Friday, April 29, 2016
’S DAY MOTHER Gift Guide Dining &
$1
THE PULSE OF THE PENINSULA
Vol. 91, No. 18
MOTHER’S DAY LIGHTHOUSE DINING, GIFT GUIDE GETS $165G
MARAGOS BLASTS POLICE FINANCES
PAGE 33-48
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• april 29, 2016 tions special section / litmor publica a blank slate media
Trial begins for medical office arson suspect
Fighting for their freedom Family volunteers at refugee camp
Man allegedly hired by doctor to kill his former business partner B y J oe N i k ic Nassau County prosecutor Anne Donnelly said Monday that a Sands Point cardiologist hired James Kalamaras to set fire to his former partner’s medical practice in Great Neck to eliminate his competition. “Anthony Moschetto wanted to burn his competition, Dr. Martin Handler, out of business. And he was willing to pay to get it done,” Donnelly told jurors, according to Newsday. ““Money was discussed. Money was promised. And money was paid to this defendant.” Kalamaras, a 42-year-old resident of Suffolk County, is on trial facing charges of third-degree arson, third-degree burglary, and second-degree criminal mischief after he was allegedly hired by Moschetto to set fire to a rival doctor’s office. County prosecutors said they had been investigating a high frequency of Oxycodone prescriptions Moschetto had been writing when
B y J oe N i k ic
they discovered a link between the cardiologist and an unsolved arson plot in Great Neck in February. Kalamaras and James Chmela, 43, have been accused of trying to burn down Heart Diagnostic Imaging in Great Neck on behalf of Moschetto, who once worked at the practice and had allegedly become a rival of Handler, who Moschetto tried to have killed. Kalamaras faces a top sentence of life in prison if found guilty. His attorney, Steven Barnwell, criticized the prosecution’s case and questioned how believable the expected testimonies of two men, who the Nassau District Attorney’s office said played a role in the arson, would be, according to Newsday. Barnwell said Chmela and Nicholas Baialardo, who both pleaded guilty in the arson case and admitted to gun and drug sales, had signed cooperation agreements with prosecutors. “The guys who sell AK-47s, the Continued on Page 64
Latifa Woodhouse (left) is pictured with Ali and Jawed Akbar, Aghan refugees who were located at a camp in Lesvos, Greece
Russell Gardens resident Latifa Woodhouse said she and she and her husband decided to witness the Syrian refugee crisis for themselves after seeing a television news report about a young boy who had drowned in the Mediterranean Sea and washed ashore in Turkey. “What really hit home was when a young kid, Alan Kurdi, washed ashore dead,” Woodhouse said. “That was on every channel everywhere and it just broke my heart.” The image of the drowned young boy would eventually result in Woodhouse, her husband, Colin, and their 26-yearold daughter, Alexandra, spending three weeks in Lesvos, Greece, where they volunteered at a refugee camp in January and early February. The experience, they said, further convinced them that more help is needed to support Syrians and Afghans seeking an escape their home countries. “Nothing makes you feel more human than offering humanity to those who need it,” Colin said. “We would like to build more of a groundswell of support for this effort because Continued on Page 77
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