Shaun Considine writes tell-all books about Hollywood movie stars – but now he knows what it’s like to be part of a real-life cop drama.
The 64-year-old author of books about Bette Davis and Barbra Streisand donned fake blood and let police walk him out of his house in handcuffs to help detectives foil a plot to frame him for possession of drugs and kiddie porn.
Police said the sting led to the arrest yesterday of Norman Schacter, 48, a tanning-salon owner who hoped a phony vice rap would make the biographer a tainted witness in a 3-year-old dog-bite case involving Schacter’s wife, Debbie Gamiel.
Gamiel is charged with felony assault for allegedly ordering the couple’s pet Malinois, a breed similar to a German shepherd, to maul Considine in Central Park.
“This is right out of the movies,” said a police source. “It’s both weird and ridiculous, and the people involved went to great extremes.”
The strange dog-bite saga began on Sept. 8, 1998, when Gamiel’s dogs bit Considine badly as he jogged in Central Park. The bites were so bad he needed 18 stitches.
Gamiel was set to go to trial April 30. Shortly before that cops became aware of a plot to hinder Considine’s testimony.
A man came forward and said Derek Multry, a 33-year-old Bronx man with a record for robbery, asked him to participate in a bizarre scheme to beat and frame someone.
Undercover detectives joined the informant for a meeting with Multry, who told the cops he wanted them to beat and frame Considine. Multry said he would even supply the crack and the pornographic pictures.
The police played along and agreed to beat and frame Considine, whom they soon told of the plot. He agreed to join the sting. The drama unfolded on April 28, with Multry watching from across the street.
Undercover cops posing as hired thugs went into the apartment. After they left, a squad car showed up and police hauled out Considine in handcuffs. He wore fake blood – which was really ketchup – to look like he had been beaten.
Satisfied, Multry paid the undercover cops $900. Cops arrested him last Thursday – and he promptly identified Schacter as the man who hired him.
Schacter was arrested Friday by Detective Thomas Hovigen of the 19th Precinct.