Conehead defense
He’s really a Heavens Angel, his att’y says
The Hells Angels wannabe charged with shooting a man who moved a parking cone outside the gang’s East Village headquarters was portrayed by his lawyer as a hardworking tradesman who merely tried to defend himself.
Anthony Iovenitti, 52, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday on charges he shot 25-year-old David Martinez in the stomach after Martinez moved the cone so the car he was in could get by a stopped taxi.
Iovenitti’s lawyer, Ron Kuby, said NYPD surveillance video showed the shooter on the ground being kicked in the head before he fired a single round.
“This is not cone wars,” said Kuby. “Mr. Martinez had kicked him once with his boots in the head, at least once, and was about to kick him again.”
But sources said the Bronx resident is a live wire when it comes to defending the club’s turf. He was arrested in October for allegedly pushing another victim — who fell into a fire hydrant and hit his head — near the clubhouse back in July.
Sources say Iovenitti, who has steady work as an operating engineer and owns several properties, was arrested six other times outside the city.
Martinez suffered a severed colon and has a bullet lodged in his spine, sources said, but he is expected to recover. Iovenitti was walking back and forth in front of the club, as if on patrol, on Dec. 11, when a Mercedes car- rying five people pulled up and tried to park, sources say.
When Martinez hopped out to push away one of the orange cones the clubhouse routinely puts out to hold spaces, sources say Iovenitti went nuts and threw the first punch. Iovenitti was identified by cops through his distinctive silver-rim prescription glasses.
Iovenitti, a “prospect” with the tough-guy club, posted $25,000 bond, which was arranged by bail bondsman Ira Judelson.