Good old-fashioned police work paired with a willingness to “snitch” found the killers of José Sucuzhañay, a Bushwick resident beaten to death by a baseball bat in December. Hakim Scott, 25, of the Bronx, was arrested yesterday, and police are still seeking Keith Phoenix, 28, also of the Bronx. Phoenix is on parole for armed robbery. Updates as they come.
UPDATE: The second guy was nabbed —
UPDATE 2: and he says
“So I killed someone—that makes me a bad guy?…What’s the big deal? The guy’s dead.”
UPDATE 3: and that it was self-defense!
Dresden February 26th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Good news. I knew they’d catch these SOB’s. I wonder how many gay slurs they’re going to get called in the next 25-50 years up in Sing Sing.
Jimmy Legs February 26th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
oh i can’t WAIT for this to go to trial. these assholes came all the way from the bronx to beat up gays? can they get charged with terrorism a la the Patriot Act? Life, no parole!
Dresden February 26th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
I think they might end up only getting 20-30 years. Murder 2, as a hate crime, probably won’t make the lifers.
Dresden February 26th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Anyway, this made me incredibly happy.
mopar February 27th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Murder 2 as a hate crime won’t make them lifers? Do they have to take out a whole school?
I’m so glad the police caught these men, hope they have the right guys. Such a horrible crime. Horrible tragedy for the brothers and their families.
Dresden February 27th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
25 to Life. I read in the papers that’s what they’re facing. You know they will eventually get out, when they’re like 55 or so.
mopar February 27th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
They’re actually pretty old. I thought for sure this kind of crazy thing had to be done by someone really young, maybe 18. Guess sociopaths take longer to blossom than I thought.
Rod February 27th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
This happens when the community works together. In this case the Gay and latino community got together and this are the results. Great news for the neighborhood.
Jeremy Sapienza February 27th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I’m pretty sure it’s just cuz a cab driver took the plate number. Nice thought, though.
Dresden February 27th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
yeah, what a hero cab driver. he came forward after a month?
Professional Alternative March 2nd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
#8, how is this arrest due to the gay and Latino community getting together?
mopar March 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
The neighborhood, politicians, and the news media did come together and express outrage. The Brooklyn DA said it was the No. 1 priority in his office. That kind of support may have helped the cops with resources and motivation to find the murderers.
Dresden March 3rd, 2009 at 1:31 am
It was the taxi cab driver.
chillinoncentral March 3rd, 2009 at 8:23 am
This 2nd jerk, Keith Phoenix, is the one accused of striking the final blows with an aluminum bat… and he has the nerve to suggest that he was protecting himself at the time of the assault! He tells a Daily News interviewer that he saw Jose Sucuzhanay reaching for a gun and that he reacted in self defense! By all witness and police accounts, the brothers had no weapons. These two lieing aholes are nothing more than inhumane careless savages with no heart or sense of compassion for human life. I suppose they need to say something in their own defense, but obviously they have NO defense and deserve to be in jail for the rest of their lives for what they’ve done.
smokeeg March 3rd, 2009 at 11:12 pm
the lack of respect for themselves and life, their hate for and fear of difference will ultimately be their noose in prison. don’t think for a minute that the prison culture will tolerate these animals. they may not make it to 5 years alive in prison.
rot in your own hell.
mopar March 4th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Tell us about the taxi cab driver, Dresden. What happened? I don’t know the story.
Dresden March 4th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Police, of course, were looking for an SUV driven by two African Americans. They had various surveillance cameras from banks, police towers, toll booths, etc. Unlike London, which is stocked so full of cameras due to the serious threat of terrorism for 20+ years, NYC just doesn’t have the cameras in comparison. Poring over various routes leaving Brooklyn, you can imagine how many dark SUV’s with two African Americans there were – and then, you have to hope you have a license plate that isn’t too grainy to read. So you come up with 25, maybe 50, maybe 100, maybe 300. Then what? Half of them you don’t have a license plate number for. The other half you start tracking down and interviewing to see if you can get a break, read body language, see if someone’s going to break. And my guess is – all these avenues led to failure until…. a taxi cab driver comes forward, probably scared because of his immigration status, but finally urged by friends and family to throw caution to the wind – he finally comes foward and gives the license plate number of the offender’s SUV. So, what broke the case? I’m 99% sure it wasn’t the social pressure of gay rights activists.
Jeremy Sapienza March 4th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Completely agree with Dresden. It had nothing to do with the gay and Latino “communities” getting together — they didn’t except for a well-meaning protest. Again, makes a darling soundbite but it’s simply untrue. Without the taxi driver, they would have gotten away with it. And that’s all there is to it.
Rod March 4th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Dresden,
Did you know the taxi driver only had half of the plate number. You know how many half plates they have on record for other crimes that are still unsolved. They had a lot of pressure from the community to solve this case. The taxi driver deserves credit but the pressure of the activists and the work from the police deserves even more credit.
Dresden March 4th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
First, who cares? I don’t. If it was a bunch of people holding signs, great. I haven’t seen a bunch of people holding signs accomplish very much, ever.
Second, color, car type, half a plate # – Frankly, I don’t know how many half plates they have on record for other crimes that are unsolved – and I don’t care about defending my opinion. If I’m wrong and it was societal pressure, great.