16 THE QUEENS COURIER • SEPTEMBER 20, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Ozone Park Block Association to meet with elected
offi cial about future of proposed homeless shelter
Ex-cop and active offi cers led $2M prostitution ring
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Taking advantage of law enforcement
tactics and intel, a retired detective and
seven active NYPD members allegedly
conspired to operate a lucrative prostitution
and gaming enterprise in Queens
and Brooklyn, prosecutors announced
on Sept. 13.
Authorities said that retired NYPD Vice
Detective Ludwig Paz, 51, of Queens, and
his wife, Arelis Peralta, led the day-to-day
operations of the ring. Paz enlisted the
active offi cers to help avoid police raids
at seven brothels under his supervision
in Brooklyn, Long Island and on Liberty
Avenue in Jamaica.
Another brothel was identified
as a home on Onderdonk Avenue in
Ridgewood, across the street from Starr
Playground.
In some instances, prosecutors noted,
he allegedly paid the cops money to
receive confi dential information about
police activities. News of the seven active
offi cers’ arrests broke on Wednesday;
nearly three dozen civilians have also been
charged, and two other NYPD detectives
were placed on modifi ed duty.
Queens District Attorney Richard A.
Brown, in announcing the grand jury
indictment against the ring participants
on Sept. 13, stated that Paz “allegedly used
his knowledge of the inner workings” of
the NYPD to avoid detection.
As one example, he allegedly required
clients at the brothels to undress and
allow themselves to be fondled in order
to pass security screening; he knew that
any undercover detectives who may have
stopped in could not expose their genitalia
during interactions with alleged prostitutes,
as per NYPD protocol.
“His alleged illegal enterprise also
included using established lotteries to
run illegal gambling in beauty salons and
other locations in two boroughs,” Brown
said. “Th ese operations stop today. I want
to commend the hard work of the NYPD’s
Internal Aff airs Bureau and members of
my Rackets and Organized Crime and
Integrity Bureaus for their hard work in
breaking up these illegal industries.”
Internal Aff airs learned of the prostitution
operation in April 2015 through
a tip provided by a police offi cer who
learned of the scheme. A lengthy investigation,
which involved the use of undercover
agents, court-authorized wiretaps
and surveillance, helped cops and prosecutors
crack the case.
“Th ese NYPD offi cers, who swore an
oath to uphold ideals greater than themselves,
have ruined their own careers and
reputations,” Police Commissioner James
O’Neill said on Sept. 13. “More importantly,
they have diminished the great
work of tens of thousands of other honest
and ethical cops. Everything we do in
the policing profession is hugely dependent
on the trust we build with the people
who live and work in our neighborhoods.
Whenever offi cers betray that trust
by engaging in criminal behavior, they
tarnish the shields they wear. Th e New
Yorkers we serve will never tolerate this,
and neither will this police department.”
Law enforcement sources said three
NYPD members allegedly aided Paz in
the prostitution and gaming operations:
Detective Rene Samaniego, 43, a member
of the Brooklyn South Vice Enforcement
Unit; Sergeant Carlos Cruz, 41, of
Brooklyn’s 69th Precinct; and Detective
Giovanny Rojas-Acosta, 40, a member
of the NYPD Crime Investigations Unit.
According to the indictment, the three
active cops allegedly fed Paz information
about NYPD eff orts to combat prostitution.
Another cop — Police Offi cer Giancarlo
Raspanti, 43, of Flushing’s 109th Precinct
— is accused of exchanging confi dential
police information with Paz in order
to get a discount on sexual favors from a
prostitute.
Sergeant Louis Failla, 49, of the Queens
South Evidence Collection Team was also
named in the indictment for allegedly
helping Paz following a raid on one of
the brothels.
Authorities said that two indicted
brothers — Sergeants Cliff Nieves, 37, of
the Transit Bureau and Steven Nieves,
32, of the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn —
allegedly operated a brothel in order to
host a bachelor party.
In all, Paz’s prostitution ring netted
more than $2 million between August
2016 and September 2017, prosecutors
said. He took out ads online to solicit clients,
who subsequently visited the brothels
and paid between $40 for a 15-minute
encounter with a prostitute or $160 for a
full hour of sex.
Brown said that Paz and Peralta allegedly
operated illegal lottery businesses at
the Sarahi Deli on Springfi eld Boulevard
in Laurelton and the Shining Star Beauty
Salon on 243rd Street in Rosedale. Th ey
employed numerous managers, runners
and agents to help customers place illegal
bets on legal lottery drawings.
According to the NYPD, Cruz, Rojas-
Acosta and Samaniego were charged with
enterprise corruption; Failla was booked
on four counts of offi cial misconduct;
Raspanti was charged with receiving a
reward for offi cial misconduct and two
offi cial misconduct counts; and Cliff and
Steven Nieves were each charged with
promoting prostitution.
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@schnepscomm.com
@AODNewz
Th e intersection of 86th Street
and 101st Avenue in Ozone Park
was fi lled on a rainy Wednesday
night, Sept. 12, with more than 100
residents who gathered to protest
a proposed homeless shelter that
will house 113 men suff ering from
mental illness.
Th eir eff orts, as it turns out, might
actually prove successful, as the
protest’s organizer, Sam Esposito,
announced to the crowd that an
elected city offi cial will meet with
the Ozone Park Residents Block
Association (OPRBA) on Sept. 25
at 11 a.m. to discuss the future of
the proposed shelter. A follow-up
meeting will be held with the community
that same evening at the
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Church at 7 p.m. to provide a recap
of the meeting.
Th e offi cial’s name has not been
released out of fear of possible sabotage,
according to Esposito, the
lifelong Ozone Park resident and
OPRBA president who has been
the driving force behind protests
and outcry.
“It is possible but we are not
there yet,” said Esposito about the
possibility of a stop being placed
on the proposed shelter.
Ozone Park residents have been
demonstrating against the proposed
shelter since early June, when
its creation was announced as part
of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Turning
the Tide on Homelessness in New
York City” plan. Unless deterred,
over 100 homeless men will be
housed in a shelter at the former
site of Christ Evangelical Lutheran
Church, which is surrounded by
fi ve schools.
“If they get away with this, I
don’t know if it is going to be
a woman getting raped or child
getting abducted, but we are
going to have a problem here,”
Esposito said. “Th e Department of
Homeless Services didn’t come to
Community Board 9. Th ey didn’t
come to the politicians,” Esposito
said. “Th ey just said, ‘You are getting
a shelter. Have a nice day.’”
Esposito has gone to dramatic
lengths to prove his point that the
community is not equipped to host
such a sizable number of mentally
ill men. He camped out at the site
of the proposed homeless shelter,
handed out fl iers to educate residents,
decorated four parked cars
with fl iers around the site and collected
signatures in opposition of
the shelter. He even went on a hunger
strike for 15 days that began
on Aug. 5.
Th e hunger strike ended earlier
than anticipated aft er Esposito suffered
a blood pressure spike and
had to be hospitalized; he had lost
25 pounds during his fast.
Th e community fear about the
possible infl ux of mentally ill men
has to do with the number of
schools and elderly in the area —
two groups of people that according
to 62-year-old Ozone Park
resident, Angela Nocrino, would
potentially be victimized.
According to Nocrino, older residents
have already started putting
bars on their windows in preparation
for the shelter. She fears
that more will plan to build higher
fences and that once the will even
be reluctant to go outside.
“They are already afraid,”
Nocrino said.
Photo courtesy of Sam Esposito
Senator Joseph Addabbo attended the protest against the proposed
homeless shelter.
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