IN SLAY SPREE
Kept rifle and knives in duffel bag: source
Ridge Tuesday — just three blocks from the scene of the first murder — after a pharmacy employee told cops that he recognized “Doe Duffel Bag” as a regular customer who would often come in at night, lawenforcement sources said.
Two detectives approached him, according to witnesses.
“He was in here no more than a minute,” said an employee of Farmacon Pharmacy on Fifth Avenue. “They must have been following him.”
Perrone allegedly told cops the murder weapon was at his girlfriend’s house in Midwood. Police found the .22caliber Ruger rifle with a sawedoff stock in a bag, said the sources, adding that his fingerprints were found on the weapon.
And cops recovered a 12inch kitchen knife with dried blood on it and two Buck folding knives, each with seveninch blades, Kelly said.
Perrone was led from the 67th Precinct station house in East Flatbush last night. He was dressed in black, stared ahead blankly and didn’t say a word as he was walked past a throng of reporters and photographers.
He was held without bail at his arraignment early today in Brooklyn Criminal Court. He spent more than two hours meeting his lawyer before the proceeding.
Alaw enforcement source said he was “yammering on and on” about his birthday today.
He earlier told interrogators that the murders of three Middle Eastern shop owners was “a plan to promote world peace,” the Staten Island Advance reported.
Perrone, who is 64 today, will die in prison if convicted, said Ken Taub, chief of the Brooklyn DA’s Homicide Bureau.
The spree started on July 6 when Perrone allegedly gunned down Bay Ridge store owner Gebeli, 65, who was closing his clothing establishment for the day.
Perrone supplied clothes to Gebeli’s store for more than 15 years, said the victim’s son, who has since taken over the store.
“My big question is, why did he do it?” asked Moe Gebeli.
Then on Aug. 2, Perrone allegedly shot and stabbed Bensonhurst businessman Isaac Kadare, 59, who was closing his 99cent store on 86th Street for the day.
The death toll hit three last Friday when the bulletriddled body of Iranian clothingstore owner Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78, was found in the back of his business, partially covered by clothes.
The first two killings were linked in August through ballistics tests.
Perrone’s neighbors in Staten Island’s Sunnyside neighborhood said the alleged killer split from his wife about 10 years ago and sleeps in the basement of his creepy “Addams Family”like house.
“He literally sneaks in to go to sleep,” said Marian Kvocak, who lives across the street. “He looks around and walks around his property before he goes into his house.”
Julia Marra, 21, as a child to play with Perrone’s daughter.
“He used to sing opera late at night,” Marra said. “I remember him yelling Italian in the middle of the street, smoking a cigar and drinking wine with a beret.”