Two Charged In 2016 Gang Killing

Prosecutors last week charged alleged MS-13 gang members Elmer Gilberto Santos Contreras, above, and co-defendant, Anthony Gutierrez-Mesa, not pictured, murdered an 18-year-old Greenlawn resident in 2016 and left his mutilated body in Greenlawn Park.

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

Two alleged-MS13 gang members have been charged with the murder of an 18-year-old whose mutilated body was found dead in a Greenlawn park nearly two and a half years ago.

Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini announced last week second-degree murder charges had been filed against Elmer Gilberto Santos Contreras, 23, of Roosevelt and Anthony Gutierrez-Mesa, 23, of Valley Stream for the killing of 18-year-old Estiven Abrego-Gomez of Greenlawn in August 2016.

Abrego-Gomez’s body was discovered on the Little League field in Greenlawn Park at the intersection of Pulaski Road and Broadway with “significant sharp force injuries and blunt force trauma,” according to the medical examiner’s report.

“The injuries in this case are extreme and are very typical of MS-13 violence,” Sini said. “In this case, the victim’s hands were nearly severed.”

The violent murder “hit the Greenlawn community very hard,” Sini said.

Prosecutors said Contreras ordered the murder after Abrego-Gomez was reportedly seen on social media flashing gang signs associated with the rival 18th Street gang. They allege Gutierrez-Mesa “acted in concert with Contreras to commit the murder.”

“The motive here is one that we’ve seen numerous times, particularly by MS-13, where gang members use violence to retaliate against rival gang members,” Sini said.

Police had been reluctant to officially link the murder to MS-13 or gang violence. In an August 2017 interview, then-Police Commissioner Sini confirmed to The Long-Islander the murder was “gang related.” It was the first time law enforcement confirmed gang involvement in the year-old murder.

Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said she hopes the charges make “gang members realize we will not ever give up on any of our unsolved cases.”

“For the past two and a half years, the Suffolk County Police Department’s homicide detectives have relentlessly focused on finding justice for Estiven Abrego-Gomez and to hopefully provide some closure to his family,” Hart said.

Contreras, who prosecutors said is an El Salvadorian citizen, was in ICE custody awaiting deportation proceedings in Virginia, but was brought back to Suffolk County by detectives for a court appearance last Thursday. Suffolk County Court Judge Philip Goglas ordered Contreras held without bail. If convicted, Contreras faces 25 years to life in prison.

An attorney for Contreras did not immediately return a request for comment.

Prosecutors said Gutierrez-Mesa is currently in police custody in Virginia and will be arraigned at a later date.

Town Ends Co-op Trash Collection For Eateries

Workers above bring trash to one of two centrally located dumpsters on one of the last days they were maintained for restaurants in Huntington village. The dumpsters are gone as of April 1 after years of operating at a deficit. Long Islander News photo/Peter Sloggatt

By Peter Sloggatt
psloggatt@longislandergroup.com

Walking on Wall Street could get dicey in the weeks ahead with recent changes to how and when trash is picked up.

The Town of Huntington pulled the plug on a garbage collection program under which restaurants in a core area of Huntington village had access to dumpsters to dispose of their trash each night. Two dumpsters located on Clinton Avenue between Main and Gerard Streets were removed April 1, and restaurants are now being told to put their trash out curbside.

Restaurant owners had paid to participate in the program but according to town officials it operated at a deficit.

“It was intended to supplement curbside collection,” Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinaccci said. “Each of the properties already paid the town refuse tax,” and then made additional payments to maintain the dumpsters. The town paid a private contractor $36,000 a year to place two dumpsters and maintain four-times-a-week pickup, Lupinacci said.

When it began in Feb. 2013, the 12 restaurants that had keys paid from $300 to $360 a year, with restaurants of 50 seats or more paying the higher fee.

The fees were increased to $500 to $540 a year in 2017, but the program still operated at a deficit, the supervisor said. 

“The total paid [by restaurants] was $5,600 which left the town on the hook for $30,000,” Lupinacci said.

An empty space remains where a dumpster dedicated to use by local restau rants stood. Town officials ended the co-op trash program April 1 and return the space to parking. Long islander News photo/Peter Sloggatt

Huntington’s environmental waste management director John Clark met with the board of the Huntington Village Business Improvement District (BID) in late January to give a  heads-up. BID president Jack Palladino, whose restaurant Christophers was a participant, said he couldn’t generate enough interest among restaurant owners to keep the program going.

As a result, restaurants will have to hold trash generated after closing time and put it out for curbside pickup at the end of the next business day. The town changed commercial collection pick up hours to get the trash off the street earlier; trash pick up will start at 4:15 p.m. instead of 5:30 p.m.

Palladino noted restaurants generate more trash than retail businesses, and the piles of garbage bags and bins are a turn off to restaurant-goers navigating the streets and in some cases, seated outdoors on the same sidewalk space.

“Some of the participating restaurants they created their own problem when they expanded to outdoor dining,” Lupinacci said. And while only participating restaurants had keys, he said the enclosed dumpster areas became dumping spots, and the participants themselves failed to keep the areas clean and neat.

The BID president said he hoped the town would look into changes that take into account the changing face of the village’s downtown.

“Garbage pickup is the same as it has been for 30 years. But it’s not a retail environment anymore,” Palladino said.

On the plus side, he added, “At least we’ll pick up four additional parking spaces where the dumpsters were.”

Huntington Artist, And Educator Stan Brodsky Dies

Stan Brodsky signs one of his paintings in his Huntington studio in one of many photographs by Peter Scheer that document the artist and his work. Photo/Peter Scheer

By Peter Sloggatt
psloggatt@longislandergroup.com

With more than 75 years as an artist under his belt, Stan Brodsky seemed to be hitting his peak.

The Huntington painter’s expressionist canvases had been featured in solo shows at two New York City galleries and at Gallery North on Long Island in recent years. The Heckscher Museum in Huntington mounted a major retrospective of his work in 2013.

His expressive works, known for their rich hues and emotional impact, hung in many prestigious collections. And well into his nineties, Brodsky continued to work with intensity and commitment.

Brodsky, also an influential educator who taught fine arts for more than 30 years at LIU’s CW Post campus, died last Saturday after a brief illness. He was 94.

Brodsky called himself a “landscape expressionist,” according to a monograph published by New York City-based Lawrence Fine Art in conjunction with its “Stan Brodsky at 91” exhibition mounted in 2016.

A veteran of World War II, he was Brooklyn-born, studied art at University of Iowa and completed graduate studies at Columbia University in New York City.

In his early years he was influenced by the works of the post-impressionist Paul Cezanne, said Susan Rostan, a former student and Brodsky’s biographer. He was attracted to the works of Milton Avery and other abstractionists before finding his own unique and personal expression.

Rostan related a story Brodsky had told her that seemed to define his work.

“Knowing he had fought in France during the war,” Rostan said she thought his views were colored by those dark memories. Brodsky told her he was in a small town walking when he noticed the sunlight hitting the sidewalk.

“He was on the sunny side. On the dark side of the street he saw a crowd of people. He was peering into the darkness trying to make out the figures. There was a funeral home so they were all dressed in dark clothes,” Rostan said. “He was overcome by this feeling of darkness and went right home and tried to put it on canvas.”

Brodsky told Rostan he was struggling, unhappy with the results, and a professor told him to “put it aside. Do what you can.”

“For Stan, that was the moment he realized what it means to be a successful artist. For him it was always about the light, the color,” Rostan said.

One of Brodsky’s expressionist landscapes, “Blue Burst.” Photo/Lawrence Fine Art

He stayed on that path depicting primarily landscapes with increasing abstraction and expressive color. His work became more abstract relying less on literal depiction and more on color, line and shape to create the emotional response of what he saw.

During his more than 30 years teaching at C. W. Post, Brodsky influenced hundreds of students to pursue their art with the same intensity – “to keep pushing, to learn from mistakes, to find what you love to do and do it with passion,” Rostan said.

Dozens of his former students kept in touch and remained “in his orbit,” Rostan said.

A unique opportunity to see that influence will be on display at a show opening next weekend at the Art League of Long Island where Brodsky also taught. Brodsky’s paintings will hang with works by 27 of his students in the exhibition, “Stan Brodsky and Friends.” The show runs April 13-28 and an opening reception will be held 3:30-5:30 p.m. on April 14.