hotspot for “johns” to pick up prostitutes for some cash. In this edition, the Ridgewood Times took a closer look at this notorious corner and the sting operations that take place there. Long aft er this report ran, police held other sting operations at the location, netting additional prostitution arrests. NYCHA to landlord: Stop abusing Ridgewood tenants In a continuing eff ort to keep Section 8 recipients in their rent-stabilized apartments, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) backed the residents of 1708 Summerfi eld St. in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Ridgewood who felt their new landlord was using illegal tactics to drive them out of their homes. Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez wrote a letter to the new owners demanding they make the necessary repairs in the apartments. Pokémon Go fever takes over Queens The start of the summer saw a massive craze sweep the nation, and Queens was not immune. The immensely popular Pokémon Go app launched in early July and residents of the “World’s Borough” were out en masse to try and ‘catch ‘em all.’ For weeks the cute pocket monsters dominated headlines around Queens with people posting maps of the best places to catch the creatures and law enforcement offi cials trying to fi gure out how to keep people and private property safe as thousands of people were out roaming the streets of Queens. S illb li i
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