Queens
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The two men whose bodies were found in a Howard Beach brush fire had been killed by drug dealers whom the victims had planned to rob, cops said yesterday.
Police suspect the cocaine dealers had learned that Rudy Superville, 22, and Gary Lopez, 25, were going to rip them off in the Bushwick home of one of the killers, who waited for the holdup men to make their move.
“We believe Rudy went in first and they jumped him right away,” said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. “Then they told him to ‘go out and get Gary in here.’ . . . They picked the wrong dealers to rip off, apparently, because when they got inside, their targets essentially were waiting for them.”
The killers took turns shooting, stabbing and beating Superville and Lopez, cops said.
One of the suspects, Rogelio Rodriguez, 34, was arrested and charged with murder and possession of a weapon, police said. Cops were seeking four others.
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A man (pictured) is suspected of groping a 12-year-old girl boarding a 7 train in Woodside, cops said.
The groper accosted the child at about 7:40 a.m. Friday at the Woodside/61st Street station, police said. The girl got off the train at Queensboro Plaza while the suspect stayed on board.
Manhattan
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An East Village bank manager was arrested for allegedly swiping nearly $300,000 from a customer’s account, authorities said.
On Feb. 26, Jairo Valero, 34, fled the Sovereign branch where he worked, on Avenue A near East 4th Street, after co-workers confronted him about the theft, police sources said.
He had allegedly pilfered an account at the Sovereign branch on East 8th Street on Nov. 6, withdrawing $5,000, court papers state.
The crooked banker pillaged the same account on Jan. 30, withdrawing $9,000, authorities said.
Also, he allegedly wrote two checks to himself from the account totaling $275,000.
He was arrested last Thursday on grand-larceny charges, records show.
Brooklyn
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A Prospect Heights man was arrested for pushing his landlord over a banister during an eviction squabble, authorities said.
Staphon Charles, 24, was arrested at 7 p.m. Monday after the incident in the building on St. Marks Avenue on Oct. 17, according to court records.
Charles, who was subletting the apartment from a buddy, was asked to vacate the premises after the landlord became fed up with the suspect’s pot smoking and strange visitors, law-enforcement sources said.
The two got in a heated argument when Charles returned to the building to collect his belongings, the sources said.
At one point, the victim allegedly barred Charles from leaving, with the intention of calling 911 on him.
The suspect then allegedly pushed the landlord over a banister.
The victim plummeted 10 feet, and was hospitalized for more than a month, sources said.
Charles was arrested in the landlord-assault case after being picked up for allegedly smoking marijuana on Dekalb Avenue, law-enforcement sources said.
He was charged with assault, menacing and harassment, records show.
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A punk vandalized a church in Greenpoint, cops said.
A witness spotted the word “abuse” sprayed in white paint on a sign at the Holy Family Parish on Nassau Avenue at about 3 p.m. on Feb. 25 and called police, authorities said.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the graffiti.
Staten Island
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Three people were arrested in Heartland Village during a drug raid, authorities said.
Cops arrested Daniel Lipson, 22, Thomas Vincifora, 37, and Jennifer Bolton, 28, at about 12:15 a.m. Sunday at Bolton’s home on Essex Drive near Marisa Court, court papers state.
During the raid, police found a crack pipe in Vincifora’s possession, as well as a bag of cocaine and three oxycodone pills, court papers state.
Bolton allegedly had heroin and cocaine in her possession, and Lipson allegedly had a spoon with cocaine, authorities said.
A .38-caliber gun was found in the home.
The three suspects were charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminally using drug paraphernalia, according to a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.