24 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 18, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Howard Beach
publisher pays
for coercion
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Th e publisher of a newspaper based in
Howard Beach has been sentenced for trying
to intimidate a sex assault victim’s father
in an eff ort to have the case against a reputed
mobster dropped.
Patricia Adams, who operates Th e Forum
Newsgroup weekly newspaper, pleaded
guilty on June 25 to misprision of a felony,
a count that acknowledges concealment of a
felonious crime, in relation to interfere in a
sex assault case against Robert Pisani of the
Bonnano crime family.
She was sentenced on Oct. 11 to fi ve
months in prison and must pay a $200
fi ne. Additional restitution for the victim
has yet to be determined, according to U.S.
Attorney’s offi ce.
According to charges, on April 28, 2017,
Pisani groped a female employee at his shop,
All-American Bagel and Barista Company
at 82-51 153rd Ave., and exposed himself
to her. At the time, Pisani had been released
from federal custody on $500,000 bail aft er
he and nine associates were indicted for racketeering
and other crime activities.
Th e NYPD arrested Pisani on May 4, 2017,
and charged him with forcible touching,
sex abuse and harassment. Prosecutors say
that aft er a federal judge ordered a hearing
on May 16, 2017, Pisani — who was
at risk of losing his bail because of the sex
assault charges — reached out to Adams for
assistance.
Federal prosecutors said that Adams is
a known associate of the Bonnano crime
family. According to the complaint, Adams
racked up a big gambling debt with the family
due and was known to play cards regularly
at an Ozone Park social club that the syndicate
controlled.
Aft er Pisani’s bail revocation hearing was
scheduled, Adams reached out to the victim’s
father and met him at a local Starbucks
to talk. During the conversation Adams tried
to coerce the victim’s father into dropping
the charges against Pisani.
Th e victim’s father recorded the conversation
and turned over the recording to federal
agents, which ultimately led to Adams’ arrest
in August 2017.
Pisani was ultimately found guilty of forcible
touching and harassment on June 27, but
was acquitted of sexual abuse.
DOT begins excavation on Queens Boulevard in Long Island City
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
A photo of a backhoe-torn sidewalk
was posted on Twitter by the
Department of Transportation (DOT)
on Th ursday as a signal to Long Island
City residents that safety improvements
on Queens Boulevard have begun.
Th e Greenstreets triangle is being
modified to accommodate ADAcompliant
pedestrian ramps to be passable
for pedestrians. Th ree new crosswalks
will be able to access the triangle
when construction is complete.
“Th e majority of the construction will
be fi nished by the end of fall,” said a
DOT spokesperson.
But backhoes and jackhammers will
be smashing up more than just the
triangle.
Th e DOT will be revamping Queens
Boulevard from Van Dam Street to
33rd Street by creating seven new crosswalks
and pedestrian signals, expanding
and reconfi guring Greenstreets triangle
and converting 14 off -street parking
spaces under the concrete viaduct
between 32 Place and 33rd Street in a
pedestrian pathways.
All construction is being done in order
to better accommodate the large number
of pedestrians that utilize the area.
Earlier today DOT crews began excavating
the #QueensBlvd/Van Dam St
Greenstreets triangle to make more
space for pedestrians. New crosswalks
and pedestrian signals will be also
installed at this intersection. pic.twitter.
com/pw7813F6bl
— NYC DOT (@NYC_DOT)
October 10, 2018
Th e excavation is part of Vision Zero,
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ongoing eff ort
to improve pedestrian safety throughout
the city, which has taken particular
notice of Queens Boulevard, once
notoriously known as “Th e Boulevard
of Death.” Between 1990 and 2015, 185
people, the majority of them pedestrians,
were killed in traffi c accidents
along Queens Boulevard.
Th e number of pedestrian injuries
on Queens Boulevard has gone down
by 63 percent since renovations started
in 2015. Th is according to data presented
by the DOT at a workshop in
Forest Hills about the fourth phase
the boulevard’s renovation on Jan. 23
of this year.
Th ere are other areas of Queens, however,
that are also in need of attention.
“DOT’s recently announced steps to
improve pedestrian accessibility and
expand high-visibility enforcement are
a good start, but making Vision Zero
a reality will require a complete safety
redesign of Northern Boulevard that
specifi cally addresses the needs of children,
seniors and people with disabilities,”
said Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer.
“Th e carnage on Northern Boulevard
must end. Th is new Boulevard of
Death must receive the same attention
and similar treatment that Queens
Boulevard did,” he added.
Woodside pain clinic staff made millions on illegal opioid RXs: feds
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Four operators of a Woodside-based
pain management clinic allegedly
reaped millions of dollars by illegally
prescribing highly addictive opioids
to patients who didn’t need them,
federal prosecutors announced on
Oct. 11.
Dr. Dante Cubangbang, 50, along
with John Gargan, 62, Michael
Kellerman, 54, and Loren Piquant, 37,
distributed the pills out of the Hope
Physical & Rehabilitation Clinic at
51-23 Queens Blvd., according to U.S.
Attorney Geoff rey Berman. Th ey were
among 10 medical professionals in the
New York City area charged in fi ve
indictments and a criminal complaint
unsealed in Manhattan federal court
last Th ursday related to illegal opioid
distribution.
“Th ese doctors and other health professionals
should have been the fi rst
line of defense against opioid abuse, but
as alleged in today’s charges, instead of
caring for their patients, they were drug
dealers in white coats,” Berman said on
Oct. 11. “Th ey hid behind their medical
licenses to sell addictive, dangerous
narcotics.”
Law enforcement sources said the
Woodside clinic prescribed more than
6 million oxycodone pills — equal to
180 kilograms between January 2012
and September of this year. Th e recipients
of the illegal prescriptions had
them fi lled at local pharmacies, then
sold the pills to local drug dealers who,
in turn, re-sold the pills to drug addicts,
according to the indictment.
A 30-day supply of oxycodone —
each containing 180 30-milligram pills
— has a street value of at least $5,400 in
New York City, the indictment noted.
Between January 2015 and May
2018, authorities said, Cubangbang
and Gargan, who is a nurse practitioner,
wrote 19,000 oxycodone pills
and charged each patient $300 in cash
per visit. Over this period, prosecutors
said, the clinic generated $5.7 million
in revenue.
Th e investigation also found that
Cubangbang and Gargan — along
with Kellerman, the offi ce manager,
and Piquant, the receptionist — also
defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and private
insurers by also ordering unnecessary
urine tests in correlation to
the scheme to illegally overprescribe
oxycodone.
Authorities said Kellerman allegedly
collected the cash payments from
patients, handled all profi ts related to
the illegal prescription scheme and
created and submitted phony medical
records to disguise the illegal activities.
Piquant, meanwhile, bought oxycodone
pills for re-sale purposes from the
clinic’s patients, the indictment noted.
All four members of the Woodside
clinic were arrested on Oct. 10 and
charged with conspiracy to distribute
controlled substances; Cubangbang,
Gargan and Kellerman were additionally
charged with conspiracy to commit
health care fraud and conspiracy to
commit money laundering. Each suspect
faces a maximum of 10 to 20 years
behind bars if convicted.
“Our entire country is suff ering
through an opioid abuse crisis, and
we need to do everything we can to
save as many lives as possible,” Police
Commissioner James O’Neill added.
“We need to help people from falling
back into a black hole of addiction and
fatal overdoses. We have to push New
York City and our nation to thrive, and
to turn this epidemic around.”
Screenshot via YouTube/LibertyAvenuePolitics.com
Patricia Adams, publisher of The Forum Newsgroup,
was arrested on Aug. 16, 2017, on federal witness
tampering charges.
Photo from DOT Twitter.
A DOT crew at work in Long Island City
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