Report: Investigators eye potential murder charges for up to 6 people in 2nd Avenue explosion

[Photo from March 26 by Peter Brownscombe]

Law enforcement sources told the Post that investigators are "looking at potential murder charges" in the deadly Second Avenue gas explosion on March 26.



As the Post reports, sources said there are "six prime suspects" in the blast at 121 Second Ave.: landlord Maria Hrynenko, her son Michael Jr., contractor Dilber Kukic as well as an unidentified subcontractor and two workers.

"Ultimately, it's going to be up to the DA’s office and, most likely, a grand jury, but we’re not ruling that out as we gather evidence," a source told the paper.

Per the Post:

In addition to murder — which carries a maximum 25 years to life in the slammer — other charges said to be under consideration include second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Officials have said that the blast that killed two men and brought down three buildings was the result of an illegally tapped gas line.

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Kecia (and Hazel)
Occupation: Nurse
Location: Tompkins Square Park
Time: 4:30 pm on Tuesday, March 17

I’m a nurse at Bellevue. I used to be in the ER, but I just changed to the baby unit. I’ve been a nurse for about 15 years and I’ve moved here around two or three years ago. I live in the Baruch Houses on Delancey Street, but I’m originally from Brooklyn.

My family lived in Brooklyn for a long time. My parents came from the islands. My dad settled in the Saratoga area of Brooklyn from Jamaica and then he sent for my mother and two siblings. I’m the youngest of seven.

I have family on Avenue A and some people on Avenue C, and then in the Baruch Houses, so I used to come here when I was younger. There’s been a very rapid change, for the better though. I always say for the better. Now I walk these streets with no problem, no fear and no trepidation.

When I used to come here to visit family as a child, it was drug infested. Not to say that the drugs are gone, because they’re not, but they’re not as prevalent. The buildings were dilapidated, garbage everywhere. It was not so much scary, but you had to know people in order for things to not happen to you. You can’t really talk much about the rats because they’re still here. They’re infinite. But it was still very family oriented. In the summertime we’d go over to the East River Park and have picnics. The family would pack picnics and we’d go over there and play basketball and soccer and different things like that.

The area itself — it’s so up and coming. I can [relate to] that because the same thing happened in Brooklyn. I really couldn’t afford Brooklyn prices anymore. I was in Crown Heights, which is a very popular neighborhood now. The gentrification has taken over to the point where people are being pushed out. I had a beautiful apartment, beautiful – high ceilings, fireplace and when I came around here I had to lose a lot of things. But at the same time I still enjoy it because it reminds me a lot of Brooklyn.

Family also brought me here and I took advantage of it when I got the opportunity to come over, because I felt comfortable in the area. I enjoy it. Everything is in proximity. I walk everywhere. I walk to work in the morning. I walk with my dog all the time. This is Hazel’s favorite dog park. She loves it here.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

New website offers East Village Relief for businesses and displaced residents

East Village Relief is a new website offering "support for those affected by the East Village disaster and those wishing to help."

There's a list of resources and contacts for residents and businesses.

The site's sponsors are Community Board 3, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, State Sen. Brad Hoylman, Assembly Member Deborah Glick, Councilmember Rosie Mendez and the Lower East Side Buisness Improvement District.

Find the site here.

Tuome expected to be back open in another 2 weeks

[Photo of Tuome from August 2014]

As we've been reporting, a small kitchen fire on March 29 temporarily put Tuome out of commission at 536 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Aside from a sign on the door last Thursday…there hasn't been any official notification about the closure from the well-regarded restaurant that opened last August.

Yesterday, though, a Tuome rep sent us this statement:

On behalf of the entire Tuome team, we are relieved to announce that we plan to reopen the restaurant within approximately two weeks following renovations to repair the damages from the kitchen fire we experienced on March 29.

We are very sorry to have disappointed our new and existing guests during this unexpected closure, and we are remarkably grateful to all who have been so supportive since we opened in August 2014. We look forward to reopening as soon as our renovation and cleanup have been completed. Thank you all for your concern and support — we're excited to reopen and to welcome you back to Tuome.

Katz's is now the last business on East Houston between Ludlow and Orchard

The one level row of storefronts on East Houston between Ludlow and Orchard are now business-free with the exception of Katz's.

Empanada Mama is the last to bow out...


[Photo via @fnytv]

They aren't going to far away as the sign notes — 95 Allen St., as first reported by BoweryBoogie.

So everyone else, including Ray's Pizza, Bereket and Lobster Joint, among others — have closed or moved to make way for Ben Shaoul's new development... Oh, there it is!



Shaoul's latest is a 10-story building with 83 residential units spread out over 95,000-square feet... plus 13,500 square feet of ground-floor retail.

Katz's, who sold their air rights to help make this happen, isn't going anywhere.

H/T EVG reader Chris F.

Remembering Moises Ismael Locón Yac

[Image via Facebook]

The New York Times has a report on the wake and funeral for Moises Ismael Locón Yac, one of two men killed in the gas explosion at 121 Second Ave. on March 26.

In Queens, where Mr. Locón lived in a rented room decorated with images of his adopted city, the Guatemalan Consulate had arranged a funeral at the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which has connections to Guatemalans in Jamaica, as well as the wake in Brooklyn. It had been up to Mr. Locón’s three brothers and his cousin, far from their family in Guatemala, to take care of everything else.

“He was just working,” Mr. Locón’s cousin, Pablo Yac, 23, said during the wake. “I’m crying for him.”

Mr. Locón’s brother Alfredo, 30, stood off to one side, trying to organize things. He was the oldest, the one who had tried to take care of his brothers in New York. Asked if he knew that people had been donating to a fund for the family, created by a woman in the East Village, Alfredo nodded. “We’re thankful for everything that people have done for us,” he said, his voice breaking.

Hugo Ortega was the only one of Locón's Sushi Park co-workers to attend the wake.

“I’m always going to miss him. I love him. He was my best friend,” he said, distraught. “He was a very good person. Everyone loved him very much.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
Remembering East Village blast victim Nicholas Figueroa

Cops say this guy has robbed 6 local businesses in the past week

The NYPD has released information about a suspect wanted in connection with robbing six East Village and Gramercy Park businesses.

According to police, the suspect has either displayed a knife or simulated a gun and demanded money.

Here are the six incidents from the past week...

• Around 3:25 a.m. Thursday at One’s Fruit and Grocery, 315 First Ave. The suspect took $400
• Around 10:20 p.m. Saturday, again at One’s Fruit and Grocery. The suspect took $950
• At 2:16 p.m. Sunday at I.Q. Décor, 242 E. 14th St. The suspect took $366
• Around 3 a.m. Monday at I Green Market, 271 First Ave. The suspect took $600
• Around 5:05 p.m. Monday at Lancelotti Housewares, 66 Avenue A. The suspect took $200
• Around 9:05 p.m. Monday at New Up and Up Laundry, 13 Avenue A. The suspect took $250
• Around 1:45 a.m. Tuesday at East Village Fruit and Vegetable, 229 Avenue B. The suspect got nothing.

The police have only offered this description: The suspect is a man in his 40s. DNAinfo has a video clip of the suspect.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online.

Please do not deface the Joe Strummer mural

Thank you

Previously

H/T The Long-Lost Intern of EV Grieve

EV Grieve Etc.: Tickets for Taste of 7th; new chair for SLA

[Tompkins Square Park photo yesterday by Allen Semanco]

Taste of 7th is this weekend (Luke's Lobster)

A crazy East Village neighbor: "He called my roommate a prude b____ for not succumbing to his middle-aged wiles, then by way of threat casually mentioned that he had a key to our apartment." (Thrillist)

Cuomo appoints new chair of the State Liquor Authority (BoweryBoogie)

This East Seventh Street townhouse for sale includes an open air shower and a trampoline (Curbed)

A Broadway and East 14th Street then and now (Off the Grid)

A look at K’ook, now serving Korean fare on East Sixth Street (Bedford & Bowery)

Bike! Bonanza at Sara D. Roosevelt Park Saturday (The Lo-Down)

Donut Pub on 14th Street celebrating a big anniversary (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Palm Steakhouse closes for first remodeling in almost 90 years (Eater)

The mad history of moving in NYC (BoingBoing)

Inside the demolished Roseland Ballroom (Gothamist)

...and tonight at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS), 155 Avenue C between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street:

• Christiania 1971-2015: The Story of Europe's Biggest and Most Long Lasting Squat (Details here)

... and tomorrow night from 6:30-8 at 20 Cooper Square (Bowery at East Fifth Street):

• The Colloquium For Unpopular Culture and Powerhouse Books Present: KILL CITY: LOWER EAST SIDE SQUATTERS 1992-2000
Facilitated by NYU professor Sukhdev Sandhu
Artist talk/slide show by Ash Thayer followed by conversation with Stephen Duncombe, FLY, and Peter Spagnuolo (Details here)

[Updated] 2nd Avenue subletters suing for $40 million over deadly explosion

[Photo from March 26 by George Jarema via Facebook]

Two women who were subletting an apartment at 129 Second Ave. are the first to file lawsuits related to the deadly explosion on March 26. They are each seeking $20 million, according to the Post today.

Lucie Bauermeister, 23, and Anna Ramotowska, 26, said they were in their third-floor sublet, changing for the gym, when the blast blew out the front of Sushi Park at 121 Second Ave. several buildings away.

When they went outside to see what had happened, glass was flying, and Ramotowska said she got “like, five or six scratches” on the back of her left hand when she used it to protect her face.

The roomies ran back to grab their valuables, including Ramotowska’s pet Pomeranian, Darnell, and a fur coat that had belonged to Baumeister’s grandma.

And!

Baumeister said she couldn’t sleep and lost her appetite after the blast and started seeing a $175-an-hour psychologist who recommended at least six to eight more weeks of counseling.

As the Post notes, despite the trauma, "neither looked worse for wear during a primped-up appearance on Fox 5’s 'Good Day New York.'"



The building they were staying in, No. 129, was reopened to residents on March 28. Bauermeister, who described herself as a "beach baby at heart," is planning to move to Savannah, Ga. Ramotowska is also heading to the South where her parents recently relocated.

Updated: Thanks to the reader in the comments for this... a copy of the complaint (PDF). Per the Post: "Defendants are Con Ed, 121 Second Ave. landlord Maria Hrynenko, contractor Dilber Kukic and Hyeonil Kim, owner of the destroyed Sushi Park eatery."

'Small Biz Crawl' this Saturday on 2nd Avenue

From the EVG inbox...

#SaveNYC is a grassroots, crowd-sourced, D.I.Y. movement to protect and preserve the diversity and uniqueness of the urban fabric in New York City. As our vibrant streetscapes and neighborhoods are turned into bland, suburban-style shopping malls, filled with chain stores and glossy luxury retail, #SaveNYC is fighting for small businesses and cultural institutions to remain in place.

After a disaster like the deadly Second Avenue explosion and fire, impacted small businesses struggle to survive. #SaveNYC is holding a Small Biz Crawl along Second Avenue to bring customers, cash and attention to those mom-and-pops in need. This weekend, we’ll do the western side of Second Avenue; next time, the eastern side.

Meet #SaveNYC on Saturday, April 11, at noon. We’re starting at Gem Spa on the northwest corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark’s Place. Buy your magazines, newspapers and egg creams at this first stop. From there, we’ll head down toward 7th Street. Do some gift shopping at Himalayan Visions. Then it’s lunch at the B&H Dairy or Paul’s Da Burger Joint. Your choice. After lunch, we’ll weave our way across the barricades of 7th Street to stock up on groceries at the New Yorkers Foodmarket. Please bring your #SaveNYC sign to let everyone know who we are and why we’re there. Click here to print out signs — and to find out more about #SaveNYC.

In a tweet to us yesterday, Paul's said that their business was down 75 percent since the explosion.

Other food choices on the west side of Second Avenue are Taqueria Diana and Ramen Misoya.

As for B&H, they are hopeful to be back open tomorrow.

Here is a new building on East 14th Street

[Photo from August 2013]

After nearly a two-year gut renovation and one-floor extension … workers have removed the scaffolding and construction netting from 212 E. 14th St. near Third Avenue.

And here you go…



Looks inoffensively generic enough…

The retail space has been on the market. The storefront was most recently the Super Saving Store, which closed in June 2011.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Residential, retail and an additional floor for 212 E. 14th St.

Work continues at interesting new business coming to East 14th Street

[Reader photo from January]

Work is finally underway at 440 E. 14th St., where a Domino's Pizza is coming soonish. Workers have stripped away the ample 99-cent signage from the former tenant — the 99-Cent Discount Center.



Meanwhile, next door, the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office Branch awaits demolition to make way for an 8-story retail-residential building ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Interesting new business opening on East 14th Street

Mi Garba is now open on 4th Avenue

The first U.S. outpost of Mi Garba ("I like it" in Italian) opened back on Thursday at 129 Fourth Ave. just south of East 13th Street.

As the Post reported in January:

The flagship 1,000 square-foot space ... will include a restaurant with 10 tables. There will also be Tuscan food and wine for sale along with a boutique offering fashion items, including custom-made shirts and jackets.

That description made the place sound like something out of an airport gift shop… the actual finished product looks nicer...







The place wasn't open for business yet for the day when we stopped by. You can check out the Mi Garba website here for a list of their food products.

This storefront has been (mostly) empty since Dryden Gallery moved out two and a half years ago.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tuscan food specialist opening 1st U.S. outpost on 4th Avenue for some reason

Remembering East Village blast victim Nicholas Figueroa

[Image via Facebook]

Friends and loved ones filled the R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home in Washington Heights this afternoon to pay their respects to Nicholas Figueroa, 23, one of the two victims in the Second Avenue gas explosion on March 26

From the Post:

Nicholas Figueroa was the kind of man fathers would want to marry their daughters, his Scoutmaster said at his wake...

“He was very young, so motivated,” Luis Benitez said as services got under way. “He was a pillar of the community.”

From the Daily News:

"It's devastating," Neal Figueroa said. "There are no words adequate to describe my brother. This room speaks for itself. Look at all these people who have come to honor my brother."

From DNAinfo:

"He had all the love for everybody," his father, Nixon Figueroa said. "Everywhere he goes he gave a good smile, he brought life into people. He was a caring kid."

The funeral for Figueroa is tomorrow at the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, 207 W. 96th St., at 10 a.m.

Services for the second victim, Moises Ismael Locón Yac, 27, will reportedly be in his native Guatemala.

The East Village residents who launched a crowdfunding campaign to help with Locón's funeral expenses have been unable to track down any of his family members. If his family can't be found, then the money will be returned to the individual donors. The campaign has raised $6,361 in eight days.

Meanwhile, the NYPD is "poised to launch a homicide investigation" into the deadly blast, according to published reports.

Report: 2nd Avenue blast 'is likely going to end up a homicide case'

[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.

Jupiter and moons tonight

Local astronomy buff Felton Davis passed along the following...

If it's clear I will set up on the corner of East 3rd Street and 2nd Avenue at 8 pm to show Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, presently high in the constellation Cancer.

Jupiter was in Leo last fall, has been shifting retrograde (clockwise) toward Cancer all winter, and in a few weeks will turn and move back (counter-clockwise) toward Leo. This is due to the relative positions of Earth as an inner planet versus Jupiter as an outer planet.

One of Jupiter's largest moons, Europa, will disappear behind the planet at 8:30 pm, and re-emerge from the other side, at around 11:30. Although Ganymede and Callisto are both larger than our moon, Europa and Io are a little smaller.

Shakespeare in the Parking Lot has a new parking lot on the Lower East Side

[Photo from 2012 by Lee Wexler/Images for Innovation]

Via the EVG inbox this morning...

The Drilling Company's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot has found a new home in the Parking Lot behind The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center, 114 Norfolk St. located between Delancey and Rivington Streets, just three blocks from the parking lot where the cultural attraction started in 1995.

In 2014, after losing its space in the Municipal Parking lot at Ludlow and Broome Streets, the company engaged in a nine-month search for a new location to continue the 20-year tradition, presenting free Shakespeare for a generation on the Lower East Side. The annual two-play festival will now have a new home for its 21st season and into the future.

This year's productions will be "As You Like It," directed by Hamilton Clancy, July 9 to 26 and "Macbeth," director TBA, July 30 to August 15.

Shakespeare in the Parking Lot became a treasured urban tradition in two decades of productions in the neighborhood known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, which is now giving way to Essex Crossing, a giant mixed-used development.

Report: Plumber claims landlord's son ordered him to illegally tap gas line at 121 2nd Ave.

[Photo from March 26 by George Jarema via Facebook]

In an exclusive today, the Post reports that an unnamed plumber "has admitted to illegally tapping into a gas line" at 121 Second Ave. at the orders of the landlord's son, Michael Hrynenko Jr.

Per the Post:

The unidentified tradesman confessed to rigging a gas-supply system for apartments at 121 Second Ave. but blamed it on his boss to “deflect” any fault from himself, law-enforcement sources said.

Authorities haven’t decided whether to cut a deal with the worker in exchange for his testimony or use his statement against him, one source said.

Sources told the Post that anyone suspected of causing the devastation, which killed two men and injured more than 20 people, "could face charges including second-degree manslaughter and reckless endangerment."

As previously reported, authorities believe that an improperly and possibly illegally installed gas line at 121 Second Ave. led to the destruction three buildings on March 26.

In other developments, the Post reports that landlord Maria Hrynenko has hired a new attorney, replacing Thomas Curtis who had previously spoke out on her behalf with mixed results.

"It wasn't working out between us," Curtis told the Post. "The whole thing is very strange. I think she's made a mistake."

A little more about East Village Organic, opening this spring on 1st Avenue

Last month we mentioned that a market called East Village Organic was opening at 124 First Ave. between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place ... at the time, there wasn't much available information, except for a Twitter account.

Now we have a few more details about the store... the owner is Ali, who has run Golden Food Market on the northeast corner of First Avenue and Seventh Street the past 35 years ... and Kim Turim, a herbalist who has operated Penny's Herb Company on East Seventh Street since the late 1970s. (You may also recognize Kim from when he worked the day shift at Ray's Candy Store.)


[Ali and Kim, photo via East Village Organic]

Among other items, East Village Organic will feature:

• Organic Grown Produce
• Full Juice Bar and Cold Press Juice
• Bulk Grain Seed Nuts
• Full Macrobiotic Section
• Roots, Barks, Flowers (Herbalist on Premises)
• Full Assortment of Pure Essential Oils
• Seaweeds
• Full Dairy Section
• Nut and Seed Butters
• Wholegrain Baked Goods
• Dried Fruits

They plan to open later this spring...

The was previously home to Kim's Video and Music until last Aug. 25.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Organic food store taking over the former Kim's Video and Music space on 1st Avenue