Brooklyn jurors got a virtual tour Wednesday of the decrepit basement where prosecutors say a door-to-door salesman hatched his murderous schemes, smoked cigars — and practiced shooting the rifle that would later be linked to the deaths of three Middle Eastern shopkeepers.
Prosecutors showed photo after photo of the dingy, ramshackle space where Salvatore Perrone allegedly plotted the killing of Mohamed Gebeli, Isaac Kadare and Rahmatollah Vahidipour.
NYPD Det. Warren Davis described the scene as looking like a “garage sale” as he walked jurors through the sea of “clutter,” pointing out a FedEx box of ammo, and Remington 12 gauge shotgun, two empty shotgun casings, duct tape and the broken butt of a rifle.
On the back wall of the basement, investigators found a piece of printer paper propped up against the moulding, concealing a cluster of 12 bullet holes from a .22 caliber rifle.
As he has throughout the trial Perrone, who appeared to be fighting a cold, pored over the evidence, making the jurors wait more than 10 minutes while he leafed through photos of his dying plants, mildewy walls, and tattered insulation, blowing his dripping nose between in between.
The court officer handing him the photos repeatedly used hand sanitizer to ward off the germs.
During cross examination of Davis, Perrone interrupted his defense attorney Howard Kirsch, asking him to have the detective testify about the amount of space between the bullet holes.
When the detective said he didn’t have that information, the defendant loudly whispered, “show him the photo.”
Kirsch ignored him, and finished his line of questioning. When the attorney resumed his seat at the defense table, Perrone, who was warned about outbursts by the judge a day earlier, hissed, “Why didn’t you show him the photo?!?”
Kirsch sat back in his seat, scowling.