[Outside Gem Spa on 2nd Avenue]
The NYPD is "poised to launch a homicide investigation" into the deadly blast at 121 Second Ave., the Daily News reports this afternoon.
This is likely going to end up a homicide case,” a high-ranking police source told the Daily News. “The DA will probably bring it to the grand jury.”
The focus of the criminal investigation is building owner Maria Hrynenko and contractor Dilber Kukic, sources have said.
Both are suspected of tapping into a gas main meant to serve only a first-floor sushi restaurant to provide heat to Hrynenko’s tenants on upper floors. Kukic is no stranger to the law. He was arrested in October for allegedly trying to give a city inspector a $600 cash bribe to make two violations on buildings he owns on W. 173rd St. in Manhattan go away.
“No one's going to be charged for doing sloppy work, but if it can be proved that someone was told to do this, then it's a criminally negligent homicide,” the source said.
Nicholas Figueroa, 23, and Moises Ismael Locón Yac, 27, died in the blast at Sushi Park restaurant on March 26. More than 20 other people were injured as three buildings at 119-123 Second Ave. were destroyed.
22 comments:
"No one's going to be charged for doing sloppy work..." – why not? along with anybody who gave illegal instruction. Two wrongs don't make a right; in this case it looks like it was sloppy work that revealed an illegal operation.
Something tells me they won't be sharing their mughots on Facebook unless the cops let them take selfies.
why have building codes, permits and inspections?
why submit plans?
why have licenses?
to prevent sloppy unsafe work! DUH!
the board of health can shut you down for a sink that is 2 feet away from a table but sloppy (illegal) gas work? that's no crime.
What will happen now in NYC? The safety and very lives of tenants are at the mercy of unchecked, scumbag landlords.
Is someone failing at oversight of these shady practices? Is it the city? Something has to drastically change... but what is that exactly??
A Con Ed worker on E. 6th St. told me that there is a building in Manhattan north of 100th St. that the owner will not let them go into. Apparently he's doing something similar with the gas that was done at 121 2nd Ave.
The lack of coordination between the DOB and Con Ed is horrible, but understandable to anyone who is a libertarian and actually understands the nature of government corruption, to be redundant.
Bill
The East Village is full of shady corrupt people all looking for the $$$$$
The Greed of passing off gas expense to a unsuspecting commercial tenant who is paying your rent.No decency here just greed down the line no mercy hard time jail sentences are in order the woman was a pig...
I started to write out a comment here but got so angry I had to stop.
That about sums it up anyway.
@8:26pm: I think this report of a building owner not allowing Con Ed to enter *ought* to be grounds to escalate the issue to some kind of immediate and VERY visible/public emergency action, whether by FDNY or DOB or by multiple agencies.
Owners CANNOT be allowed to just say "go away, it's my private property" - because people's lives are at stake.
On April 6, 2015 at 9:03 PM, Anonymous said:
No decency here just greed down the line no mercy hard time jail sentences are in order the woman was a pig...
Just one correction here…pigs are awesome, intelligent animals, which Maria Hrynenko clearly is not.
if con Ed not permitted in building then lives at risk. Sounds like time for police warrants. Come on. How many must die for this reprehensible behavior.
Bill,
It seems to me that private property owner has the right to tell government officials to stay out of their property. If the tenants do not like it they can vote with their money and leave and the market will force the private property owner to make the necessary changes, or go bankrupt. Why do you support intrusive government interference on property rights?
I wish I could afford to vote with my money and leave, but I can't. I live in fear that something bad will happen to my building given all of the problems it has and shoddy work being done.
Bullshit -- safety of the general population comes before private property owner rights. Case in point: Hrynenko's brilliance got 2 people killed and 3 buildings burned down.
Libertarians, you can go stick your private property rights up your ass. Go live in the desert in a hut, here in the city what your neighbors do affects everyone.
Re: Anonymous @ 8:01
You're right - the owner of the property does have the right to bar Con Ed from entering his property but (as we now know all too well) since the actions of one owner can impact buildings on either side, it's only reasonable that Con Ed turn off the gas and electricity to the property (from the street-side connection) until they are satisfied that the property is safe. And the tenants should withhold their rent until the property is habitable.
I read online that the Hrynenkos were the family behind the Kiev. Is that true?
Anon 12:42 - yes, it is.
@evgrieve - why isn't the fact that the Hrynenkos were the owners of Kiev more
widely reported on this site? This tragedy is relevant to the East Village on multiple levels.
Been here about 16 years and my building is a slum pit that hasn't seen any love, i.e. repairs, in decades. Faulty electric and old wiring and it can go up at any minute. I THINK WERE JUST SCRATCHING THE SURFACE HERE, in terms of faulty repairs, faulty or illegal renovations, conversions, and it's all FOR MONEY. Long term property owners are not held to any minimum standard. The DOB is a joke. Everyone is getting paid off to look the other way and only rich people can do anything when they get burned, ripped off, etc. AND THE RENT JUST KEEPS GOING UP while no repairs (or only faulty ones) are made. Nobody is asking what the rents were in the building that blew up...what could the property owner make by doing such things illegally? Less than $2K month? WAS IT WORTH IT MARIA? NOW YOU'RE A MURDERER who will likely—if anyone in the hood had it to decide—lose everything, but I bet it's all protected under assorted LLCs.
EVERYONE IN THE EV WHO CARES ABOUT THEIR SAFETY SHOULD GET TOGETHER AND MARCH IN THE STREETS DEMANDING JUSTICE AND SAFETY AND INSPECTIONS OF EVERY BUILDING. WE SHOULD PUSH FOR NOTHING LESS. THIS IS OUR TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FIRE, PEOPLE. TWO YOUNG LIVES WERE LOST, PETS ARE ALSO DEAD. PEOPLE WERE INJURED, PHYSICALLY, EMOTIONALLY. OTHERS HAVE BEEN BOTH HURT AND DISPLACED. SOME HAVE LOST LONG-TERM RENT STABILIZED APARTMENTS AND ALL OF THEIR BELONGINGS. WE SHOULD ALL BE OUTRAGED FOR OUR NEIGHBORS LOSSES, BUT NOT THOSE TWO WHINY TWITS WHO WILL LIKELY END UP WITH THOUSANDS TO PAY FOR THEIR NEOSPORIN; SOMETIMES I HATE THIS TOWN.
Greed is NOT good. They MUST pay. Yeah, yeah, yeah...siphoning gas, sloppy work. How about greed resulting in the deaths of two young people. I have lived in the neighborhood for 21 years and have HAD IT with these asshole slumlords. Hope she lies girl on girl. Greedy bitch.
Hey Grieve, as always you are doing a great job with the coveage of the EV Explosion. Maybe someone can contribute a brief history of the Kiev (where San Marzano is located now) and it's connection to this terrible tragedy. In the meantime here is the Wikipedia entry on the Kiev and how the owners buildings that burned down are connected to this historic location where the Egg Cream was born:
The Kiev Restaurant (also known as the Kiev Diner or simply the Kiev) was a Ukrainian restaurant located in the East Village section of New York City.
Founded in the 1970s by Michael Hrynenko (1954-2004), the site was the former location of Louis Auster's Candy Shop, who was one of the original creators of the Egg Cream.
Kiev for most of its existence was open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It was located at 117 Second Avenue, on the southwest corner of the intersection of Second Avenue and Seventh Street. At one time, the area was known as the "Pierogi Belt" because of the large number of Ukrainian restaurants; by 2007, only a few remained, like Veselka. The restaurant was popular for Ukrainian's who attended St. George's Church down the street, who would go out for brunch after service at Kiev. In its original form, Kiev was closed in 2000 by it's owner.
The cuisine was largely Eastern European, including pierogi, challah, matzah brei, kasha varnishkis (Kasha over bow-tie pasta), blintzes, fruit compote and so on, though typically American items such as french fries were also available.
The restaurant was a local cultural institution, famed not only for its cuisine and perpetual availability but also for the eclectic and colorful variety of patrons. It is mentioned in the song "Detachable Penis" by the band King Missile. Poets Allen Ginsberg and Ted Berrigan included the Kiev in poems. The restaurant had many other notable regulars during its tenure.
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