Rafin Vellon killed three people in the Bronx in October 2006, using a weightlifting barbell.

Rafin Vellon hugged his grandmother and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She did not notice the specks of blood on his forehead and hands. He proceeded to the bathroom of her senior citizen’s home at 441 155th street to wash away the evidence from a fit of rage that would cost him his freedom.

Vellon was sporting a new cap and jacket, which he had bought minutes earlier at a Modell’s sporting goods store at 2929 3rd Avenue. The transaction, according to a receipt contained in police records, was $49, paid in cash; the time 12:45 pm on October 23 2006.

Vellon had left his favorite dark blue windbreaker with the black letters BRONX written on the front at 1029 Hall Place, where he lived with his girlfriend, and before visiting Modell’s was wearing only a t-shirt, jeans and a pair of beige Timberland boots that were also flecked with blood. Some of these items would later be admitted as evidence against him on a triple homicide charge. Read the full story

Leonidas Brito never made it to Santo Domingo

By Frances McInnis

December 9, 2009

Leonidas Brito was a quiet neighbor. The 52-year-old rented a single bedroom on the ground floor of 416 East 173^rd Street, a building of crumbling and mismatched orange and red brick with black fire escapes snaking down its front wall.

Guillermo Neiras, 24, who lived in the apartment directly above Brito for several years, said in a recent interview that he rarely heard the small older man moving around below. Read the full story

Bronxites unhappy with Albany

Photo Credit: Thorsten Schier

Councilman Oliver Koppel has seen a lot of political wrangling in the 39 years he has been active in New York City politics.

Even he is shocked, however, by the current state of the government in Albany. “It seems fairly clear that there are problems,” Koppel said in an interview. “It is a result of the heavily partisan nature of politics in New York.”
Koppel spent 23 years in the State Assembly and is currently the Democratic councilman for District 11 in the Bronx. He sees Senate Majority leader Pedro Espada as particularly responsible for the turmoil. “He’s been terribly irresponsible in the manner in which he has conducted himself. Some of his failures are shocking,” Koppel said. Read the full story