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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

Survivors of sex trafficking joined U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) for a rally on the steps of City Hall Monday celebrating the FBI’s seizure and shutdown of Backpage.com and other websites that allegedly help those engaged in human trafficking.

Maloney was a lead co-sponsor of the bipartisan Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act that passed in the House and Senate and while it awaits President Trump to formally sign it into law, websites known to advertise sex with trafficking victims are already shutting down.

“Today, we celebrate another huge step in the fight against modern-day slavery,” Maloney said. “Congress overwhelmingly passed this transformational bill to combat online sex trafficking and clarify a 1996 law that inadvertently protected these online sellers of sex. Survivors and their families who tried to bring civil actions against these sites were getting shut out of court, and prosecutors who were trying to crack down on these websites had their hands tied. But no more! The way Backpage.com — and websites like it — do business is simply wrong, and the law should leave no room for confusion about that. These websites are not merely platforms; they are active participants in the sale of people for commercial sex. Their time is up.”

In response to the popularity of Craigslist, the online advertising site, Backpage’s predecessor opened a free classified website called Backpage Village Voice in 2004. It included a controversial adult section. In January 2017, Backpage suspended the adult section amid accusations of fostering prostitution and human trafficking.

Corona resident Shandra Woworuntu survived a harrowing ordeal at the hands of human traffickers after traveling to the United States from Indonesia in 2001 expecting a six-month seasonal waitressing job. Instead she was duped by a gang of sex traffickers and forced to work in brothels along the I-95 corridor for more than five months.

“Regardless of gender, religion, age, education, or nationality, we all deserve humanity, dignity and freedom,” Woworuntu said. “None of us should be advertised in the media internet as merchandise to be bought and sold. The best solution is through legislation which will stop these activities and to protect victims of exploitation and trafficking. Those victims deserve justice. It is important to increase prosecutions to the traffickers, their associates and the buyers.”

After she escaped the gang, Woworuntu founded the Astoria-based Mentari USA, a non-profit which has helped hundreds of victims reintegrate into society by offering them resources, education and mentoring. Human trafficking continues to be the fastest growing and the third-largest criminal activity in the world.

“This Department of Justice enforcement action, long due, represents a new era of justice for victims of online sex trafficking,” civil rights attorney Carol Robles-Roman said. “As a lawyer who has represented persons victimized by Backpage, I look forward to a thorough federal investigation of this alleged criminal activity, and that survivors finally have their much deserved day in court.”

Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

Lorenzo Arline was sentenced to 150 years in prison Tuesday for the decade-long sexual assault of his two stepdaughters that resulted in the births of eight children.

A month earlier, Arline was found guilty of seven counts of first- and second-degree rape in a 30-minute deliberation by a jury in Queens Supreme Court.

“Today’s sentencing concludes an unbelievable case of sexual abuse at the hands of someone who should have been caring for and protecting these young girls,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Trial testimony said Arline started to abuse his stepdaughters in 2005 by first forcing the young girls, who were 11 and 14 at the time, to sleep naked in bed with him.

In a deposition, Police Officer Rocco Biondo of the Special Victims Squad said the elder of the two girls confessed to him that the abuse escalated after she had a verbal confrontation with her stepfather, who was 31 at the time.

The officer said Arline struck his older stepdaughter daughter in the face several times, threatened her with a violent physical act and then sexually assaulted her.

On another occasion the elder sister left her home in Arverne, Far Rockaway, to socialize with friends without permission and was ordered to meet him on his way home, at which point he brutally dragged her by her feet, scraped her face against cement pavement and violently raped her once he brought her back home, according to trial testimony.

Over the course of 10 years the victim bore five of his children, Brown said.

Trial testimony showed that Arline threatened the younger sister with physical harm when she was 12 and after years of being raped by her stepfather she bore three children.

“This defendant used threats and actual assault to continually rape and control his stepdaughters,” said Brown. “As a result of this defendant’s vile actions, he rightfully will spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

Police were notified of the years of physical and sexual abuse when the elder sister was 24 years old and reported it to an official at one of her children’s school after Arline struck her in the face again and broke a tooth.

In October 2015 the NYPD arrested Arline and charged him with two counts of rape.

“Hopefully, the victims in this case can find some solace in knowing their abuser will never hurt another child again,” said Brown.

Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4573.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Gina Martinez

TimesLedger Newspapers

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) joined concerned College Point residents who are unhappy with a proposed hotel Tuesday afternoon.

Avella and community members denounced the plans to construct a six-story hotel at 14-61 127th St., the former site of a single-story building. The rally comes weeks after Avella wrote three letters to the city Department of Buildings expressing concerns that the hotel, located in an M1-1 zoning district, would be totally inappropriate. In his letters he pointed out that the traffic situation in College Point is already bad due to the narrow streets and there is already over-development in the area.

He said he has yet to receive a sufficient response from DOB, but the agency did agree that turning a one-story building into a six-story hotel should not be considered an “alteration” as the developer originally claimed.

Residents at the rally said the hotel would be totally out of character with the surrounding neighborhood. Avella and community leaders have held multiple meetings with the owner of the property in hopes of coming to an agreement on a better use of the land without success. Avella said at one point the developer agreed to an alternative use for the location but quickly changed his mind and went back to his plans for a hotel at the site.

“How much more can College Point take?” Avella asked. “College Point used to be a quiet community where people lived for generations with industry and manufacturing mixed in. It was a little piece of suburbia in an urban setting. Now due to over-development that has completely changed. Enough is enough, College Point should not be forced to take on any more development. I am calling on the Department of Buildings and the mayor to stop this project.”

Avella said he would meet with the developers at LY128 Realty again to discuss alternative plans but that he is skeptical after he reneged on their original agreement.

Residents pointed out that there is already a hotel within a couple of blocks that they have heard is underperforming. They said those reports raise concerns over the validity of the developer’s claim that a hotel is needed in the area.

“If that hotel isn’t doing well, why would one be successful on a narrow street in an industrial area with a lot of truck traffic?” Avella asked.

Kathryn Cervino, vice president of the College Point Civic and Taxpayer Association, said she is afraid that if another unnecessary hotel is added to the neighborhood, there is potential for it to be converted into a homeless shelter.

“This is happening on a rampant basis and we don’t want to see it here,” she said. “The infrastructure of this community was not built to handle this many people or this type of use. There is already massive construction projects happening where the city is ripping up the streets to put in new sewer and storm water pipes just to handle the load of the current baseline population. This construction will quickly be inadequate.”

Cervino said another hotel in the area would increase traffic, stress infrastructure and strain all city services.

Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmartinez@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Mark Hallum

TimesLedger Newspapers

The reorganization continues at NYPD’s 111th Precinct, based in Bayside, as it welcomes a new Community Affairs officer many in the neighborhood may already know.

Officer Chas Briant has been with the 111th for about four years as a patrolman but is making the transition into Community Affairs as Officer Luigi Galano has recently been assigned to Crime Analysis at the precinct.

Briant, a naturalized U.S. citizen, started his career in law enforcement with the Metropolitan Police in London and moved to New York eight years ago to be with his wife, who is also in the NYPD.

“I’ve only been in Community Affairs for a short period of time. This is my third week, but it was always something that I wanted to do,” Briant said. “I guess wanting to become a police officer, you do it because you want to help people and make a difference to the community and I think Community Affairs is focused so much on the community aspect of things. It’s enjoyable.”

As the 111th Precinct kicks up its Neighborhood Policing Program, in which Neighborhood Coordination Officers will oversee sectors within the precinct, two subordinate Community Affairs officers will work side-by-side with NCOs.

“We’re going to be working hand-in-hand with the [NCOs],” Briant said. “We as Community Affairs know all the community leaders, the civic associations and we’re going to be a great contact for the NCOs because we already have the relationships established, which is why I think it’s going to work great with us being in the same office.”

Residents will be able to text these officers about neighborhood problems since the 111th Precinct and others like it cover a large swath of the city.

Officer Melissa Bonilla is leading the Neighborhood Policing Program in the 111th, with her partner and four other officers overseeing four sectors within the precinct.

“I think that part of resolving crimes within commands involves collaborating with the community,” Bonilla “Police can handle so much, but maybe the community members know something that we don’t know, maybe we can encourage them to add on surveillance cameras, encourage them to make certain efforts in order to reduce crime or to help find the perpetrators we’re looking for. Maybe they know that person. It’s important for us to improve our relationship with them.”

Capt. John Hall, who became the commanding officer at the 111th in March, had spent time developing the Neighborhood Policing Program at 1 Police Plaza. He said there are many advantages to the new approach to law enforcement in the city.

“One of the advantages is we can break up that area and have officers assigned to each part,” Hall said. “Also, the patrol officers who typically run radio call after radio call, they’re going to have time off patrol to actually interact with the public and deal with the problems that come up … [Patrol officers] are going to be more community facing than they have been previously.”

Crime is down 20 percent this year over 2017 levels in the 111th, according to NYPD crime stats.

Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

Freshman U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Little Neck) will be facing one more general election challenger after Syosset resident Joshua Sauberman changed his party designation from Democrat to Independent.

Sauberman said he made the move so he can stand with the working and middle classes by taking action on low wages as well as affordable health care and higher education, while also attempting to shed the “constraints of restrictive party mandates” and bring effective change in a divided Washington, D.C., according to his campaign.

But Sauberman’s effort to seize the congressional seat from Suozzi is still what his team refers to as a progressive, grassroots campaign.

Sauberman, 35, says he has worked as a policy analyst for the United Nations’ Security Council, followed by a stint in the insurance business. He has also been a documentary filmmaker. He hopes to address the issues of airplane noise over his district and public education.

Born in Oakland Gardens, Sauberman has lived in Syosset since 1991. Since there is already a massive amount of airplane traffic in and out of LaGuardia Airport and with Port Authority expansions to the airline hub, he warned more frequent noise disruptions can be expected over homes in Whitestone, Flushing and other parts of Queens.

Sauberman explained how he planned to transform the airline industry by using congressional influence to bring Hyperloop One — developed by billionaire space pioneer Richard Branson — to the region in an interview with TimesLedger in February.

“As part of a major infrastructure plan, I’m looking to get a lot of those regional jets that come into that airport out of the sky by bringing Hyperloop One into the area, so that we’re not only moving people in faster from Long Island and Queens into Manhattan,” Sauberman said. “Right now, they’re looking [at] building the first Hyperloop between Los Angeles and San Francisco. I would like to us do the same here in New York and throughout the Northeast.”

Hyperloop One, like something out of a science fiction film, is a pneumatic tube-like design to move passengers and freight at extreme speeds across the country.

Suozzi is a member of the Quiet Skies Caucus, but Sauberman has little confidence in their ability to bring meaningful change.

Sauberman plans to use his position if elected to Congress to bring money to schools in his district to fund programs that educate students in technology and science fields.

“We need more funding for the schools so that we have students who are better equipped to compete on the global economy,” Sauberman said. “We have transitioned from a president who created millions of jobs to a president who’s about to lose millions of jobs. A lot of these jobs have been created and gone unfulfilled because of a skills gap. We aren’t producing as many students skilled in STEM, and that ultimately comes down to the federal government not investing in public schools.”

Suozzi, who served as Nassau County executive until his defeat by current County Executive Edward Mangano in 2009, has been listed as a target for Republican challenge.

The National Republican Congressional Committee included Suozzi’s district on a list of 36 other seats the GOP plans to capture.

Syosset banker and former Navy SEAL Dan DeBono is in the running on the GOP ticket.

“The success of our government depends on Republicans maintaining a strong majority in the House. We owe the American people assurance that the agenda we were elected on — health-care reform, a stronger national defense, and more good-paying jobs — is fulfilled,” Chairman Steve Stivers said in a February release.

In 2016, Suozzi beat former Long Island state Sen. Jack Martins in the general election, in addition to several other primary opponents for the seat vacated by Steve Israel.

Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Tammy Scileppi

TimesLedger Newspapers

As the 1980’s rapper MC Shan once put it, the Bridge is where “stars are born.”

Queensbridge, hip-hop’s most storied housing project, hasn’t produced a new generation of famous rappers in almost two decades. But back in the early 80s, when spunky young teen Lolita Shanté Gooden — who called herself Roxanne Shanté (pronounced ‘shan-tay’) — was coming into her own and finding herself as a rising hip-hop star, the Bridge was revered as the heartbeat of the rap universe.

From this tough insular community in Long Island City emerged more hip-hop talent throughout the 1980s and 1990s than anywhere else in the United States. Queensbridge provided the inspiration for the iconic sounds of legendary rappers like Nas, hip-hop duo Mobb Deep, DJ/record producer Marley Marl, and many more. When Shanté arrived on the scene as the most feared battle MC in Queens, her male rivals took notice.

Unable to resist the pounding street vibe reverberating across the Bridge, at age 14 the fierce, ponytailed rapper battled her way to fame, while hustling to provide for her family — she was the oldest of four sisters — and trying to defend herself on those mean streets from a variety of predators.

Before the #MeToo era, many young women who faced sexism and oppression suffered in silence and kept their grievances to themselves. But Shanté managed to find her voice through rapping. She took Queensbridge’s hyper-masculine hip-hop scene by storm and, before long, her battle cry would be heard across its 96 buildings. People knew she could rap circles around anybody.

Back in the day, rapping was like social media, and it was how many teens connected with their peers. Through hip-hop, they’d express raw anger, frustration and hopelessness, with thumping, confrontational beats that mirrored life in the projects.

Shanté, now 48 and living in New Jersey, has recently taken on a new role as executive producer for a moving, hard-hitting biopic about her humble beginnings at Queensbridge, where she was raised by a strong, single mother. “Roxanne Roxanne” premiered in theaters and on Netflix March 23.

The former rapper shared bits and pieces from her past during a phone interview with TimesLedger Newspapers to talk about the movie. “Roxanne Roxanne” stars newcomer Chanté Adams, who Shanté said “did a wonderful job” and may have been destined to play young Roxanne because of her name. Oscar and Golden Globe winner Mahershala Ali played her older love interest, Cross. Nia Long, who plays her mother, became a close friend of the real life Shanté.

The film’s Queens premiere was “incredible,” according to Shanté, who said they wanted to make it available to people who wouldn’t have access to the movie. Among the attendees were women from domestic violence and homeless shelters.

“That’s exactly what I stand for, what I represent. And the movie we felt, was something they needed to see,” Shanté said. “It took place in a wonderful location, a church which had been turned into the Jamaica Arts Center.”

Shanté said she was on set every day during filming to make sure the movie, which took 28 days to shoot at Queensbridge, “had the organic feel that was needed and that the story was told properly.”

“I had a wonderful relationship with the old neighborhood, so we were able to film there without any issues, and I still have friends in the area,” Shanté said.

Though her mom has been living in the south, Shanté said they return to Queens quite often.

Her story, as told by writer-director Michael Larnell, seems to capture that old school hip-hop era which helped ignite her rocky journey to fame as the first commercially successful female rapper.

“I was a battle rapper in the streets, and able to actually make a living doing that before becoming professional,” Shanté said. “I had the title of being the best in the city in 1983. Usually, people from other housing projects would come. I did freestyle, so literally, I just rapped about whatever was around me.”

In 1984, Shanté started making her famous record, “Roxanne, Roxanne.” She continued rapping until she was 22.

Shanté said that growing up in the projects was like growing up in any neighborhood.

“It was family oriented. I had a wonderful home life with my mother, and when you watch the movie, you’ll see that we went through trials and tribulations, our ups and downs, as any family does,” she said. “But we were able to overcome it.”

The young rapper’s big break came when a neighbor who lived on her block saw her doing laundry and called down to her. He happened to be DJ Marley Marl. So, she laid down a seven-minute freestyle and went right back to doing laundry. He then put the music together and came up with the idea for that record.

Shanté would eventually take on her battling male rivals when she recorded “Roxanne’s Revenge” at age 14, a defiant answer record to hip-hop group U.T.F.O.’s LP.

The original U.T.F.O. track — which dissed a girl named Roxanne for being cold and hard to get — ignited the so-called “Roxanne Wars,” a well-known series of hip-hop rivalries during the mid-1980s. Her epic answer record blew everyone away, selling 250,000 copies just in New York, it set off a musical tsunami.

Sadly, the hip-hop sensation had no choice but to walk away at the height of her career.

In an interview with Essence.com, she recalled that it was easy to leave because she wasn’t getting compensated. Apparently, her naivety as a young teen and a lack of support from adults in the know, left her vulnerable and powerless.

“The film is just the beginning of so many things to come,” like a possible series, according to Shanté, who said the message she wants viewers to take away from the film is to “never give up on yourself, and you can survive anything.”

“Everyone should follow their dreams,” Shanté said. “You can be a little girl in the projects and still be successful in life.”

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Source: Times Ledger