Salvatore Perrone

Case record: Salvatore Perrone

Status / Outcome

Salvatore Perrone was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison on March 4, 2016.

Timeline

• July 6, 2012 — Mohamed Gebeli, 65, was found inside his clothing store in the Bay Ridge neighborhood with a single gunshot wound to the neck.
• Aug. 2, 2012 — Isaac Kadare, 59, was shot in the head and his throat was slit inside his store in Bensonhurst.
• Nov. 16, 2012 — Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78, was shot in the head, face and chest in his clothing shop in the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens neighborhood.
• Nov. 20, 2012 — Perrone was captured after being dubbed “John Doe Duffel Bag” by police.
• Nov. 21, 2012 — Police commissioner Raymond W. Kelly described Perrone as a “serial killer” intent on finding more victims; Perrone was arrested and arraigned early Thursday morning in Brooklyn Criminal Court and ordered held without bail.
• Nov. 22, 2012 — Perrone was ordered held without bail in Brooklyn Criminal Court on charges including three counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree murder.
• Feb. 10, 2016 — A jury found Perrone guilty of three counts of second-degree murder.
• Feb. 11, 2016 — Reporting stated the jury found Perrone guilty of killing three Brooklyn shopkeepers in cold blood over the course of five months in 2012.
• Feb. 22, 2013 — Perrone was found mentally fit to stand trial.
• Jan. 21, 2016 — The trial began in Brooklyn for the man accused of killing three Middle Eastern shopkeepers in Brooklyn in 2012.
• Jan. 22, 2016 — A victim’s daughter testified that she saw Perrone hours before an Aug. 2, 2012 killing.
• Jan. 29, 2016 — Perrone’s ex-girlfriend testified that Perrone went dancing at a Brooklyn club after murdering a Brooklyn shopkeeper on Nov. 16, 2012.
• Feb. 9, 2016 — Perrone testified in his own defense and insisted he’d been framed.
• Feb. 22, 2013 — A court hearing determined Perrone was mentally fit to stand trial.
• March 4, 2016 — Justice Alan D. Marrus sentenced Perrone to the maximum penalty allowed: 75 years to life.

The offence

Perrone attacked three merchants in Brooklyn in a series of shootings. In each attack, authorities said he went into stores around closing time when the merchants were alone and opened fire with the same sawed-off rifle.

The authorities said the merchants were all of Middle Eastern origin.

In the attacks in 2012, prosecutors said that:

• He shot and killed Mohamed Gebeli, 65, in his clothing store in the Bay Ridge neighborhood.
• He shot Isaac Kadare, 59, in the head and slit his throat inside his store in Bensonhurst.
• He shot Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78, in the head, face and chest in his clothing shop in the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens neighborhood.

The series of shootings were connected by .22-caliber shell casings recovered at the scenes.

Police said bodies were covered in clothing and other items from the shops to conceal them from passers-by in each killing.

Investigation

Police were described as working on the possibility of a bias motive and were working with federal agents to create a profile of a suspect.

The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said detectives were working under the premise that a single gunman carried out all three killings. Kelly said it was “reasonable to assume” that the gunman canvassed the shops before each shooting.

Police matched shell casings found at the scene of the most recent killing to the deaths of two shopkeepers over the summer.

Authorities said the suspect seemed to have taken steps to avoid detection by covering the bodies of the three men with clothes or other objects.

The authorities also said the suspect did not remove the shell casings from the scene or use a different weapon, allowing detectives to connect the killings.

Robbery did not appear to be a primary motive, according to the police commissioner; the most recent victim was reported to have $171 in his pockets when his body was found.

Investigators spent much of a weekend poring over surveillance video from around the Flatbush Avenue shop where Rahmatollah Vahidipour died.

Police released images of four people wanted for questioning, including a woman seen running away from a man. Police attention narrowed to one person identified by police only by the bag he was carrying, referred to by authorities as “John Doe Duffel Bag.”

Paul J. Browne described the focus on identifying “John Doe Duffel Bag,” and surveillance cameras captured the man with the duffel bag walking northbound on Flatbush Avenue roughly a block and a half north of Vahidipour’s shop at 6 p.m. on Friday, placing him in the area during the window when detectives believed the killing occurred. Another video camera captured him minutes later and half a block farther north, walking in the same direction.

Brooklyn district attorney Charles J. Hynes said there did not appear to be anything tying the three victims to each other and that:

“There is nothing about the victims that would suggest anything other than they were just the victims of a random execution,”

Arrest / pre-trial confinement

Police commissioner Raymond W. Kelly described Perrone as a “serial killer” intent on finding more victims and said the arrest “saved lives.”

Ken Jones, identified as a lawyer who said he represented Perrone for the arraignment only, said after conversations with his client that Perrone did seem as though he could have some mental-health issues.

Perrone was arraigned early Thursday morning in Brooklyn Criminal Court and was ordered held without bail.

Police said after the rifle was found and during hours of questioning, Perrone “made statements implicating himself.”

Evidence and weapons

Police commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said detectives found what they called the murder weapon, a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle with a flashlight held to the barrel by duct tape and pink rubber bands, in a closet at the home of Perrone’s girlfriend in Brooklyn.

Kelly said ballistics tests matched the gun to shell casings found at each of the three murder scenes.

Kelly said the gun was found in a duffel bag along with a box of bullets and a kitchen knife with dried blood on it, and that he did not say whether the blood was from any of the victims’ bodies.

Police said they found the bag containing the .22-caliber rifle where ballistics tests matched to shells found where the shopkeepers were killed.

Investigators said they found the bag, referred to by prosecutors as Perrone’s “kill kit,” inside his girlfriend’s apartment.

Trial

Perrone’s triple murder trial took place in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Jury and trial start

Reporting described 12 jurors selected to serve on the triple murder trial.

Perrone was reported to have been barred from jury selection after outbursts where he was badmouthing his lawyer and the judge, and reporting described him sitting quietly in court as the trial started.

The trial was described as involving three counts of second-degree murder and related charges.

Witness evidence and testimony

Officer Robert Fresneda described the scene of one of the murders:

“I observed a male lying face up on the floor covered in clothing. The foor was open, the lights were on and the gates were up,”

Perrone’s trial testimony included statements denying the killings and claiming he was framed. Perrone said:

“I was set up,”

Perrone testified that he claimed he’d been framed by a man named Michael Bila, whom he said was an Iranian national. Perrone said:

“At least that’s what he told me his name is,”
“I know for sure that’s not his real name. That’s a fictitious name.”

Perrone testified that on Sunday, Nov. 18, Michael Bila came over to East 14th Street and gave him the duffel bag and that:

“On Sunday, Nov. 18, Michael Bila came over to East 14th Street and gave me the duffel bag, and as we all know there was a rifle in the duffel bag,”
“I just never opened it,”
“I didn’t shoot your father,”

Perrone conceded he’d been caught on camera near the murder scene of Isaac Kadare, toting a black duffel bag, and said:

“I did own that duffel bag,”
“Of course I owned that duffel bag … I own maybe four or five duffel bags.”

Perrone testified that on July 6, the day he allegedly killed his first victim, Mohamed Gebeli, he was at a dinner party and said:

“I dealt with him when I had leftovers in my inventory,”
“We’d talk and joke. We had a cordial relationship. I did see his son through the years grow up, and on occasion I even met his wife.”

Mental fitness / psychiatric examinations

A court hearing found Perrone mentally fit to stand trial. The judge, Alan Marrus, said about the examination findings:

“According to the doctors, that thought process reflects a grandiosity on his part that is more consistent with a personality disorder rather than a mental disease or defect,”

Marrus said the findings included that Perrone:

“He expresses no suicidal or homicidal thoughts and he was oriented to time, person and place,”
and the judge said: “He has no known history of any mental illness.”

Trial conduct and requests to represent himself

After Perrone was found fit for trial, he made a bid to represent himself at the trial. The judge denied his request, comparing the potential disruption to a “circus” and comparing behavior to mass killer Colin Ferguson.

Marrus said:

“What struck me were the parallels with their cases are: they were both found fit to proceed after psychiatric exams, both denied their guilt, both declined to work with their attorney, both offered names of mysterious men who could be responsible,”

The judge also said:

“Despite all the overwhelming evidence that convicted this defendant, videos, DNA, fingerprints, telephone records, the defendant is still in denial,”
and: “If I’m lying, hang me,”

Sentencing

Justice Alan D. Marrus sentenced Perrone to the maximum penalty allowed.

During sentencing, Marrus told Perrone:

“You’re lucky we don’t have the death penalty here in New York. You would be a prime candidate,”

Marrus said:

Victims and related statements

Victims

The shootings involved:

• Mohamed Gebeli, 65
• Isaac Kadare, 59
• Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78

Victim relatives’ comments and impact statements

Vahidipour’s daughter, Marjan Vahidipour, said:

“My father was a dedicated hardworking man, lived a life with dignity. ...God will punish you. You’re pathetic. You will rot and die alone, loser,”

Gebeli’s son, Mourad Gebeli, asked:

“I’ve known you for 20 years. ... I just want to ask him one question, your honor, why did you do this? Why?”

Mourad Gebeli also said:

“Every time you walked into my dad’s store it was near closing and my father would stay open and wait for you, we treated you with love and respect,”

After Marrus called for order, a relative shouted:

“You son of a bitch!”

During Perrone’s monologue, Perrone answered:

Other relatives shouted during the hearing:

“Shut up!”
“You’re a liar! You’re a piece of s--t,”

Additional witness statements

Isaac Kadare’s daughter, Clemence, testified that she saw Perrone on Aug. 2, 2012 and said:

“I saw him that day — August 2, 2012. He bought a can opener. I told him, ‘Thank you' and to have a nice day, and all he did was stare at me in the eyes,”

Clemence told the court:

“I was the cashier and didn't notice him, never saw or spoke to him before,”
“Around 9 p.m. someone called me, we ran back to the store. I asked the police officer if everything was okay. He said no and I begged for them to please help revive my father.”

Chris Kargas, 74, said:

“He asked me if I wanted to buy some threads from him. He had them in a plastic bag, they were used,”

Rahmatollah Vahidipour’s daughter, Rahmatollah Vahidipour, testified that:

“I used to go every Friday night to pick him up on the train. When he didn’t show up, I got worried,”
and she said: “It’s been three years, and my life is still upside down. . . . It was the biggest shock of my life. The phone fell out of my hand,”

Perrone’s ex-girlfriend, Natasha Charaova, testified that she and Perrone danced at Crystal Dance in Bensonhurst around 9:15 p.m. on Nov. 16, 2012, and she said:

“(He seemed) the same, I don't see any change,"
"He's a dancer, he's a talker ... he (was) dancing ... he was talking to people.”

She said:

“It's not mine, it belonged to him ... I never paid attention to what he carried,”

She described the relationship as:

“It was up and down, up and down,”
and she said: “He's upset, he's not upset ... He didn't have as much money. He couldn't buy a bottle of wine.”

Natasha Charaova identified Perrone and herself on surveillance tape taken in the club.

Attempted cover-up allegation

Crime Scene Unit Detective Carlos Pantoja testified that Perrone tried to cover up the murder of Kadare by pouring bleach around the body and placing an aluminum tray over the victim’s face.

Charges / convictions found

Perrone was convicted of three counts of second-degree murder.

At arraignment, he faced charges described as including three counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree murder. He was also described as facing weapons charges.

Other details

Perrone was described as 67 years old at sentencing and as being of Staten Island. He was described as a traveling clothing salesman and door-to-door salesman of women’s clothes.

Reporting described that Perrone was captured after being nicknamed John Doe Duffel Bag by police after a bag he was carrying appeared in surveillance photos.

Police said neighbors described Perrone’s behavior as odd and that he lived on Staten Island in a three-story, partially constructed house.

Neighbors described Perrone as wearing black clothing.

A public records description included that a formal notice of foreclosure was initiated on Perrone’s property, suggesting he had fallen behind on mortgage payments.

Reporting said Perrone had a history of drinking to excess before getting behind the wheel and that he had arrests on charges of drunken driving on Staten Island and in New Jersey, and arrests on charges of theft and harassment in Pennsylvania roughly a decade earlier. A Pennsylvania case was said to have been dropped by local prosecutors.

Reporting said Perrone registered a trademark for a line of clothes labeled “Salvatore Pirrone” in 2007 and that it was not clear whether any items were manufactured or sold with that label.

The series of shootings were said to have caused shopkeepers to stay alert for months.

Ken Thompson, the Brooklyn district attorney, said:

“I hope his life sentence will bring some comfort to the victims’ families who have suffered so much loss and grief.”

Ken Thompson also said in a statement:

“It’s hard to think of anyone who deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison more than this coldblooded and unrepentant serial killer,”

During sentencing, Perrone maintained his innocence. During sentencing hearing, reporting said Perrone maintained his innocence and also that he read from a typed script listing witnesses not called in his defense and names of possible suspects.

Perrone denied involvement and denied killing anyone during the proceedings.