LI Crime Briefs

GARDEN CITY/Second hit-for-hire trial could begin today

After selection of one more alternate juror a new trial could begin Thursday for Susan Williams, the Garden City woman accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill her estranged husband.

The first trial for Williams, 44, ended in a mistrial Friday after a taped phone conversation between Williams and her daughter was erroneously played for a jury. That jury was dismissed, and the trial began anew this week with the selection of new jurors.

As of Wednesday Wednesday, eight men and five women, including one alternate, had been chosen for the jury. Lawyers this Thursday morning plan to try to select a second alternate.

Prosecutors say Williams, a mother of four, tried to hire a hit man to kill Peter Williams, 46, with whom she was going through a bitter divorce. Williams was videotaped paying a $500 deposit on a $20,000 job to a man who actually was an undercover detective, prosecutors say.

Williams has pleaded not guilty to second-degree and fourth-degree criminal solicitation, second-degree conspiracy and second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. If convicted, she could face a maximum of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.

Nassau County Court Judge Norman St. George declared the mistrial on the second day of testimony after Williams' lawyer said he had not intended to sign a document, known as a stipulation, that allowed the taped phone conversation into evidence. When the conversation was recorded March 9, Williams had been arrested and was in the Nassau County jail in East Meadow.

St. George said the underlying confusion about admissibility of the tape, which already had been played in the Mineola courtroom Friday, could be viewed as prejudicial to Williams' case, thus giving her grounds for appeal.

- ANN GIVENS

WANTAGH/Five arrested in gas station brawl

Five Nassau County men, including a father and two sons, were arrested on assault charges after police said they started a brawl at a Wantagh gas station when an attendant told one of them he was not old enough to buy cigarettes.

An Eighth Precinct officer responded to a call from the OK Gas Station, 767 Wantagh Ave., regarding an assault at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nassau County police said. While speaking to the alleged victim, the officer saw a green sport utility vehicle drive into the lot, going fast, police said.

The men in the SUV pointed at an employee and shouted profanities as the officer warned them several times not to enter the store part of the station, police said. Two of the men tried to enter the store, starting a fight with the officer, police said.

The men turned their attention toward another attendant, who was pumping gas. That attendant used a 10-foot-long flagpole, from which hung an American flag, to defend himself as the men punched and kicked him, police said.

One man took the flagpole from the attendant and struck him with it before the officer subdued him, police said. Another man using a different flagpole as a weapon also struck the victim, police said.

By then, more officers had arrived and all five men were arrested, police said.

Police said the officer was injured in the scuffle and was treated and released at a hospital. None of the attendants required medical attention, police said.

Police said a father and his two sons, all from Levittown, each were charged with assault, possession of a dangerous weapon and obstruction of governmental administration. Police identified them as Richard Vitale, 49, Richard Vitale Jr., 20, and Gregory Vitale, 21, all of 13 Stirrup Lane.

In addition, Christopher Makhmaltchi 19, of 1336 Mell Gate, Seaford, and Nicholas Lazarus 17, of 808 Michele Lane, Wantagh, were charged with assault, police said.

- GARY DYMSKI

WEST BABYLON/Bethpage man charged with DWI

A Bethpage man was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated after police said he critically injured a pedestrian in an accident in West Babylon just after midnight Wednesday.

Suffolk County police said Robert Riscica, 58, was driving his 1996 Toyota west on Edison Avenue near Dale Avenue when he struck Gregory Tejada, 20, of Amityville, at 12:05 a.m.

Police said Tejada was standing in the road, but it was not immediately clear why. Tejada was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip in critical condition. Riscica, of Sherman Avenue in Bethpage, was taken to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, where he was treated and released.

- JOHN VALENTI