8 MAY 23, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
Jurors convicted a Woodhaven
man who gunned down a
Briarwood man in a drive-by
shooting in Richmond Hill more
than fi ve years ago.
Sherman Manning, 40, of 89th
Avenue was found guilty on May 16
of second-degree murder, criminal
possession of a weapon and
menacing following a four-week
trial. It was Manning’s second
trial on the charges, according to
acting Queens District Attorney
John Ryan; the fi rst trial ended in
a hung jury last November.
Law enforcement sources said
Manning shot Brendan Santiago,
20, of Briarwood on April 19, 2014
as the victim rode his moped near
the intersection of 108th Street and
103rd Avenue in Richmond Hill.
According to trial testimony,
Manning was behind the wheel of
a white pickup truck that pulled up
within arm’s reach of Santiago. He
then shot Santiago in the left side of
his head and sped away, leaving the
victim mortally wounded in the
middle of the street, prosecutors
noted.
Police and EMS units responded
to the scene. Paramedics rushed
Santiago to a local hospital, where
he was pronounced dead.
During the investigation, police
obtained security camera footage
from near the crime scene which
showed the white pickup truck that
Manning drove pull up alongside
Santiago’s moped.
Prosecutors and the jury also
heard testimony from a witness
who heard the fatal shot and saw
Manning’s truck fl ee the scene.
Manning also incriminated
himself during questioning, when
he told detectives that he had been
in the area driving a white truck at
the time of the murder.
“This was another senseless act
of violence,” Ryan said on May 17 in
announcing Manning’s conviction.
“The unsuspecting victim was
shot once in the head and left for
dead in the streets of a residential
neighborhood in Queens. A jury
has rendered its verdict, and the
defendant now faces a lengthy
term of incarceration for his
callous actions.”
Manning faces a maximum
sentence of 25 years to life behind
bars at his sentencing, scheduled
for June 4.
Whippet litter indicate nitrous oxide abuse
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Queens State Senator Joe Addabbo
is taking a stab at making a
seemingly innocent party
appliance available only to people 21
and over as teenagers increasingly
reported using nitrous oxide to for its
mind-altering eff ects rather than to fi ll
party balloons.
Commonly known as “whippets,”
Addabbo cited constituent complaints as
the reason for the legislation, claiming
canisters have begun to litter his
district.
“They have also become a means
of recreational drug use, particularly
among younger New Yorkers, that
can lead to debilitating health threats,”
Addabbo said. “By limiting the purchase
of these canisters to those over 21,
and particularly to those who have a
legitimate purpose for buying them, we
can help protect our children from their
intoxicating eff ects.”
According to a 2016 study by the
National Survey on Drug Use and
Health, 9.1 percent of Americans have
tried inhalants with whippets available
online or at stores to buyers of all ages.
Addabbo’s legislation would impose
civil fi nes of up to $250 for retailers who
sell to minors as a fi rst off ense and $500
per transgression aft er that.
Associated with a number of
conditions affl icting the nervous system,
brain and internal organs, huffing
nitrous oxide is mainly associated
with seizures, comas, severe frostbite
and sudden sniffi ng death syndrome.
As the bill goes under review by the
Committee on Consumer Protection,
the Assembly version of the legislation
is also going through the same process.
“These piles of used whippets in our
communities are not only an eyesore,
but may indicate a signifi cant problem
with nitrous oxide abuse,” Addabbo
said.
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
An offi cer formerly assigned to
Ozone Park’s 106th Precinct
wound up in handcuffs
after an undercover operation
that determined she attempted
to have her estranged, second
husband murdered.
The FBI took Long Island resident
Valerie Cincinelli, 34, into custody on
May 17 on charges that she allegedly
trying to get her current boyfriend
to hire a hitman who would kill both
her husband and her boyfriend’s
young daughter.
The boyfriend wound up reporting
her to federal agents who subsequently
launched an elaborate sting that
sounded like a plot line from a “Law
& Order” episode. Law enforcement
agents went as far as to send Cincinelli’s
boyfriend a text message from a
purported hitman — that he showed
her shortly before her arrest — with
an attached photo of her estranged
husband, appearing dead.
NBC New York reported that
she was previously assigned to the
106th Precinct until 2017, when she
was placed on modifi ed duty over a
domestic incident.
Records from the U.S. Justice
Department indicated that the
twice-married Cincinelli “has been
romantically involved with several
individuals, and that her fi rst and
second husbands hd sought orders
of protection against her. Federal
prosecutors alleged that she also had
a “volatile history” with her boyfriend,
whom she had asked to help orchestrate
the double murder.
The New York Daily News reported
that the NYPD suspended her without
pay immediately following her arrest.
According to federal agents, she was
“brought up on charges of sharing
confi dential information with her
boyfriend and violating other Police
Department rules and regulations in
connection with sharing information
with him.”
The NYPD declined to comment on
the case, referring all questions to the
U.S. Attorney’s offi ce.
In February of this year, according
to the criminal complaint, Cincinelli
allegedly asked her boyfriend to hire
a hitman to kill her estranged, second
husband and the boyfriend’s young
daughter. The boyfriend told her that
he knew someone who would do the
deed for $7,000.
On Feb. 18, prosecutors said,
Cincinelli withdrew $7,000 in cash
from her bank account at a TD Bank
in Wantagh, then provided it to
her boyfriend to give the hitman as
payment. He then told her that he
would convert the cash to gold coins,
which he purchased later that day from
a dealership in Massapequa Park.
Cincinelli and her boyfriend
repeatedly discussed the murder
plot numerous times between
February and May 17, with some
of the conversations having been
consensually recorded at the request
of law enforcement.
Authorities said the sting that
nabbed Cincinelli came to a head at
10:10 a.m. Friday morning, when a
detective with the Suffolk County
Police Department — acting at the FBI’s
direction — visited her at her home
and informed her that her estranged
husband had been murdered. Her
boyfriend was present at the time and
wearing a recording device to capture
the events.
Almost immediately after
the detective departed, federal
prosecutors noted, Cincinelli
allegedly began discussing her alibi
with her boyfriend in the event
she were to be formally questioned
about her estranged husband’s
presumed death.
Nearly 40 minutes later, an FBI
agent — posing as the hitman — then
sent a text message to Cincinelli’s
boyfriend which included a photo of
her estranged husband appearing
dead, along with a demand for another
$3,000 in cash to kill the boyfriend’s
daughter. Cincinelli allegedly told
her boyfriend to delete the text and
photos in case detectives subpoenaed
his phone.
Cincinelli was taken into custody
a short time later and arraigned on
Friday aft ernoon in U.S. District Court
in Central Islip. She was ordered held
in custody without bail. If convicted,
she faces up to 10 years behind bars.
While on the job in the 106th
Precinct back in 2017, Offi cer Cincinelli
helped collar an alleged bank robber
in Howard Beach who attempted to use
a fake bomb to steal cash. A dye pack
that a bank employee provided him
with the stolen loot blew up in his face,
and helped lead cops to him.
Police Offi cer Valerie Cincinelli,
File photo/Robert Stridiron
State Senator Joseph Addabbo.
Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
Dealer guilty
in shooting
Cops busted for murder plot
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
link
link
link
link
