Record number of killers and rapists being released from upstate prisons, many returning to NYC


  • By BRAD HAMILTON
  • Last Updated: 4:04 PM, April 28, 2013
  • Posted: 1:24 AM, April 28, 2013

EXCLUSIVE

There goes the neighborhood.
Killers and rapists are being released from upstate prisons in record numbers — and many have returned to their roots in the city, state documents reveal.
The data show that 230 murderers and sexual predators from the five boroughs were set free in 2012, the most since state record-keeping began in 1990.
The figure — a 19 percent surge from the 193 violent thugs sent home in 2011 — follows years of steady annual increases. In 1990, only 53 such ex-cons got out.
The freshly sprung rogues are a dark remnant of the crack epidemic that plagued the city in the 1980s and 1990s, when homicides hit an all-time high and drug dealers ruled entire blocks of the city.
FREELANCESherain Bryant


The drug scourge triggered an unprecedented eight straight years of 2,000 or more murders in the city. And now hundreds of criminals sentenced to the maximum 25 years to life during those bloody decades are getting out.
They include Kevin Smith, a former subway-station cleaner who stabbed token-booth clerk Clarence Anderson to death in a 1986 robbery while high on crack. He told cops he was broke and stole $121 from the victim because he was “desperate” for more of the drug.
The state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision provided the data on released convicts — along with the names and convictions of 119 killers and rapists set free in last six months of 2012.
It claims they pose little threat.
“The record will show that murderers don’t repeat,” said Linda Foglia, a spokeswoman for the agency.
But a study it did on recidivism revealed that between 1985 and 2005, when 568,397 state-incarcerated offenders were released, 4.2 percent of them committed new violent felonies.
Those included 1,471 murders, attempted murders or manslaughter convictions and 1,013 rapes or other sex crimes.
“This is an issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later,” said Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at John Jay College and a former cop.
“You certainly want to give people a second chance, but almost inevitably someone in that group is going to become a repeat offender.”
The exact location of returning murderers is known only to police and prosecutors. By law, the state is prohibited from releasing that information to the public.
Addresses of rapists are widely available because they must register as sex offenders.
Experts said keeping tabs on former jailbirds is a key to public safety.
The NYPD maintains massive databases with such information — and relies on it when investigating crimes.
“Any time you have a crime pattern, they’re required to look at those databases,” one source said.
He said detectives are currently attempting to connect a man convicted of a rape-homicide and released in 2009 to seven sex assaults in Forest Park, Queens, that began about the time the suspect got out of prison.
Another source said the department is weighing whether to make some of the data public, as Brooklyn commander Jeffrey Schiff did last year, when he tweeted details about career criminals who had returned to the 76th Precinct, which covers Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook.
“Some had been arrested more than 40 times,” said Jerry Armer, president of the precinct’s community council.
“You had their names, descriptions and mug shots. It made you aware they were out there. It made people feel better.”
Back on the streets
Sherain Bryant, 57
Murder, 1994, 25 to life
Beat her 4 year old daughter to death for drinking from the toilet in their Bronx apartment. Bryant and her husband had burned, battered and tied up little Shayna and her siblings for years. Cops said Shayna bore the brunt of the attacks because her parents considered her ugly. She was released on Dec. 24.
Derrick Hoover, 48
Murder, 1985, 25 to life
Shot and killed a beloved basketball coach after robbing him of his jewelry on a No. 3 train in Brooklyn. The victim, Alfred Riddick, 23, coached teens in Canarsie. Hoover was released on Nov. 14.
Calvin Kadet, 63
Murder, 1975, 25 to life
Killed a good Samaritan while robbing a Brooklyn candy store in Williamsburg. The victim, Cecilio Mercado, came to the aid of an off duty cop who was chasing Kadet and an accomplice. A judge said, “Men like this are driving people out of the city, making it a jungle.” He was released on Dec. 20.
Paul Kennedy, 52
Murder, 1981, 25 to life
Strangled 16 year old Rita Heilweil with his bare hands in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn in 1981 after she rejected his sexual advances, and he raped her corpse. He was released on Aug. 1.
Christopher “Crazy Chris” Aniades, 54
Murder and rape, 1981, 25 to life
Abducted, raped and strangled 19 year old Doreen Vitale as she waited for a bus in Ozone Park. Cops suspected him of several other brutal attacks on women, including one in which the victim’s throat was slashed and her eyes cut. He was released on Aug. 20.
brad.hamilton@nypost.com
　
　
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