NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Manhattan’s Top Prosecutor Resigns, Murder Charge for Man who Allegedly Packed Dead Roommate in Suitcase, City Council’s Minority Leader Talks New Role and Hockey Fan Builds Tiny Backyard Rink

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon is leaving her post days after the White House ordered her office to withdraw corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams. Plus, a man is facing a murder charge after he allegedly killed his roommate and put his body in a suitcase in the East River. Also, WNYC’s Sean Carlson talks with Councilmember Joann Ariola about her new role as minority leader. And finally, WNYC’s David Brand hits the ice with a hockey fanatic in Queens who turned his tiny backyard into a hockey rink.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan is resigning. Interim U.S. attorney, Danielle Sassoon, was appointed to run the office of the Southern District of New York until President Trump's pick for a U.S. attorney could be confirmed by the Senate. Sassoon's resignation comes days after the White House ordered her office to withdraw bribery and corruption charges against Mayor Erie. Adams. Earlier this week, the Department of Justice officials said the bribery and corruption case against Adams should be dropped so he could better help President Trump's immigration crackdown.

The U.S. Attorney's spokesperson did not cite a reason for the resignation. A lower east side man is facing a murder charge after he allegedly killed his 65-year-old roommate and put his body in a suitcase in the East River. WMYC's Brittany Crickstein has the details. Missing flyers for Edwin Ichavaria are still up at the building where police say he lived with Christian Millett. According to the NYPD, the two men were sharing an apartment and got into a dispute over food that led to Etchevada's killing. His daughter, Jennifer Matthews, says Millett was the grandson of Ichavadia's ex-girlfriend. She says Millett had beaten him up in the past. Last time when he left, I told my dad not to let him back in, and I didn't find out until me.

my dad was missing that he, I moved back here. My father. She says Ichavadia recently retired after working for decades for the U.S. Postal Service. Attorney information from Millett was not immediately available. Republicans on the New York City Council have a new minority leader. After the break, a conversation with council member Joanne Ariola. The New York City Council is the legislative branch of government for the five boroughs. Think Congress, but on the local level.

Its 51 districts are made up of handfuls of neighborhoods, often with similar characteristics. But of those 51 seats, only five are occupied by Republicans. Now the City Council's Republican Caucus has a new leader. Joanne Ariola represents the Rockaway Peninsula, parts of Southern Queens, and her home neighborhood of Howard Beach. The minority leader talked with WMYC's Sean Carlson about her new role. You're leading a relatively small caucus, although, we should note, a recent election in the Bronx saw a seat flip to the GOP in that borough for the first time in decades. How do you get stuff done when you're leading a minority party with such a small caucus?

We've really gotten so much done. I mean, in our caucus, we're all on powerful committees. I'm the chair. I'm the only Republican in the delegation that is a chair of a committee. I'm the chair of a committee on fire and emergency management. We've been very successful in passing legislation. And as a matter of fact, what I like to call solution-oriented legislation. Myself, I just passed two bills that would keep the DOT accountable in notifying districts and the council members when they're going to close streets. I was able to create the mayor's office of marine debris removal and surrender because our waterways are polluted with just wrecks of boats and debris. Council Member Palladino has been active in her district with closing shelters, closing homes that had had squatters in there,

closing cannabis shops. Kirstie Marmarato has legislation that would stop children in schools from choking. There's an apparatus to go into the throat into the bronchial tube so in case they're choking on food. These are solution-based legislation that no one can disagree with. Councilmember Carr worked with people who had property taxes and were in arrears, had a bill passed that would give them some type of forgiveness and ways to pay. So we are getting things done. And we don't have to lose our conservative views to work across the aisle with the Democrats. And that's what I would like to do as minority leader is work across the aisle to make sure that,

although we don't lose sight of who we are, we really make, The Democrats who are the majority of them are moderates really understand that we need to get this city back in shape and it has to happen quickly. Now, I don't think anybody thinks that you're kicking back with the Speaker of the Council when you're not on the clock. But what is your relationship with Speaker Adrian Adams who leads to the Democrats? To know Speaker Adams from another life when she was a community board chairperson. And I worked for a hospital network that was within that community board. So I have a longstanding relationship with her. and I have a lot of respect for her.

And I think that as a speaker, she is a very fair speaker. And she is always available when any member of our delegation has needed to meet with her and discuss funding for their districts. We would not be able to bring back the money that we do to our districts without having a relationship with Adrian Adams. I think discourse about national politics often talks about how divided things feel, especially right now in this moment. And do you think that's true in local government too? And how is it different or the same for that matter? I think that a lot of people, and we saw this in the last election, we saw a phenomenon and we call it the Trump phenomenon because people voted for Trump overwhelmingly in areas that were blue

normally and they turned red. Now, in New York, certainly his numbers were higher in some areas that were normally blue, but it didn't really affect the down ballot. So people are now picking and choosing who they're. voting for because they're really paying attention to how they voted. Are they worried about crime on the streets? Are they worried about subway crime? Are they worried about, you know, putting recidivists behind bars? Are they worried about the criminal justice system? Are they concerned with all these things? Are they concerned with congestion pricing, which is making things very difficult for people

in the out of boroughs to get into Manhattan in order to go to the doctor and go to, you know, see shows or even to work? These are the things. they're looking at and they're looking at who's running and they're saying, does this person extol the kind of values that I do? And that's how I believe Christy Marmarato was able to flip the 13th in the Bronx because the Marjorie Velasquez, who did not extol the ideology or the feelings of her constituency was beaten by a Republican. So people are starting to look to see, if I want to stay, I'm going to have to go with candidate X and not worry about it. the incumbents and not worry about party line and just vote for the person who's going to do

what I believe is needed to keep this city going for me to be able to stay here, work here, and feel safe here. That's council member Joanne Ariola, talking with my colleague, Sean Carlson. One thing about New Yorkers, they know how to make good use of their tiny backyards. From planting vegetable gardens, installing swimming pools, raising chickens, and even building tree houses. But none of that comes close to building a hockey rink in a 12 by 18 foot patch of Queens. WMYC's David Brandt hit the ice with one dedicated defenseman. I never thought I'd go to Ridgewood Queens to play ice hockey. That is, until I met Gino Santa Guida. What's up?

How you doing? Nice to meet you. Thanks to everyone. Thanks, everyone. Welcome. Having me over here. Santa Guida is 34, plays on a semi-pro hockey team. He says he needed a place to work on his slap shot and hone his stick handling. I was like, oh, how cool would it be if I could use my backyard as a practice area? He thought about covering it with a synthetic material, too expensive. It was going to be over $1,000 to do my backyard. He decided to get creative. He bought lumber, framed out a rink, and taped goal lines to a tarp. Then he filled it with a hose and let the water freeze. I looked next door and there's a guy with a pool and I'm like, you know what? It's the same thing, just different, just frozen. And cheaper. I think he was in total.

I spent about $180. He even got a free net from Facebook. He says he unwinds after work by lacing up his skates and taking shots. Basically, I'm out there so much that I developed tendonitis in my elbow because I've just been shooting so much. He invited me to join him. We stepped onto a patch of ice beneath his building's fire escape. I feel like this rink is my tribute to my love for hockey.

We spent the morning shooting wristers. All right. There you go. There you go. There you go. Man, you want to come over more often? I could have a passing partner. Now, I just need skates.

That's WNYC's David Brand. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.