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Quack
Doc Charged With Murder
Phone surgeon Dean Faiello, the subject of a Costa Rica wide manhunt that
included two New York police detectives, was charged with murder yesterday
for allegedly injecting a Manhattan investment banker with an anesthetic
that sent her convulsing into deadly seizures.
Three weeks after Faiello was arrested by immigration officials in Costa
Rica, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau charged the fake
physician with one count of second-degree murder in the death of Maria Cruz.
Faiello faces 25 years to life if convicted.
Investigators believe Cruz suffered severe seizures and died after Faiello
injected her with "lidocaine, or a similar anesthetic," during illegal laser
surgery at a makeshift clinic he'd set up in a West 16th Street apartment,
Morgenthau said.
Cruz disappeared after an April 13 appointment with Faiello - who was
treating her with lasers for a growth on her tongue - at the Chelsea
apartment.
Her decomposed body was found last month, grotesquely twisted into a small
carry-on suitcase and buried in a concrete coffin in the carriage house of
Faiello's former Newark, N.J., home.
Prosecutors in Essex County are also considering additional criminal charges
against Faiello - including the second-degree felony of unlawfully
disturbing, moving, desecrating or concealing human remains, law-enforcement
sources said yesterday.
Faiello is sitting in San Sebastian jail and is fighting extradition on
charges of illegal practice of medicine and bail jumping. The DA's charges
will be added to those already filed against Faiello.
"He is innocent until proven guilty," said his lawyer, Moises Vincenzi,
Before earning of yesterday's warrant, Vincenzi said he was seeking
permission to allow Faiello to leave jail, go back to his beach home and
check in with the courts "every two weeks."
Vincenzi was unsure whether that would still be an option with the newly
filed charges.
Crooks Stuff Cow in Car
María del Milagro, a 2 year old Jersey dairy cow that weighs in at 250
Kilos, producing about 20 bottles of milk daily, became a victim of a
kidnapping that was quickly rescued by alert police officers.
A man identified only as Vargas, who with the help of a friend, took
Maria from a corral in San Pedro de Coronado, placed her in his red
Hyundai and sped off.
Police officials of the Santo Domingo de Heredia were alerted and
sometime around 3am were successful in locating and rescuing Maria in
Mercedes Sur de Heredia.
Police became suspicious when they spotted the vehicle that had darkened
windows, the back end low and rocking about. At first, police, according
to their report, had thought to have stumbled onto a passionate couple
in the back seat taking advantage of the dark and desolate area.
Police were surprised when they got close to the vehicle and peeked
through the windows. Police not only rescued the cow, but were able to
arrest the man about 100 meters from the scene where he had abandoned
the vehicle. |
María del Milagro, 2 year old Jersey
cow
rescued by police after being kidnapped.
Fotos: La Nación/Diaro Extra |
At about 4pm, after a day in police protection, María del Milagro, was back
on the farm and in the company of her herd. The Organismo de Investigación
Judicial (OIJ) lifted fingerprints from the scene which implicated Vargas.
Alex Chavarría, the OIJ official who is in charge of stolen farm animals
says that each day they find new ways for people to steal the animals from
the farms.
Cuba
Attacks Costa Rica
In the United Nations Commission for Human Rights, Costa Rica and Cuba
staged a strong verbal clash, after the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs
Felipe Perez asked whether the Costa Rican Government is drafting a
resolution against Havana "acting as a pawn at the service of the imperial
master."
The last allusion was a direct reference to the United States. Perez further
asked, "Would Costa Rica present a resolution condemning capital punishment
for minors, women, and the mentally sick in the United States? No, it
wouldn't."
The Costa Rican permanent representative, Manuel Gonzalez, replied that
Costa Rica would not answer to the provocation. He added that the Cuban
people have "all of the right in the world to live in full freedom and fully
exercising their human rights."
The Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Tovar, pointed out that
Cuba's attacks against Costa Rica are anything but new.
NASA to Map pre-Columbian Routes
Six miles above the surface of the Earth, a
powerful NASA radar has been mapping pre-Columbian routes from Mexico to
Peru, including Costa Rica.
A team composed of 30 scientists from NASA, the National Geographic, and the
Smithsonian, as well as a DC-8 plane, were in Costa Rica early in March, in
order to map the archaeological areas covered today by the tropical forest.
Jaguar on the Brink in
Corcovado
The largest carnivore in Latin America, the jaguar, is on the brink of
extinction at Corcovado National Park, in the Costa Rican southwest Pacific.
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The relentless actions of poachers against the jaguar and its main
source of food, wild pigs (above), have brought the ranks of the feline
to barely 30, while they numbered 150 a decade ago. This picture is
drawn according to the findings of biologist and researcher Eduardo
Carrillo, who is developing extended field studies. According to
Carrillo, the director of the Osa Conservation Area - of which Corcovado
is part -, and other officials, the park needs at least 50 more wardens
in order to stop the poaching.
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Currently, there are only 25, who work 15 to a watch as a maximum, to guard
42,468 hectares (some 105,000 acres) that comprise jungles, beaches, rivers,
500 species of trees, 140 species of mammals, 350 of birds, and 6,000 of
insects, among others.
To make matters worse, the Park's operational budget - for fuel, patrols,
and the like - for this year is only 12 million colones (a little over
$28,000), enough to meet barely the most basic needs.
Park authorities, the tourist sector in the area, the neighboring
communities, and the Ministry of the Environment sent an S.O.S. to enlist as
many volunteers and as much donations as possible to preserve the jaguar,
the wild pig, and many other species that survive in Corcovado, defined by
the National Geographic magazine as the most biologically diverse zone in
the world.
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Colombian guerrillas abduct 12 travelers
At least 12 travelers were kidnapped Thursday in northern
Colombia by alleged guerrilla dissidents, local authorities said.
The police commander of the Bolivar department, Jesus Antonio Gomez, said
the manager of Montecristo's municipal hospital was among the abducted but
he declined to reveal the name.
Local authorities did not disclose the nationalities of the travelers.
A dissident group of Colombia's second largest leftist guerrilla group, the
National Liberation Army (ELN), was responsible for the kidnapping, the
authorities said.
It occurred in the lower part of the Cauca River, when the group of
travelers were sailing in two ships leaving Montecristo for Magangue.
Gomez said the Caribbean naval forces, Colombian army and air forces have
launched a joint operation to find the travelers.
Venezuelan
president threatens to raise oil prices
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned that any attempt to
overthrow him would raise the international oil prices to over 50 US dollars
per barrel, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Chavez made the remarks in an interview with the US daily which published on
Thursday, saying he "would not tolerate" any US-led attempt to force his
deposition.
He said the US government led by George W. Bush does not respect the
Venezuelan government, noting Bush's continuous interference in Venezuela's
internal affairs would jeopardize one of the key oil providers to the United
States.
"I can not believe a government is willing to put its oil supplies at
stake," he said.
As the world's fifth largest oil exporter, Venezuela provides about 1.5
million barrels each day to the United States, which accounts for nearly 15
percent of the latter's oil imports. Chavez has recently on several
occasions threatened to cut off Venezuela's oil exports to the United States
if his country is invaded or blocked by the latter.
The Venezuelan leader also accused the United States of backingthe failed
coup that attempted to oust him in April 2002 as well as of financing
Venezuelan opposition groups.
Mexico: Twelve killed in wave mob violence
At least 12 people have been murdered in the last 48 hours in
Guadalajara, authorities said Tuesday, ascribing some of the killings to
battles among drug dealers.
Homicide detectives from the state Attorney General's Office in Jalisco
state, whose capital is Guadalajara, said there have been six
execution-style killings in less than 48 hours. At least in these cases,
they believe the motive was a "settling of scores" in organized crime.
Top police officials from the Guadalajara force and the nearby communities
of Zapopan, Tlaquepaque and Tonala met Tuesday to analyze the wave of
murders.
Jalisco Security Secretary Alfonso Gutierrez Santillan, federal Attorney
General's Office representative Jaime Rodriguez Aguilar and the
representative of the federal police also participated in the meeting.
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