Serving New Hyde Park, Floral Park, Garden City Park, North Hills, Manhasset Hills and North New Hyde Park
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Friday, March 6, 2020
Vol. 69, No. 10
N E W H Y D E PA R K
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HOME & DESIGN
PLASTIC BAG BAN GOES INTO EFFECT
NORTH SHORE RESPONDS TO CORONAVIRUS
PAGES 27-38
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NCPD shoots teenager
L E A P ( D AY ) F O R J O Y
GCP incident ends fatally in Queens BY E M M A J ON ES An alleged carjacking in Garden City Park ended in a fatal shooting in the Cambria Heights neighborhood of Queens involving the Nassau County Police Department on Tuesday NCPD officers followed a carjacking suspect from Nassau County to Queens, where the victim was shot, the police said. Further details were not immediately released. The suspect, identified by police as 19-year-old Matthew Felix of Cambria Heights, was allegedly shot by a Nassau County officer or officers at East 217th Street and Linden Boulevard. No officers were injured, according to police. Nassau County police say that the chase began with an alleged carjacking in Garden City Park. A person allegedly tried to sell a Mercedes on social media and met the victim in a parking lot, police said. Bureau of Special Operations officers tracked the car to Continued on Page 61
PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTHWELL HEALTH
Proud parents Justin Bates and Diane Timpa look on at their newborn daughter Mia Fay Bates, with her two older brothers close by. Mia was born at 1:51 p.m. on Saturday, the only Leap Day baby born at Katz Women’s Hospital at Long Island Jewish Medical Center this year. She weighed 8 pounds and 13 ounces and measured 20 inches long.
Mineola man seeks justice, closure The case of Floral Park resident John Mariani’s murder is finally brought to a close BY E M M A J ON ES On Sept. 25, 2015, Mineola resident Joe Mariani received news that his brother, John Mariani, had been shot and killed in a botched robbery in Medellin, Colombia. Five years later, Joe Mariani got a measure of closure when the second person involved in the killing was recently convicted.
But Mariani said he still needs to clear his brother’s name from the negative inferences that followed his death in Colombia. “He’d give you his right hand. He’d give you his shirt. He helped everybody,” Mariani said of his brother, who lived in Floral Park. John Mariani had been vacationing in Colombia with a friend. He was attacked while they were on their way to a restaurant in Medellin. John Mariani and his friend had just stepped out of a cab in front of a restaurant, authorities said. As his friend was paying the cab driver, two
men pulled up on a motorcycle. One of the men got off and held a gun to Mariani’s abdomen, according to police. Assuming that he wanted money, Mariani reached for his wallet, which was in his shirt pocket, authorities said. The man panicked and shot Mariani. He then took the fake Rolex watch off of the victim’s wrist and fled on the motorcycle driven by a second unknown subject. This was the only information that the family had upon receiving news of John Mariani’s death, Joe Mariani said. The family soon, he said, started getting calls from the media,
seeking more details on the story. Reporters insisted that the victim fought back against his assailant, Mariani said. “I know my brother,” Mariani stated. “He wouldn’t resist.” “Everything [they were saying] was negative,” he added. “And I’m saying, ‘Listen, my brother’s just got killed.’” Finally, Mariani said, he had had enough. He told the reporters he was not answering any further questions. “My brother is first generation. He has three other brothers. We live in Floral Park. Worked hard all Continued on Page 11
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