← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Robbie
Thread ID: 7030 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2003-05-31
2003-05-31 14:16 | User Profile
Just another day in free America.
Pair Plead Guilty to Assault in Cafe
By William Murphy STAFF WRITER
May 30, 2003
A confrontation in a Queens restaurant that started out with reports of mob affiliations and charges of a hate crime ended yesterday with two defendants agreeing to take anger management and sensitivity training.
George Fortunato, 60, and his wife, Jacqueline, 58, of Mill Basin pleaded guilty to assault in the third degree before Justice Douglas Wong in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens.
Charges against their daughter, Annemarie Fortunato, 33, also of Mill Basin, had been previously dismissed, the Queens district attorney's office said.
The parents admitted in court that on Jan. 3 they struck Connie Coleman, 45, injuring her face, neck and back inside Caffe on the Green Restaurant in Bayside.
At the time, Coleman said the fight started after another diner repeatedly pushed his chair into her sister's chair. As it escalated, Coleman, who is Asian, said racial epithets were used.
Fortunato and his wife were charged with felony assault as a hate crime. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement at the time, "No hate crime will be tolerated in this county."
Unnamed law enforcement sources told Newsday at the time that George Fortunato and Joe Franco, manager of the restaurant, were members of the Gambino crime family. Franco denied the allegation.
Brown said in a statement yesterday that the defendants admitted to a crime and could face jail time unless they undergo the training. Copyright é 2003, Newsday, Inc.
[url=http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/queens/nyc-nymob303307095may30,0,7796559.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-queens]http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/queens...eadlines-queens[/url]
2003-05-31 23:57 | User Profile
Originally posted by Robbie@May 31 2003, 06:16 **
George Fortunato, 60, and his wife, Jacqueline, 58, of Mill Basin pleaded guilty to assault in the third degree before Justice Douglas Wong in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens.
... As it escalated, Coleman, who is Asian, said racial epithets were used.
Fortunato and his wife were charged with felony assault as a hate crime. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement at the time, "No hate crime will be tolerated in this county."
Unnamed law enforcement sources told Newsday at the time that George Fortunato and Joe Franco, manager of the restaurant, were members of the Gambino crime family. Franco denied the allegation.
Brown said in a statement yesterday that the defendants admitted to a crime and could face jail time unless they undergo the training. **
Why do I get the feeling that the plaintiff and/or her lawyer took one look at the judge (or his name beforehand) and felt that claims of racial slurs would be the best way to go? Now, it could have happened the way Coleman says it did, but even if it didn't, that doesn't seem to matter in today's tolerant America, where evil whites are put in their place, whether guilty or not. Of course, being of Italian extraction, the reporter can then claim that "unnamed" law enforcement sources say the defendants and the restaurant manager are part of the Gambino crime family. Even if they are, what does that have to do with this incident?