Results tagged “thefalls”

Danny Dorrian, who owned downtown bar The Falls, the last place 24-year-old John Jay College grad student Imette St. Guillen was seen, testified that he lied to police who were investigating St. Guillen's murder because he remembered how his family was treated during the Preppy Murder: "I could just imagine the repercussions it would set off -- lawsuits, police, bad press. If I pretended it didn't happen, maybe it wouldn't be true. I didn't believe it was true."

Yesterday, a downtown nightclub bouncer went on trial for the 2006 murder of a John Jay College graduate student. Imette St. Guillen's naked body was found off the Belt Parkway, bound and wrapped in a floral blanket shortly after she was missing. Prosecutors said in their opening that the DNA of Darryl Littlejohn, the bouncer last seen kicking her out of a bar, was found on ties around her wrists and that the blanket had traces of his mother's and brother's DNA. However, the defense proposed that Littlejohn was framed and suggested the bar's owner was the real killer.

Somehow, the NY Post has obtained police interviews with Claire Higgins, the best friend of John Jay College graduate student Imette St. Guillen, whose brutal 2006 murder shocked the city.

One of the lead detectives in the murder of Imette St. Guillen was ticketed and suspended for using a photocopied parking placard in Brooklyn last week. The ticket was issued in front of the Brooklyn Supreme Court, where Det. Sean McTighe parked in front of a fire hydrant.

The New York Post reports that concerns have been raised about a possible lack of strength in the murder case against former bar bouncer Darryl Littlejohn, who was indicted for the abduction and killing of grad student Imette St. Guillen 18 months ago. The victim disappeared from the SoHo bar The Falls after a night of drinking, and her body was found the next day dumped alongside a road in Brooklyn. Police say that she had been brutally raped and suffocated to death with a tube sock stuffed down her throat. Littlejohn was arrested and indicted after carpet fibers found on the packing tape that bound St. Guillen matched carpeting in Littlejohn's home.

They say New York is home to a million stories, and so far this year, we've published 7021 of them here on Gothamist. So in case you missed any of those, let's take a little stroll back in time, and review the most significant stories the past 12 months, shall we? Here's part one of a semi-chronological look at 2006; part two will go up tomorrow:

Everyone loves a secret bar, but what happens when the bouncers might be too...bouncery? Someone who tried to take a picture of the secret bar La Esquina claims he and his girlfriend were assaulted and threatened by the bouncers. One bouncer even yelled, "I will take you around the corner and rape you!"

He said this right before coming out and slapping me several times on the sidewalk and knocking the camera from my hands that I was using to document what had just happened. He also threatened that "in the old days you would be dead!" I can only assume he meant the good old days before a bouncer at The Falls murdered someone and the city passed the Bouncer Control Act* this August.

Continue reading "Photographing a Secret Bar Means a Bruisin' "

- And, yup.

No more false alarms: The Falls bar has been shuttered for good. Probable scene of at least part of the infamous Imette St. Guillen murder, the bar had been under-fire from the NYPD, State Liquor Authority, and various city agencies. The Daily News is reporting that the NYPD finally locked the gates yesterday, citing a lengthy investigation and nuisance abatement laws. The Post details some of the violations-- selling booze after hours and to minors, and more than 40 complaints from neighbors.

Today, John Jay College of Criminal Justice masters student Johanna King Vespe will receive the first Imette St. Guillen Scholarship. The fund was created in honor of St. Guillen after her February murder. According to the Daily News, which donated money to the fund, more than $250,000 has been raised. Darryl Littlejohn, a bouncer at The Falls (the bar and restaurant where St. Guillen was last seen alive), was indicted for St. Guillen's murder.

Looks like the rumors were true: The Falls Bar is no more. We walked by last night, and the neon sign was gone. A small group of protesters stood outside, but the bar was empty. Looks like the Imette St. Guillen case finally caught up with the Dorian family. Hard to feel all that upset. [Related: WCBS is reporting that the State Liquor Authority is revoking the Falls' license-- although that might be a foregone move at this point.]

- Strange murder at 14th Street and 10th Avenue - man was shot in his car, and a passenger drove all the way to Brooklyn for a hospital, even though there's St. Vincent's right on 7th Avenue and 12th Street, not to mention other Manhattan hospitals, on the way

- Romona Moore's mother filed suit against the NYPD for racial discrimination and negligence in dealing with her daughter's murder- back in July 2004.

- The other bouncer at The Falls will talk.

"Don't worry, I'll take you home."

The NYPD's test results on various pieces of evidence in the Imette St. Guillen murder case are starting to emerge - DNA evidence is inconclusive at this point but carpet fibers found in suspect Darryl Littlejohn's home match fibers found on packing tape used to bind St. Guillen. Littlejohn, who was a bouncer at The Falls, the bar St. Guillen was last seen on February 25, still has not been charged in connection to the murder and is being transported to a parole violation hearing today in Kew Gardens. The police are looking at three rapes that happened in Queens and Long Island last fall to see if Littlejohn could be connected to them as the attacker used a blue van and tied up one victim with tape and wire.

The Falls' bouncer, Darryl Littlejohn, continues to be the center of the police investigation of Imette St. Guillen's murder. In fact, the Daily News says that police consider him their "only suspect." Littlejohn is being held at Rikers Island, but not for anything related to the St. Guillen murder (he's just person a interest, still not arrested or charged) - he's there for violating his parole, as his past crimes have given him a 9PM-7AM curfew where he may not be on the streets. Since a parole hearing would take up to 90 days, the police and ME's office probably have enough time to investigate all the evidence, including the Littlejohn's minivan, as well as clothing including white socks from his home (St. Guillen was found with a white sock in her mouth). Neighbors are describing him as being intimidating, one neighbor recounting, "He said, 'I'm bipolar. Sometimes, something that happened yesterday, I won't remember.'"

One of our tipsters sent in this exclusive-- a recent mugshot of Darryl Littlejohn, the suspect in the tragic death of Imette St. Guillen: "this one was taken on 7/23/03 and they are typically taken from time to time by the docs when an inmate is moved to a new facility or if it has been a long time since they have had one taken or if they change their look (there are any number of reasons). but this was just gotten by the docs today from the prison he was last held at."

- The Post essentially vilifies The Falls' owner and bartender for taking so long to "come clean over what they saw" the night St. Guillen disappeared. The Daily News says that Littlejohn was the only Falls employee not to give the police a DNA sample - but his DNA is already in the system from prior stints in jail. His aunt, Addie Harris, said, "I pray that it wasn't him. The young lady was somebody's daughter, somebody's sister."

Is this a break? The police have questioned a bouncer at The Falls yesterday, as well as conducted more investigations at the 218 Lafayette Street bar and restaurant over the weekend, as they try to solve the murder of graduate student Imette St. Guillen. The NY Times calls the bouncer a "potential suspect," and the NY Post says that the bouncer is a "hardened criminal still on parole for a robbery rap." While the Post seems to be hyperbolic, they also claim that the 41 year old man's cellphone was traced to the Belt Parkway and packing tape and wires - similar to what St. Guillen was found tied with - were found on the basement of The Falls. The Daily News says that there's a "secret doorway" at the restaurant, and that may have been used in the crime. And get this: Geraldine Ferraro's family owns the building, and she tells the News, "[The police] went into the basement, they went on the roof, they went upstairs to the second floor. We allowed them total access to anything that they wanted to see."

Jen made an appearance on NBC's Dateline last night to talk about the tragic murder of graduate student Imette St. Guillen (screencaps at Random Observations.) For Dateline viewers who want to read Gothamist's posts on the case, here they are:

Last night on the WNBC eleven o'clock telecast, Monica Morales was doing a standup in front of The Falls, reporting on the brutal rape and murder of Imette St. Guillen. That's when Happy Gilmore here decided to go for his 15 milliseconds of fame-- throwing up the horns and screaming. He managed to get about halfway into the frame when the quick thinking cameraman panned up to the awning of the bar. We're always willing to give props to citizens who insert themselves in the background of local news shots-- what's more New York than yelling "hey, mom, I'm on the news"? Still, this was in poor taste. Screwing with Al Roker is one thing-- but interrupting a report on something like this? Definitely uncool.

Police believe that Imette St. Guillen, the John Jay College graduate student who was murdered last Saturday, was probably targeted by a stranger. After confirming that St. Guillen was last at The Falls, a restaurant and bar on Lafayette Street just south of Spring (near the Andre Balazs Kenmare Square development, across the street from La Esquina) where she headed after the Pioneer Bar, witnesses say she left the restaurant alone. The current theory: A fake livery driver picked up St. Guillen around 4AM - especially considering how easy it seems to be to pose as a livery driver (just a few weeks ago a woman was assaulted by someone she thought was a livery driver). People in SoHo were surprised, with one resident told WABC: "It's surprising that this is something that happened in this part. Down Bowery and down Canal it gets sketchy." Well, unfortunately anything goes - just because a neighborhood is gentrified doesn't mean there isn't crime. Criminologists and experts have been weighing on all media outfits on the grisliness of the murder - and what it means about the killer - here's one look.