The two men arrested this week in Dubai, accused of pledging allegiance to Al Qaeda, both have Brooklyn connections....and impressive business credentials.

Wesam el-Hanafi, 33 years old, was born and raised in Brooklyn to parents with an Egyptian background. His youngest brother, Ahmed, revealed to PIX 11 News that Wesam called him from Dubai a few days ago and told him he'd been arrested. "Everybody's just shocked," the younger el-Hanafi told PIX 11, "He's been living here forever and this came out of nowhere."
The brother told us Wesam was "just a regular Muslim."

Wesam el-Hanafi is a computer engineer who attended Baruch College and played on the basketball team. He also worked for the Lehman Brothers financial firm, at one point. His brother told us Wesam married in the United States and has children, later moving his family to Dubai.

The second suspect, Sabirhan Hasanoff, 34, was born in Australia and later moved to the United States, living at various times in Brooklyn and Queens. Hasanoff also attended Baruch College and worked as a certified public accountant for the prominent firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, between 2003 and 2006. He, too, was arrested in Dubai.

The two suspects appeared in Federal Court in Virginia, when they were first brought back to the United States. Among the charges against them: federal prosecutors say el-Hanafi ordered 7, Casio digital watches on the internet and had them delivered to his family home in Bath Beach, Brooklyn. These watches have been used as "timing devices" for explosives. Police Commissioner, Raymond Kely, did not give many details about the case but made this observation: "There are people among us who are plotting with Al Qaeda."

NYPD Officer, Emmanel Tavarez--accused of giving police jackets, handcuffs, and bulletproof vests to crooks, so they could rip off drug dealers--is not really a housing police officer, as described in federal documents. He has spent most of his eight year career as a transit police officer.

The NYPD Chief of Housing Police, Joanne Jaffe, called PIX 11 News on Friday afternoon, after seeing my "live" report from South Jamaica Houses in Queens Thursday night. We did the report there, because federal paperwork indicated 30 year old Officer Tavarez worked in the Housing Bureau's "Viper Unit"--where cops monitor surveillance cameras in the city's housing projects. Tavarez DID work there, but only since December 2009, when he was put there on modified duty, without his gun, as the federal investigation of his activities intensified.

Chief Jaffe explained to me many officers are transferred to the "Viper Unit" when they're placed on modified duty. It's a place where they can perform a function for the department, without needing to use their guns. Chief Jaffe was upset that her roughly two thousand housing police officers were getting tainted by the bad press surrounding Tavarez, who did not serve as a "full duty" cop in her bureau. She told me residents were calling from South Jamaica Houses on 160th Street and 107th Avenue in Queens, complaining that bad cops were being utilized to patrol their community.

Chief Jaffe wanted to set the record straight. Officer Emmanuel Tavarez did not serve as a housing police officer, in the real sense of the word.

The federal indictment against Tavarez says he was part of a robbery crew that stole more than a million dollars in cash and narcotics from drug dealers, in a two year period. He's also accused of helping to distribute drugs like heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. Four of the defendants listed with Tavarez in the indictment are related to him by marriage. Federal prosecutors say
the crew had a phony police car, rigged with sirens and lights, to carry out "raids" against drug dealers. They say Tavarez even loaned his police gun to a member of the crew at times.
Duct tape was also utilized to tie people up, according to the prosecutors.

Tavarez pleaded "not guilty" in a strong, clear voice in Brooklyn Federal Court on Thursday afternoon. He is being held in federal custody, pending a bail hearing next week. Prosecutors are concerned he would be a "flight risk" if released on bail, because he has family ties in the Dominican Republic.

Mary Murphy
5/8/10

The city has banned residents from using balconies in 16 apartment buildings, just as the warm weather arrives.

The order comes two months after Conor Donohue, a 24-year old tenant at 330 East 39th Street in Manhattan, fell to his death, when a balcony on the 24th floor gave way. The initial investigation had found a metal railing became loose from the concrete base.

The New York City Buildings Commissioner, Robert LiMandri, told PIX Investigates his agency discovered that 800 buildings, over six-stories high, had not filed safety inspection reports, as required by city law. His inspectors have visited 530 of those buildings, so far, to check the balconies. LiMandri told PIX 11: "In some cases, we found crumbling concrete. In other cases, things were minor."

The inspectors are paying close attention to buildings, with balconies, constructed between 1970 and 1990. The building where Donohue plunged to his death was built in the 70's...and the agency is looking at possible patterns in the way the balconies were attached to the buildings.

LiMandri told PIX 11 inspectors still have 300 more buildings to check out.

Mary Murphy
5/18/10

Police in Sivas, Turkey are working to identify the body of a man who apparently jumped from the 9th floor of a building, at a construction site. A note found near the body refers to Riza Cosa, the Hicksville, Long Island husband wanted for questioning in the murder of his wife...and the disappearance of his Canadian girlfriend.

Cosa's wife, Angela Perez, was last seen alive at the Chase branch in Wantagh, Long Island, where she worked as a personal banker, on July 28, 2009. Co-workers reported her missing that same week. On July 31, 2009, her estranged husband, Riza Cosa, took a one-way flight to Turkey, his native country.

Last week, Perez' body was found in New Cassel, Long Island, wrapped in garbage bags, wedged between a 40-foot metal container and a chain link fence, at a job site where her husband used to work as a welder. This week, police revealed a woman Cosa was dating from Canada vanished last summer, about a month before Cosa's wife disappeared. 33 year old Hatice Corbacioglu crossed the border into the United States on June 15, 2009, telling family she was going to visit Riza Cosa in New York. Someone using Hatice's name went to the Turkish Consulate in New York City on June 18, 2009. Hatice's Canadian family never heard from her after June 15, 2009--but Cosa called them a number of times, claiming Hatice had traveled to Turkey....another time, telling them she had visited a friend in Saudi Arabia.

Nassau County police are eager to find out the contents of the note found near the body of the man in Turkey. One report says the letter made reference to financial concerns.

Mary Murphy
5/21/10