Kenneth S. Feraru Criminal Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Some crime is shocking for what it says about a person, a time in history, or the culture in which we take part.

To those in the area who are not law enforcement or a Queens criminal defense law firm, crime can be lurid. Well-recognized cases of notorious criminals in Queens include these three stories:

• From July 1976 through August 1977, Brooklyn native David Berkowitz terrorized New York City. Targeting young couples, primarily in Queens, Berkowitz used a .44 Bulldog handgun to kill six people and wound seven others during his killing spree. Based on a tip, the NYPD tracked Berkowitz to his apartment and observed a rifle in the backseat. Police arrested Berkowitz, whose reported response was, “You got me, what took you so long?” In 1978, Berkowitz was sentenced to 365 years in prison. Berkowitz resides in Sullivan Correctional Facility, where he is involved in the prison ministry.
• In Little Neck Bay, on August 15, 1908, cuckolded husband and 36-year-old Army captain Peter Hains Jr., riddled his wife’s lover, William Annis, with eight bullets at a Bayside regatta as hundreds of upper-crust society couples looked on. Hains received eight years for manslaughter. Hains’ conviction, despite his plea of insanity, provided case law barring spousal revenge as a criminal defense. The hesitance of plentiful witnesses to stop the actual murder had implications for its age and presaged the murder of Kitty Genovese 56 years later.
• On March 13, 1964, 28-year-old Kitty Genovese, a resident of Hollis, Queens, returned from her job as a bar manager about 3:15 am. Overtaken as she approached her apartment complex by Winston Mosley, 29, she was stabbed deeply twice in the back. Genovese screamed for help, prompting a neighbor to yell at Mosely, scaring him away. Mosely subsequently returned, found Genovese outside the locked entrance to her building, stabbed her repeatedly, and raped her as she died. Mosely remains in prison. Genoese’s murder sparked research into bystander apathy, and the murder remains a textbook example for social psychologists today.

Experienced criminal defense attorney in Queens

With 15 years of successful, focused practice, criminal lawyer Kenneth S. Feraru, Esq. aggressively protects the rights of clients facing criminal or traffic charges in Queens and Long Island. When you need a criminal defense lawyer, call us in Mineola at (516) 535-3333 or contact us online to set up a free consultation.