Is parole violator arrested in Cliffside Park the Ice Pick Mugger?

Look at these photos closely. Do you think the man arrested at his mother’s Cliffside Park home for violating parole really is the “Ice Pick Mugger” of New York City tabloid infamy? A tipster led NYPD detectives over the weekend to 39-year-old John Martinez, who is also wanted for questioning in a string of muggings in the city.

Photo Credit: *B.C. SHERIFF) and surveillance photo (NYPD*

Jerry DeMarco

12/08/2010 3:40 a.m.

Martinez (PHOTO COURTESY B.C. SHERIFF) and surveillance photo (NYPD)

The “Ice Pick Mugger” has threatened women with what once was exclusively a Mafia tool. His choice sites are Co-Op City in the Bronx and Stuyvesant Town – Peter Cooper Village on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, raising suspicions that he passes unnoticed because of an affiliation with either development.

Trouble is: He’s 6-4, 280. You tend to notice people that big.

Martinez spent eight years in prison for a Westchester County holdup in August 2001, records show. He was supposed to be home when he was in Bergen County — purportedly fixing his mom’s air conditioner.

As soon as New York authorities can get him into a lineup, they’ll know whether they’ve solved a string of crimes — or got the wrong guy.

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