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Trio Charged With Helping Bergen Instagram Celeb Kidnap, Terrorize Man Who Trashed Him Online Trio Charged With Helping Bergen Instagram Celeb Kidnap, Terrorize Man Who Trashed Him Online
Trio Charged With Helping Bergen Instagram Celeb Kidnap, Terrorize Man Who Trashed Him Online Authorities on Friday captured a third accused accomplice of an Instagram influencer who they said kidnapped a man in Bergen County, stripped him naked and held a machete to his neck while threatening to kill him if he didn’t remove negative social media posts. Alaziz Dalmida, 21, was the last piece of a puzzle involving “Jay Mazini” – real name Jebara J. Igbara – authorities said. Igbara, 25, of Edgewater had claimed a net worth of $33 million while cultivating a reputation for distributing stacks of cash to random people in New York. That was before federal authorities in Brooklyn charge…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Tractor-Trailer Tips On Rt 46 Carrying Thousands Of Pounds Of Bananas Tractor-Trailer Tips On Rt 46 Carrying Thousands Of Pounds Of Bananas
Tractor-Trailer Tips On Rt 46 Carrying Thousands Of Pounds Of Bananas A cleanup was required after a tractor-trailer toting thousands of pounds of bananas tipped over the Route 46 (Routes 1&9) median Thursday near the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee. Only it wasn’t the fruit that spilled. It was a large amount of fuel from the saddle tanks. The highway was closed in both directions following the 11:30 a.m. crash. The driver was climbing the incline that leads toward the GWB between the Wendy's on one side and Plaza West below the other when the mishap occurred. The cargo had to be off-loaded onto another trailer following the mishap on Route 46…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Second Gas Station Robbery In Four Days Near GWB Just Like The First Second Gas Station Robbery In Four Days Near GWB Just Like The First
Second Gas Station Robbery In Four Days Near GWB Just Like The First The script was nearly the same when armed robbers held up a second gas station in four days near the George Washington Bridge, authorities said. This time, a gang of five held up a LukOil station on Fletcher Avenue in Fort Lee shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday, Police Capt. Ricky Mirkovic said. The robbers commanded an employee and patron in the store not to call police, then demanded money, Mirkovic said. One of them had a silver folding knife and anther made a gesture beneath his sweatshirt as if he had a gun, the captain said. One of the robbers took money from one register and then tried to…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
‘You Want To Die?’ Knife-Wielding Robbers Flee Gas Station Near GWB With $2,700 ‘You Want To Die?’ Knife-Wielding Robbers Flee Gas Station Near GWB With $2,700
‘You Want To Die?’ Knife-Wielding Robbers Flee Gas Station Near GWB With $2,700 Three robbers fled a Fort Lee gas station with $2,700, cigars and cigarettes after one pulled a knife and another acted like he had a gun, authorities said. The trio entered the Patwalia Food Mart in the Shell station on eastbound Route 46 at Bergen Boulevard shortly before 4 a.m. Wednesday, Capt. Ricky Mirkovic said. Two kept a lookout while the third went behind the counter and began removing drawers from the cash register, Mirkovic said. One of the store clerks began to get up when one of the lookouts gestured with his hand from inside his jacket pocket. “Sit down," he told the clerk. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
UPDATE: Wires Downed In Crash That Split Pole Closes Route 9W Nearly All Day UPDATE: Wires Downed In Crash That Split Pole Closes Route 9W Nearly All Day
Update: Wires Downed In Crash That Split Pole Closes Route 9W Nearly All Day UPDATE: Route 9W remained closed in Englewood Cliffs for nearly 14 hours Sunday after a vehicle slammed into and split a utility pole. Wires were strung across Sylvan Avenue north of Charlotte Place after the pole topped onto the road in the mid-morning crash on the road's southbound side. The driver, a 20-year old Cliffside Park man, complained of pain, but he and his apparently uninjured 19-year-old male passenger from Cresskill both declined medical attention at the scene, borough police Detective Lt. Ronald Waldt said. Route 9W (Sylvan Avenue) was closed between Charlotte Place and…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
All Alone: Fort Lee Retiree, 67, Jumps To Death From 24th Floor Of High Rise All Alone: Fort Lee Retiree, 67, Jumps To Death From 24th Floor Of High Rise
All Alone: Fort Lee Retiree, 67, Jumps To Death From 24th Floor Of High Rise A 67-year-old retiree jumped to his death from his 24th-floor Fort Lee high-rise apartment over the weekend, authorities confirmed. An employee at the Century Towers building on Parker Avenue near the George Washington Bridge found the victim’s body after hearing a loud noise outside around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Fort Lee Police Capt. Ricky Mirkovic said. “Investigation into the incident showed no signs of foul play,” Mirkovic said, adding that the death was ruled a suicide. Authorities had been unable to identify any next of kin, the captain said. Responders included Fort Lee police and Vo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Man Shot, Assailants Flee Route 4 Holiday Inn Near GWB Man Shot, Assailants Flee Route 4 Holiday Inn Near GWB
Man Shot, Assailants Flee Route 4 Holiday Inn Near GWB VIDEO: Police were searching for the shooter who critically wounded a man Thursday afternoon at the Holiday Inn on Route 4 in Fort Lee. An alert was issued for a black Chevy Camaro with heavily tinted windows and four men inside who were believed to be Hispanic following the shooting on the highway's eastbound side around 3:15 p.m. They may have headed toward the nearby George Washington Bridge, responders said. The victim was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the groin, they said. Meanwhile, a black Mercedes with New York license plates parked in the …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Back-To-Back Route 95 Crashes: Teaneck Native Killed By Tractor-Trailer, Police Car Hit Back-To-Back Route 95 Crashes: Teaneck Native Killed By Tractor-Trailer, Police Car Hit
Back-To-Back Route 95 Crashes: Teaneck Native Killed By Tractor-Trailer, Police Car Hit A 21-year-old Teaneck native was killed when she got out of her car following a crash on Route 95 in Fort Lee late Wednesday and was struck by a tractor-trailer. Jada Smith was pronounced dead at the scene after CPR efforts failed, responders said. Smith, of Brooklyn, was headed back to Teaneck with fellow family members in two vehicles when she was involved in a crash in the southbound express lanes, responders said. Smith's mom and dad were in a car behind hers coming off the George Washington at the time. Smith got out of her SUV to call her mother and was standing in the road on the p…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Prosecutor: Musician/Waiter From Fort Lee Repeatedly Raped Pre-Teen Prosecutor: Musician/Waiter From Fort Lee Repeatedly Raped Pre-Teen
Prosecutor: Musician/Waiter From Fort Lee Repeatedly Raped Pre-Teen A restaurant server from Fort Lee sexually assaulted a pre-teen several times, authorities said Monday. Victor Jiatz, a 31-year-old musician originally from Guatemala, remained held in the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack following his arrest Sunday. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said detectives took him into custody following a 911 call of sexual assaults “on numerous occasions,” which triggered an investigation by his Special Victims Unit and Fort Lee police. They charged Jiatz, a percussionist who is married and pre…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Fort Lee Pedestrian, 68, Pinned By SUV Near GWB Fort Lee Pedestrian, 68, Pinned By SUV Near GWB
Fort Lee Pedestrian, 68, Pinned By SUV Near GWB A 68-year-old Fort Lee woman was hospitalized Tuesday after her leg was pinned beneath the front of a turning SUV near the George Washington Bridge, authorities said. A 31-year-old Palisade, NY, woman was making a right turn off North Hoyt Avenue onto Bridge Plaza North shortly before 4 p.m. when her 2012 Acura RDX hit the victim, who was in a marked crosswalk as she crossed North Hoyt, Fort Lee Police Capt. Ricky Morkovic said. Fort Lee firefighters freed the victim, whose leg was caught under the front passenger-side tire, Mirkovic said. She was taken to a nearby hospital with head and l…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
VIDEO: Judge Releases Rockland Driver Who Rammed Police Car At GWB After Multi-Town Chase VIDEO: Judge Releases Rockland Driver Who Rammed Police Car At GWB After Multi-Town Chase
Video: Judge Releases Rockland Driver Who Rammed Police Car At GWB After Multi-Town Chase VIDEO: A Rockland driver who was captured by Fort Lee police on the George Washington Bridge after he rammed a patrol car at the toll plaza during a wild chase through several Northeast Bergen towns was ordered released by a judge less than 24 hours later. Demarest police tried to stop a Toyota Camry driven by 29-year-old Joseph Russo, of Leif Boulevard in Congers, at 4:30 p.m. Friday. Russo kept going, nearly hitting a police officer, as well as a PSE&G employee, authorities said. Demarest officers pursued the vehicle south on Route 9W before Englewood Cliffs and Palisades Interstate …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
RETURNED! Women Who Took Yorkie Terrier Off Leonia Street Bring Him Back A Day Later RETURNED! Women Who Took Yorkie Terrier Off Leonia Street Bring Him Back A Day Later
Returned! Women Who Took Yorkie Terrier Off Leonia Street Bring Him Back A Day Later A 6-year-old Yorkie Terrier who two women picked up off a Leonia street Thursday morning brought him to Fort Lee police more than 24 hours later, authorities said. Leonia police said Friday that they were looking into why the women took the dog and why it took so long to return him. Anxious family members called police in Leonia and neighboring Fort Lee after Mochi, who’d been running loose, was grabbed near the intersection of Fort Lee Road and Chestnut Street, a quarter-mile west of Route 46, around 10:30 a.m. Thursday. The women -- both blondes, between 40 and 50 years old and riding in…

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by Jerry DeMarco