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Retiree Charged With Setting Fire In Fort Lee Luxury High-Rise Retiree Charged With Setting Fire In Fort Lee Luxury High-Rise
Retiree Charged With Setting Fire In Fort Lee Luxury High-Rise A Fort Lee retiree deliberately set a fire in his luxury high-rise apartment overlooking Manhattan, authorities said. Jay Freedman, 60, was arrested following an investigation into the late-afternoon fire Tuesday in his eighth-floor apartment in the Charlton, a 20-story high rise off Bergen Boulevard, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Responders quickly doused it, Musella said. Freedman, meanwhile, was charged with a minor count of causing or risking widespread injury or damage, then was released pending a Feb. 11 first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensa…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative
Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative A Philadelphia resident admitted Wednesday that he was one of the two hit men paid by a onetime New Jersey political operative to kill a former associate. Bomani Africa, 61, who has a criminal history that includes convictions for robbery and drug-related crime, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder for hire via videoconference with a federal judge in Newark, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger announced. People immediately began wondering who the hired killers were after Sean Caddle, 44, admitted on Tuesday that he paid them to whack Michael Galdieri, the son of forme…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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MURDER FOR HIRE: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate MURDER FOR HIRE: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate
Murder FOR Hire: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate A New Jersey-based political consultant admitted Tuesday that he hired two hitmen to kill a longtime associate from Hudson County who had worked for him on various election campaigns, federal authorities said. Sean Caddle, 44, a former aide to former State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) paid the killers -- one from Connecticut, the other from Pennsylvania -- to get rid of Michael Galdieri, the son of former State Sen. James Galdieri (D-Jersey City) and a prominent figure in local Hudson County politics. Galdieri, 52, was stabbed to death in May 2014 before his Jersey City apartmen…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Fire That Caused Traffic Nightmare On Parkway Was Arson: State Police Fire That Caused Traffic Nightmare On Parkway Was Arson: State Police
Fire That Caused Traffic Nightmare On Parkway Was Arson: State Police A brush fire that closed the Garden State Parkway for hours last night was caused by arsonists, New Jersey State Police say. Troopers responded to the fire near milepost 91 in Brick Township around 5 p.m. Wednesday. Officials believe the fire was started by several individuals, possibly juveniles, within a drainage culvert that runs underneath the Garden State Parkway from the 91 north entrance ramp to the 91 south exit ramp, police said. After starting the fire in the culvert opening on the south side, the suspects were seen running into the Evergreen Woods Park Apartment Complex, which r…

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by Cecilia Levine
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Police Search For Arsonists Who Damaged Famous Key West Landmark Police Search For Arsonists Who Damaged Famous Key West Landmark
Police Search For Arsonists Who Damaged Famous Key West Landmark Police were searching for two arsonists who burned the iconic Southernmost Point buoy in Key West before dawn on New Year's Day. Video from a local marketing company shows the pair sitting next to the buoy, taking cellphone photos and then setting fire to a Christmas tree in front of the 4-ton cement monument that marks the southernmost point in the continental United States, 90 miles from Havana, Cuba, around 3:30 a.m. Saturday. The fire left an enormous burn mark on the red, yellow, black and white landmark. SEE: Southernmost Point Webcam Sure enough, tourists continued to take photos …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Arson Suspected In Hackensack Apartment Fire, Responders Say Arson Suspected In Hackensack Apartment Fire, Responders Say
Arson Suspected In Hackensack Apartment Fire, Responders Say A pack of matches reportedly found outside a Hackensack apartment that was destroyed by fire brought arson investigators. Hackensack firefighters said they had the two-alarm, fifth-floor blaze at The Newport Apartments on Prospect Street under control within a half hour after it ignited at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. No serious injuries were reported, they said. Units above and below sustained some damage. Mutual aid fire companies from Englewood and Teaneck assisted. A Hackensack University Medical Center ambulance also was on standby. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Arson Investigations Uni…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Trenton Arsonist Charged In Deadly Molotov Cocktail Christmas Fire Trenton Arsonist Charged In Deadly Molotov Cocktail Christmas Fire
Trenton Arsonist Charged In Deadly Molotov Cocktail Christmas Fire A Trenton man was charged with murder and arson in the Molotov cocktail fire that killed two people on Christmas morning, authorities announced. Ronal Ordonez-Lima, 28, is accused of setting fire to the front porch of 221 Rusling St. in Trenton shortly before 3:30 a.m., Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri said Monday. Six occupants were in the home during the fire, which spread to five other houses and several adjacent vehicles, Onofri said. Two men, identified as Selvin Lima and Dilman Canpos, were found deceased on the second floor of the home, authorities said. Ordonez-Lima is c…

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by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
Florida Woman Burns Down NJ Psych Ward Turned Mansion Causing $3.5M In Damages: Police Florida Woman Burns Down NJ Psych Ward Turned Mansion Causing $3.5M In Damages: Police
Florida Woman Burns Down NJ Psych Ward Turned Mansion Causing $3.5M In Damages: Police A woman from Florida was charged with arson in the fire that destroyed a historic mansion and former psychiatric hospital in New Jersey, authorities said. Evelyn V. Alvino, 20, of Pinellas Park, FL, was charged with aggravated arson, burglary, criminal trespassing, and criminal mischief after an 18-month investigation into the fire, NJ State Police said. On May 30, 2020, detectives began investigating a fire at the Arthur Brisbane Child Treatment Center. The former psychiatric hospital was closed in 2005 due to complaints about the conditions there, and it has since been abandoned, accord…

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by Nicole Acosta
Police & Fire
Fire That Left Jersey City Man Critical Probed By Arson Task Force: Prosecutor Fire That Left Jersey City Man Critical Probed By Arson Task Force: Prosecutor
Fire That Left Jersey City Man Critical Probed By Arson Task Force: Prosecutor An apartment fire that left a Jersey City man in critical condition is being investigated as possible arson, authorities announced. The 64-year-old victim was found in his Apartment 206 at 92 Danforth Ave. by firefighters around 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 8, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. The blaze was contained to that unit and the victim was rushed to Jersey City Medical Center, where he remained in critical condition as of Thursday, Suarez said. An investigation by the Hudson County Regional Arson Task Force is looking into the origin and cause of the fire. Agencies resp…

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by Cecilia Levine
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Fatality Confirmed In Multi-Alarm Paterson Blaze That Destroys One Home, Threatens Others Fatality Confirmed In Multi-Alarm Paterson Blaze That Destroys One Home, Threatens Others
Fatality Confirmed In Multi-Alarm Paterson Blaze That Destroys One Home, Threatens Others UPDATE: Authorities on Saturday confirmed the death of a resident in a late-night Paterson house fire that responders said could have been much worse. Firefighters moved quickly to keep the four-alarm Lafayette Street blaze from spreading, snuffing the threat such a fire posed to the neighborhood of tightly bunched wood-frame houses barely two blocks from the Passaic River. Paterson's bravest responded to a call of a fire with people possibly trapped at 103 Lafayette Street shortly after 11 p.m., Deputy Fire Chief William Henderson said. Firefighters found heavy flames on the second floor,…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
ARSON: Suspects Sought After Using Gas To Cause Explosion At North Jersey Business, Police Say ARSON: Suspects Sought After Using Gas To Cause Explosion At North Jersey Business, Police Say
Arson: Suspects Sought After Using Gas To Cause Explosion At North Jersey Business, Police Say Police are seeking the public’s help identifying three suspected arsonists who used gas to start a fire and cause an explosion at a North Jersey business. The suspects, pictured above, intentionally set fire to the unnamed Pohatcong Township business after purchasing gas at the local QuickChek, authorities said Thursday afternoon. The man in the blue jacket without the Hilfiger symbol may have been injured in the explosion, police said. All of the men were last seen running on Russell Avenue toward South Main Street. Scroll down to view additional photos of the suspects. We are ask…

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by Valerie Musson
News
Middlesex Man Who Torched Trenton Police Car Following Floyd Protest Gets 2 Years In Fed Pen Middlesex Man Who Torched Trenton Police Car Following Floyd Protest Gets 2 Years In Fed Pen
Middlesex Man Who Torched Trenton Police Car Following Floyd Protest Gets 2 Years In Fed Pen UPDATE: A Middlesex County man must spend the next two years in federal prison for stuffing a rag into the gas tank of a police cruiser and setting it on fire during a riot in Trenton following a protest last year over the death of George Floyd. Justin Spry, 22, of South Plainfield originally claimed on Twitter that he was brutalized by police, but federal authorities produced surveillance video showing otherwise. Spry and two other men involved in the arson attack took deals from the government rather than go to trial. All must serve out their entire sentences because there's no parole in…

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by Jerry DeMarco