4 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 19, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Bayside man
busted with over
60 guns in his
home behind bars
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
A Bayside man arrested on Sunday
for having a massive weapons arsenal
in his home is now being held without
bail following his arraignment on
Monday.
Following an ongoing investigation,
offi cers from Brooklyn’s 81st Precinct
developed information to obtain
a search warrant from the Queens
County District Attorney’s Offi ce for
the home of Ronald Drabman, 60,
located at 58-08 208th St.
Offi cers went to the residence and
executed the warrant at 2 p.m. on
Sunday, April 15. Once inside, they
found and recovered 45 rifl es, assault
rifl es, shotguns, 23 handguns, one zip
gun, two .177-caliber pellet guns and
a large quantity of ammunition and
high-capacity magazines.
According to Queens District
Attorney Richard A. Brown, Drabman
does not have a fi rearms license and
is not a gun dealer. He is not licensed
to sell or to manufacture fi rearms or
ammunition.
Cops arrested Drabman on 109
counts of criminal possession of a
weapon, one count of unlawful possession
of an ammo feed device and one
count of criminal possession of a controlled
substance.
If convicted, Drabman faces up to 25
years in prison.
“Th e defendant is accused of using
his home as a warehouse for illegal fi rearms
— along with tens of thousands
of rounds of live ammunition,” said
District Attorney Brown. “Th is stockpile
of weapons poses a great risk to the
residents of Queens. It is extremely disturbing
to fi nd such an arsenal of fi rearms
in a residential community. Th e
defendant now faces a lengthy term of
incarceration for this obsession with
weapons.”
Glen Oaks street renamed for
beloved Qns. Chamber exec
BY WILLIAM HARRIS
editorial@qns.com / @QNS
Th e corner of 254th Street and
Union Turnpike is now known as “Jack
Friedman Way,” following a co-naming
ceremony on April 15 honoring the
work of the former head of the Queens
Chamber of Commerce up until his
death three years ago.
Joining the family of Jack M. Friedman
at the ceremony were Congresswoman
Grace Meng, Congressman Tom
Suozzi, state Senator Leroy G. Comrie,
Assemblyman David Weprin and
Councilman Barry S. Grodenchik, who
sponsored the street renaming. Dozens
of others were in attendance as well.
Friedman was at the forefront of
advocating and advancing the growth
of Queens businesses during his time
as the executive director of the Queens
Chamber of Commerce. In fact, he
was a small business owner himself.
Friedman owned a video store business
before serving as then-Councilman
(now Assemblyman) Weprin’s chief of
staff .
“Today we remember Jack Friedman
& his many contributions to the people
of #Queens & #NYC by renaming
the corner of 254 St. & Union Tpke.
‘Jack Friedman Way.’ Th ank you to all
who worked to make this possible. May
Jack’s memory be for a blessing always,”
Grodenchik tweeted.
In addition to his work with Weprin
and as executive director, Friedman
spent much of his time volunteering for
a number of civic groups in the borough.
He served as president of the Northeast
Queens Jewish Community Council,
chair of the Economic Development
Committee for Community Board
13 and was a board member for the
Bellerose Jewish Center, Lifeline Center
for Child Development and Services
Now for Adult Persons (SNAP).
Friedman dedicated his entire life to
helping out businesses throughout the
borough. Being a longtime Queens resident,
Friedman took pride in his work
and as a result, he helped many people
and businesses along the way.
Whitestone residents frustrated with
frequent water outages on their block
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
On too many recent mornings, Georgia
Th eofanis and many of her Whitestone neighbors
have woken up, turned on their faucets
and discovered that they were bone dry.
“We can go maybe six, seven or eight
hours without water. We can’t take a
shower, fl ush the toilet or even drink
water,” Th eofanis said. “Th ere’s nothing
there. It happens to all eight houses at the
same time. Maybe we’ll have some water
but it will be drips at a time. It’s not once
or twice; it’s an ongoing thing.”
Other residents living in eight homes on
Second Avenue between 147th Street and
147th Place say they face low water pressure
or, at certain times, have no access at all to
water in their homes. Th e issue has impacted
the residents for over fi ve years.
Th ey drew attention to the problem
during an April 11 press conference organized
by state Senator Tony Avella, who said
he has contacted the city’s Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) about the
issue since 2013.
According to Avella’s offi ce, a pipe on
the corner of 147th Place and Second
Avenue burst in June 2017. Th e city
claimed it was a private line and homeowners
paid out of pocket. Still, the
homes sit on a city-owned street.
Homeowners say the source of the
problem is a water supply pipe that is too
small to service all of the homes. Th is is
an issue the city has acknowledged in the
past, residents said, but hasn’t fi xed.
“Th is is not a private pipe,” Th eofanis
said. “We have sanitation, we get mail, we
pay taxes, and we don’t have private anything
else so why would we need a private
water supply? Th e city is providing
us with water.”
“We can’t even invite people to come
over for a party because in the middle of
the party there’s no water,” homeowner
Mary Ip added. “It’s very annoying.”
Avella and homeowners called on DEP
to begin a capital project to replace current
pipe with one that will provide suffi -
cient service to the local residences.
“Imagine getting up every morning and
not knowing if you’re going to have any
water in your house that day,” the state
Senator said. “Th at is exactly what is happening
to these homeowners.”
A DEP spokesperson told Th e Courier
that engineers from the city agency are currently
investigating the situation at the
site.
Photos courtesy of the NYPD
Photo via Twitter/@BarryGrodenchik
Photo courtesy of Avella’s offi ce
Residents of 2nd Avenue and Avella meet on site
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