South Queens pimps Shalimar can be saved
sentenced in violent
Preservationist says relocation of diner an option
sex traffi cking bust
A Forest Hill preservationist is hoping to find a taker for Rego Park’s Shalimar Diner who could save it
from the wrecking ball. Courtesy of Michael Perlman
BY BILL PARRY
The Diner Man is at
it again.
Forest Hills preservationist
Michael Perlman has
launched a movement to grant
the Shalimar Diner a new
lease on life.
“I grew up at the Shalimar,
knew people who had their
first dates there, others made
lifelong friends there,” Perlman
said. “Patrons always gathered
at the counter exchange witty
banter with the staff. Many
became extended family
members. When it went out of
business in November many
had tears in their eyes.”
Shalimar was in business
at 63-68 Austin St. in Rego Park
until it and an adjacent parking
lot were sold in a $6.5 million
all-cash deal with developers
and now Perlman, the founder
and chairman of the Rego-
Forest Preservation Council, is
hoping to find a party interested
in acquiring the diner for free.
Perlman has 30 days to find
someone or an organization
that would give the diner a
new lease on life by moving it
to a different location before
the wrecking ball arrives.
The structure can be had for
zero dollars but the interested
party would have to pay for the
rigging and transport as well
as the land at a new location.
“These places are
cultural cornerstones of the
neighborhood but they’ve
become an endangered species.
It’s really sad and disheartening
how much land costs around
here,” Perlman said. “The
structure is prefabricated
and manufactured to be easy
to move.”
In 1974, the Shalimar Diner
arrived in Rego Park on a
flatbed truck, delivered by the
Kullman Dining Car Company.
It became one of numerous
freestanding Greek family
diners dotting the tri-state area
that have been disappearing in
recent years because of rising
operating costs.
“I have possible 30 days
so this is a challenge,”
Perlman said. “But I’m
determined to achieve a diner
preservation victory.”
Perlman became known
as “The Diner Man” in New
York City after he achieved
success by sparing other
classic diners such as SoHo’s
Moondance Diner and Midtown
Manhattan’s Cheyenne
Diner by brokering deals to
have them transported to
new locations.
“I became a preservationist
in 2005 when a demolition
crew took a jackhammer to
the art deco ticket booth at
the Trylon Theater on Queens
Boulevard,” Perlman said.
“The Shalimar was another
ultimate public institution now
facing oblivion.”
Any party interested in
receiving the Shalimar Diner
for free, and transporting
it at cost with the help of
a highly successful diner
rigger, may contact
Perlman at
unlockthevault@hotmai l.
com.
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by e-mail at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4538.
BY MAX PARROTT
Two Queens pimps were
sentenced after pleading
guilty to multiple charges,
including sex trafficking
and promoting prostitution,
prosecutors announced
Monday.
Acting Queens Supreme
Court Justice Peter Vallone
sentenced Terrance “Staxx”
Jackman, 37, of Springfield
Gardens, and Zulay “Mocca”
Guerrero, 36, of St. Albans,
for pimping out young
women in charges extending
back to February 2013.
The defendants physically
and verbally abused their
victims and forced them
into prostitution.
Justice Vallone sentenced
Jackman to four to 12 years
in prison and Guerrero to
one and one-third to four
years incarceration.
“The two defendants
in this case admitted to
trafficking young women and
forcing them into trading sex
for cash. The victims – who
feared for their safety – had
to have sex with strangers
on multiple occasions and
were required to turn over
all the money they made,”
Acting Queens District
Attorney John Ryan said
in a statement.
According to court records,
Jackman and Guerrero forced
two female victims into
prostitution and to hand over
all the proceeds with threats
of physical violence various
times between February 1,
2013, and March 1, 2017.
On one occasion in 2016,
Jackman stabbed a then-21-
year-old victim in the knee
with a knife.
Despite needing
medical care, the young
woman was again forced
to engage in prostitution
that night.
In a second case,
Jackman coerced a 20-year
old woman into working
as a prostitute after he had
offered a ride home from a
nightclub. When the woman
met up with a stranger for
sex after Jackson put up an
ad for her on Backpage.com,
she told the man that she had
been kidnapped and he let
her escape. She immediately
called 911 and told them
she had been kidnapped
by a pimp.
“No one can look here
and declare that prostitution
is a victimless crime. These
women were victimized and
these defendants will answer
for their actions,” said Ryan.
TIMESLEDGER, A TIMESLEDGER.COM PR. 12-18, 2019 3
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