There's Hells to pay
Angel wannabe busted in HQ shooting
The gunman who allegedly shot a man who had moved a parking cone outside the Hells Angels East Village headquarters was arrested Tuesday, police sources said.
Anthony Iovenitti, 52, was busted eight days after 25-year-old David Martinez was shot in the gut.
Martinez was with friends in a Mercedes just before 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 11 when he attempted to move the orange cone “reserving” a parking space outside the East Third Street clubhouse so their vehicle could squeeze past a taxi that had stopped.
That prompted angry bikers to come out and confront the men.
Iovenitti threw the first punch and was shoved the ground by Martinez, cops said. Iovenitti then pulled a gun and shot the younger man in the stomach, investigators said.
The victim’s pals loaded him into the Mercedes and rushed him to Bellevue Hospital, where he is in stable condition.
Iovenitti also has an open assault case from October, when he reportedly shoved someone whose head smacked into a fire hydrant, sources said.
Hells Angels treat as their own the parking spaces around their clubhouse, where an official-looking sign reading “NO PARKING EXCEPT AUTHORIZED HELLS ANGELS” is affixed to the club’s brick facade.
There are no reported incidents relating to parking disputes.
However, many neighbors have voiced their concerns about the club.
“They have nothing but curses for their neighbors,” one resident told the New York Observer in 2005. “The s--t hasn’t hit the fan yet with whoever’s going to go in and out of that dorm building and park their cars in front of that building.”
But other neighbors say having the bikers around actually lowers the crime rate in the area.
“They’re not the nicest people in the world. I mean, they would cut your leg off in a heartbeat,” Don Muldoon told the Observer.
“But the funny part was there was very little crime on their block, although we did find some unconscious people lying there once in a while, you know? Of questionable moral fiber.”
According to official sources, Iovenitti is a “prospect” with the notorious motorcycle club, a step away from becoming a full-fledged member.