1-punch victim called problem
Was seen instigating fatal fight, susp held
They were two lost souls, separated by decades and the East River, until their paths crossed last month on a Manhattan sidewalk.
Brooklynite Victor Fabriani was walking through the East Village on Feb. 10 when a random afternoon argument with a neighborhood teen turned ugly on First Ave. near E. 12th St., cops said.
The suspect, 19-year-old Anthony LaRocca, admitted punching Fabriani in the left eye, with the victim fracturing his skull when he tumbled to the ground, police said.
Fabriani, described by a witness as provoking the incident, died 13 days later in Bellevue Hospital. The attack came one day before the victim’s 60th and final birthday.
LaRocca was arrested Monday for assault — the only charge available in a “one-punch homicide” because the intent is to cause physical injury, not to kill — even if the blow results in a death, prosecutors said.
According to a criminal complaint, LaRocca “observed the victim standing on the sidewalk. [He] stated in substance that he struck the victim in the face with a closed fist.”
The suspect was eventually identified in part because he wasn’t wearing a face mask when he was caught on video walking through the neighborhood in a distinctive pair of checkered Vans sneakers, the complaint added.
A local food cart worker who watched the attack unfold said Fabriani was the instigator, recounting how the well-dressed man began screaming obscenities at LaRocca and a friend for no apparent reason.
“This old guy comes out, yelling ‘F—- you! F—- you!’ ” witness Amr Abdenab, 50, told the Daily News. “He had mental problems, I think . ... The old man was the problem. [LaRocca] punched him only once and he fell . ... It was so fast, like a movie.”
A former Fabriani neighbor in Sheepshead Bay recalled the victim as mentally unbalanced, a problem complicated by drug and alcohol problems. The woman recounted an incident where Fabriani once leveled a death threat against her.
“He was very difficult, always in trouble,” the woman told the Daily News. “He caused problems here. He peed in my driveway. Nonstop with him.”
The suspect’s uncle described LaRocca as a good kid who lost his way as his father became homeless and addicted to drugs.
“He suffered as a kid a lot,” said uncle Christian Bonilla, 47. “Truth be told, I know his life hasn’t been easy. He’s not a monster. He’s misguided . .... So sad. This is so sad. I can’t even speak.”
Bonilla said he last saw his nephew seven years ago in an emotional meeting where the older man apologized for a lack of involvement in LaRocca’s life.
“He just reached out his arms to me and we hugged each other,” the uncle recalled.
Medics rushed a semiconscious Fabriani to Bellevue with swelling on the brain, along with a fractured skull and a fractured orbital bone.
Because the victim wasn’t carrying identification, authorities were initially unable to identify Fabriani.
Cops released surveillance video of the suspect the day after the altercation and asked the public’s help identifying him and tracking him down.
Lower East Side resident LaRocca had no prior arrests, cops said, and was ordered held on $5,000 cash bail or a $35,000 bond when he was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Monday after his arrest.
Fabriani died from his traumatic brain injury at Bellevue Hospital on Feb. 23. Police could not immediately say whether he had any prior arrests.