The deranged Staten Island man accused of gunning down three Brooklyn shopkeepers execution-style bizarrely told cops he was a CIA operative ordered to kill Jews by Arab men who paid him for his role in the murders, explosive court documents revealed yesterday.
After his arrest, Salvatore Perrone, 64, told investigators he was working for the “Palestinian section of the CIA” and that he watched while two different Middle Eastern men he met at the Knights of Columbus shot and killed his first two victims.
Perrone even claimed that one of the Middle Eastern men — identified in court papers as “Mr. C” — insulted his masculinity and forced him at gunpoint to stab the second victim, according to court papers released after Perrone’s arraignment in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
“He tells Sal that he is Arabic and he has balls, insulting him by saying that Italians have no balls,” Perrone crazily claimed to cops, according to court papers.
“Mr. C tells Sal once more to finish it. Sal says now that Mr. C is pointing the gun at him. At this point Sal takes the knife and stabs the man in the neck at least twice,” the papers state.
Perrone is accused of three counts of first-degree murder for the slayings of Mohammed Gebeli, 65, in Bay Ridge on July 6; Isaac Kadare in Bensonhurst on Aug. 2; and Rahmatollah Vahidipour in Flatbush on Nov. 16. Gebeli was Muslim and the other two victims were Jewish.
The former clothes salesman also went crazy in court yesterday, demanding he be represented by his personal attorney.
“Where is my personal attorney?” Perrone yelled out, asking repeatedly for Frank Masciocchi. “Are we in the United States of America?”
Masciocchi, who represented Perrone on a DUI charge years ago, was surprised to hear his former client was asking for him.
“It’s somewhat of a moot point because I’m not licensed to practice in New York,” Masciocchi told The Post by phone, adding that he was stunned when he first heard of the accusations against his former client.
Perrone’s court-appointed attorney, William Martin, entered a plea of not guilty and requested a mental evaluation to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.
“I’m going to check off the box that says ‘disruptive, confused, or bizarre behavior,’ ” said Justice Alan Marrus.
“I wanted to get my hands on him,” Moe Gebeli, the son of the first victim, said after court.
Referring to his father, Gebeli said, “He was the best man in the world.”
Perrone smoked a cigar and stuffed his face — he ate pizza and a turkey sandwich — and bragged about the height of his Staten Island home during his 26-hour interrogation. He rubbed his right hand over his right eyebrow when he was asked a question that made him uncomfortable, the court papers state.
Perrone told investigators that he met Middle Eastern men at a Knights of Columbus Hall in Dyker Heights and that one — identified as “Mr. B” — drove him to shoot his gun near some woods in Long Island, sawed down the rifle, and gave him $500.
The man later took him to Valentino Fashions, Perrone claimed, where he said Mr. B shot and killed Gebeli, the court papers state. Perrone said Mr. B gave him $3,000 after they fled the scene.
Mr. C approached Perrone a few weeks later and, using “Long Island” as a code word, said that “they should go see the Jewish guy,” and, “All the merchants are Jewish,” the court papers state.
Perrone told investigators that Mr. C then shot and killed Kadare and forced him to stab him afterwards as a “true test.”
When investigators asked Perrone why he killed Gebeli, who is Muslim, Perrone said the Arabs told him Gebeli was not on board with them and was too “Americanized.”