Page 67 - Demo

In the Wake of Neighborhood Murders,Hardly A Ripple Is Left in Carroll GardensBY IRVING LIEBERMANA savage, inexplicable murder leaves two men dead and mutilated in a junk-strewn lot near Red Hook. Swarms of police and newsmen descend en masse on the area, and within hours details of the killings are being broadcast throughout the city like a World Series score: %u201cBrooklyn Ax Man Hacks Two%u2014%u20189 to Go.%u2019 %u201dResidents of Carroll Gardens, where Frank Andersen and Danny Meehan lived, are shocked by the brutal murders of the two innocent men, both in their fifties, both well-like and described as %u201charmless,%u201d %u201c kind%u201d and %u201cgenerous%u201d by residents who knew them. The killer leaves a note promising a return visit and intimating of neighborhood familiarity with the victims and the area. It reads: %u201cThe Ax Man. (2 down and 9 to go).%u201dCommunities have been gripped with fear in the midst of less ghastly events, and the city has not yet forgotten the serial killing spree of David Berkowitz last summer. How has Carroll Gardens reacted to the event that propelled it to the front pages three weeks ago?On July 11, four days after the bodies of the two men were discovered, Carroll Park on Court Street was ominously deserted by 2 a.m. Previously, older men and teenagers could be seen throughout the park until the wee hours of the morning, sometimes all night long.A week and a half after the murders, Carroll Gardens seems to have regained its composure to the point where residents discuss the crime only with prodding. Many people in the shops, on the streets, and in front of their homes repeatedly emphasize that their neighborhood %u201c doesn%u2019t scare easily.%u201d And yet a cold-blooded killer is still on the loose. Equally tough neighborhoods have been scared by much less.HE%u2019S A MANIACMany residents believe the murderer to be a classic homicidal maniac in the mold of David Berkowitz, with whom more than a few comparisons were made. People%u2019s imaginations were triggered by the image of the gratuitous violence, which inspires both terror and outrage. Frank Essex, the detective in charge of the investigation, acknowledged this: %u201c There are murders and there are m urders,%u201d he said. %u201c The unusual nature of this crime has to be considered. We have someone walking around who%u2019s killed two people with an ax.%u201dThe arrogance and recklessness of a killer brazen enough to leave a hand-written note at the scene of the crime further affronts the public and police. Would he return only for the other Carroll Park %u201c derelicts%u201d who comprised the %u201c9 to Go%u201d in his note?%u201c You don%u2019t know that; he could be like the Son of Sam,%u201d said one Smith Street woman in her twenties. The question made her nervous enough to ask for a reporter%u2019s credentials before she%u2019d continue. %u201c And even if he is only*%u00bb%u2022 .%u00ab 1 %u00ab %u00ab %u2022 c 11. _ .. _ %u00bb_ _ %u201ea i i e r L11C U U H 15, w i i r t i l i U 1C 1 C a a ninnocent bystander around? What happens to him?%u201dFifteen year-old Chuck admitted he was scared. %u201c You don%u2019t know who%u2019s gonna be next.%u201d But the arbitrary, unpredictable nature of the murders committed by an apparent %u201c maniac%u201d enabled other residents to rationalize their ap%u00ad%u2018Three Weeks after the murders, CarrollGardens seems to have regained its composureto the point where the residents discuss thecrime only with prodding%u2019prehensions.%u201c Am I afraid?%u201d asked Charlie, looking at his two husky friends inside the car. %u201c Hey, you%u2019re standing there talking to me. How do you know I%u2019m not gonna pull a gun and shoot you? Listen, if you got to be afraid walking around, it ain%u2019t worth walking. There%u2019s a lotta nuts out there, you bump into %u2019em all day long. This is one they know about so they%u2019re looking for him, that%u2019s all.%u201dAngela Barbagallo, whose husband Joseph works on the Brooklyn docks, said that %u201c many people who live here work down on the waterfront and docks. Those men and their wives are pretty tough people.%u201d When asked if a neighborhood killer on the loose made her and her family afraid, she shot back, %u201c We can%u2019t live like that, and we%u2019re not going to. It%u2019s not that type of neighborhood.%u201dNOT AFTER MESome residents found comfort in the newspapers%u2019 interpretations of the note left behind by the killer. %u201c Me, I%u2019m not afraid of that guy,%u201d said Phillis Santomarco in Sam%u2019s Surprise Shop on Court Street. %u201c He%u2019s only after a certain group of derelicts hanging around that corner in the park, right? That%u2019s what the papers said. %u2019 %u2019She was not the only person who felt protected by her own respectability. Tish and Carol, both 14, said they were not afraid because %u201c we heard he was only after drunks- - i- t- _ _ x ---------x ------- ~ X ------* %u2019U U u i v O il v v i . u>*j> %u00bb