An ice cream deliveryman tried to carve a rival up like a banana split during a violent turf war over who had the right to peddle frozen treats to a Brooklyn bodega, sources told The Post yesterday.
The trouble started at the “52 Tompkins Grocery” in Bedford-Stuyvesant Monday as private distributor Homero Jaramillo was trying to sell some cut-rate Haagen-Dazs to the shop’s owner.
While the deal was going down, the store’s regular ice cream supplier, Steven Perez, arrived and flew into a rage.
“Steve came in and started screaming ‘I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!’ to Homero,” said store owner José Zorrilla. “Steve got mad that Homero took his ice cream route. Homero said, ‘Take it easy, it’s no problem.’ ”
But to Perez, the new vendor homing in on his turf was a big problem. Perez allegedly pulled boxcutter and threatened to turn his dessert-dealing rival into rocky road, law-enforcement sources said.
“Steve threatened to attack Homero with his work knife,” Zorrilla said. “He kept saying, ‘I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!’
“Me and my brother had to wrap our arms around him and hold him. I said ‘Stop, stop!’ ” Zorrilla said.
Homero then ran out but the cold war didn’t end there.
He allegedly returned with a bat from his truck.
“He came back and hit Steve on his back. It was self-defense,” Zorrilla said.
A witness called 911 and store workers were still holding down Perez when officers arrived, police sources said.
The 24-year-old Brooklyn man was charged with menacing and harassment. Jaramillo, 51, was charged with assault, menacing and harassment.
Perez yesterday denied that he pulled a knife on his ice cream competitor, but admitted he was angry at the attempt to steal his business.
“I knew who he is because he’s my competition,” Perez told The Post. “I had seen him once before. He tried to make a sale on my route.”
Perez said he pays $150 a month to keep an ice cream freezer in the store, and thought that meant he had exclusive selling rights.
“He was trying to get into my store to get sales off of my freezer,” Perez said. “I saw him making the sale, so I confronted him about it. He got a bat out from his truck. I said put it down so we could fight. He took a swing at me. It hit my lower back. About six people jumped in and held me back.”