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Friday, June 23, 2017
Vol. 66, No. 25
N E W H Y D E PA R K
RICE JOINS TRUMP SUIT, SUOZZI DOESN’T PAGE 6
Woman killed in car crash
LUIGI’S TO TAKE KOENIG’S PLACE
POLICE TAKE DOWN ALLEGED GANG MEMBERS
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B E AT I N G T H E H E AT
Man charged with manslaughter BY N O A H M A N S K A R A Brooklyn man was charged with manslaughter Monday after allegedly causing a head-on car crash in North Hills Sunday afternoon that killed his pregnant girlfriend. Courtney Corbett, 28, was the getaway driver for the girlfriend and another woman who allegedly stole from a Manhasset makeup store on Sunday before the crash, Detective Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick, the commanding officer of the Nassau County Police Department’s homicide unit, said. “He put them all in harm’s way,” Fitzpatrick said Monday during a news conference at police headquarters in Mineola. Corbett was driving away from the Sephora cosmetics shop at 1950 Northern Blvd. in Manhasset at 3:50 p.m. when a Nassau County police officer started following him after hearing a report of a larceny at the store, Fitzpatrick said. Corbett’s apparent girlfriend or fiancee, Demytrya Gibbs, was
PHOTO COURTESY OF VITALIY MUKHAYLOV
Iceland Ice Rink in New Hyde Park and Metropolitan Figure Skating Club sponsored the third annual Summer Swizzle Learn to Skate USA ice skating competition. See story on page 48.
Terry’s power a source of debate Ex Dem leader had influence over jobs, used clout as a club, sources say BY N O A H M A N S K A R
The Town of North Hempstead usually cuts paychecks for its employees and contractors on Fridays, but sometimes Gerard Terry couldn’t wait. Terry, who worked as the atContinued on Page 57 torney for the town’s Board of
Zoning Appeals and a special counsel in the town attorney’s office until last year, occasionally came to ask for his check on a Wednesday or Thursday, said Angelo J. Ferrara, a former deputy finance commissioner. “He would come into my office and say, ‘I guess they don’t know who I am,’” said Ferrara, who was fired from his post in 2013. He is not related to Angelo P. Ferrara, the Republican town councilman. That line from Terry re-
flects the influence he wielded, or attempted to wield, in North Hempstead’s government as an unelected figure who was never a full-time town employee, according to interviews with four current and former town officials. In addition to his legal work with the town, Terry, 63, was the chairman of the town Democratic committee in North Hempstead, one of the party’s few strongholds in Republican-dominated Nassau County. He resigned in early 2016 fol-
lowing revelations of having more than $1 million state and federal tax debt, and has since been charged with state and federal tax crimes. Terry, an East Hills resident, appeared in federal court Tuesday and is scheduled to appear in state court on Friday. His attorneys have said they hope to resolve both cases. Terry’s role in the town gave him considerable influence over who was given town jobs that are not subject to civil service requireContinued on Page 58
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