By ALAIN GAILLARD
One of the three men charged with murdering a Queens businessman in front of his son last year pleaded not guilty Thursday at the Brooklyn Federal Court before Judge Robert M. Levy.
Frederick McCoy, 52, of Brooklyn was arrested on Wednesday. McCoy, along with Passim “Big Sam” Elder and Dwayne Ling, were charged in the murder and extortion of Hani Kasem, the owner of Garden Valley Distributor, a mom-and-pop business at Ozone Park, Queens. Kasem and his son allegedly borrowed money from Elder to keep the business afloat. A fourth defendant, Mahdi Abdel-Rahim, was also indicted for his role in the extortion. He was arrested on March 5, 2018.
The defendant’s first court appearance didn’t go smoothly. The prosecution brandished a conflict of interest charge regarding his lawyer, Robert Walters since the lawyer had represented the mother of McCoy’s child in a previous trial before a grand jury. Another judge will decide whether he will be allowed to represent McCoy.
The murder, which occurred on October 23, 2017, came after months of intimidation from Elder, the ringleader of the group, who was accused of lending Kasem’s son money at a high-interest rate. Elder would later send his henchmen to collect the loan from the family. In what would become a deadly encounter, one of the enforcers allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Kasem in the face in front of his son. The victim died a few days later in a hospital.
All members of the gang were in police custody in early March. Elder was arrested on March 2 in Cleveland while he was traveling to attend his father’s funeral. He first appeared in court in Ohio before being transferred to federal authorities in Brooklyn.
If convicted, the three faced up to life in prison. Abdel-Rahim faced up to 20 years behind bars.
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