Serving New Hyde Park, Floral Park, Garden City Park, North Hills, Manhasset Hills and North New Hyde Park
$1
Friday, March 12, 2021
Vol. 70, No. 11
N E W H Y D E PA R K
NON-PROFITS TOWN HALL FOCUS PAGE 7
G.N. SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS DIES
CALLS FOR CUOMO TO RESIGN INCREASE
PAGE 2
PAGE 6
George Blatti charged with 5 murder counts
HERRICKS HOOPS
Ex-doctor’s prescriptions led to death of F.P. man among others BY R O S E W E L D ON A former doctor has been charged with five counts of murder for prescription practices that led to the deaths of five of his patients between 2016 and 2018, including those of a Port Washington woman and a Floral Park man, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced. The former doctor, George Blatti, 75, pleaded not guilty last Thursday before Judge Fran Ricigliano on five counts of second-degree murder and 11 counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree, the results of a joint investigation by Singas’ office, the Nassau County Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Blatti was initially arrested on April 18, 2019, and charged with 54 counts that October, including 22 counts of criminal sale of a pre-
scription for a controlled substance, six counts of forgery in the second degree, two counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree, 22 counts of criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions in the fourth degree, and two counts of reckless endangerment in the second degree. A general practitioner first licensed to practice medicine in 1976 who surrendered his medical license in June 2019, Blatti had “no specialized training or accreditation in pain management,” Singas’ office said. “For a time, he maintained a makeshift office in a Franklin Square storefront that was formerly a Radio Shack, with a Radio Shack sign and merchandise racks on the walls,” the office said in a statement. The original indictment from 2019 alleged that Blatti met cusContinued on Page 28
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HERRICKS SCHOOL DISTRICT
Herricks High School senior Sheila O’Mara was one of two Highlanders named on Newsday’s Top 100 girls basketball players on Long Island.
One dead, one seriously hurt in NHP car crash BY R OB E RT PELAEZ A one-car crash in New Hyde Park killed one person and seriously injured another last Friday morning, according
to the Nassau County Police Department. Detectives said a 2008 Chevy Impala struck multiple utility poles while traveling east on Hillside Avenue Friday morning.
The car, according to officials, came to a stop near the intersection of Hillside Avenue and Devonshire Drive. Photos from the incident show the back of the car elContinued on Page 28
Support local journalism and get real news Subscribe to the Blank Slate Media newspaper of your community https://theislandnow.com/subscription/