A hardened Bronx ex-con was busted yesterday in the tragic murder of a hardworking Mexican immigrant who was stabbed in the heart while on his way to work, cops said.
Harvey Dudley, 43, who has a long rap sheet, was charged with killing Miguel Carino, 65, who was found unconscious on a Bronx street corner at 5 a.m. on Aug. 3. He died shortly afterward.
Under questioning, police sources said, Dudley said the violence unfolded after a bumping incident between the two. He refused to admit trying to rob Carino.
Deputy Chief Joseph Reznick said Dudley was first arrested in 1974 – when he was a teenager – for possession of stolen property.
Since then, Dudley has been arrested another 25 times and spent five years behind bars for attempted robbery. He was last busted on Nov. 14, 2000, for drug possession.
“The arrest of this suspect means there is one less reprobate that Bronx citizens will have to worry about,” Reznick said.
The hardworking Carino died near the home where he lived since emigrating from Puebla, Mexico, in 1982 with his wife, Carmen Lopez Rojas.
They were just a month away from their 25th anniversary.
As was his habit, Carino had left for his job as a porter at a City Island restaurant at 5 a.m.
Carino’s son, Nebtalli, 38, said the family was relieved to learn of Dudley’s arrest. “It makes us feel much better,” he said.
Since the murder, he said, “We feel very bad. We’re crying all the time – everyone. Our father did nothing wrong to anyone. He was a nice, hardworking man. He didn’t bother anybody.”
Reznick said detectives got a break in the case the day after the murder when a robbery occurred at 187th Street and Third Avenue, near the site of the slaying.
Later that week, a detective investigating the robbery got a tip that a man nicknamed “Black” – Dudley’s nickname – was involved in the slaying, he said.
Reznick credited Detective Jimmy Monahan of the Bronx Homicide Task Force with putting the pieces together.