AP

A 2001 photo of Salvatore Perrone provided by the Franconia Township Police Department.

NEW YORK -- A man suspected of killing three Brooklyn shopkeepers has been charged after he made statements implicating himself and after forensic investigators linked him to the murder scenes, authorities announced Wednesday. 

Salvatore Perrone, 63, was charged with three counts of murder Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. 

Responding to a tip call, authorities picked up Perrone in Bay Ridge Tuesday while looking to question a person they called "John Doe Duffel Bag," the balding man with a mustache who was seen on surveillance video near the scene of the latest slaying and who was linked to a video in an earlier incident. 

Police had been investigating the series of deadly shootings of Brooklyn business owners of Middle Eastern descent since the first one occurred in July. 

Law enforcement sources say Perrone made statements placing himself near the scene of the shooting at the Valentino Fashion Inc. in Bay Ridge on July 6.  Mohamed Gebeli, 65, an Egyptian immigrant and a Muslim, was found shot in the back of his shop. Detectives found .22-caliber gun shell casings at that crime scene and also at the scene where Isaac Kadare, 59, also Egyptian but Jewish, was shot in the head in his Amazing 99 Cent Deal store Aug. 6.

The latest victim, 78-year-old Rahmatollah Vahidipour, a Jewish man from Iran, was killed in his women's clothing boutique on Flatbush Avenue Friday. The same casings were found at that scene. 

"It's reasonable to assume he was going to continue doing this," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a news conference Wednesday. "He went to other locations and asked questions that indicated he may have been planning to come back.

A law enforcement official said a Ruger rifle with a sawed-off stock and an improvised combination laser/light attached to its barrel was found early Wednesday in a duffel bag at Perrone's girlfriend's Brooklyn home.  Also contained in the bag were 30 copper-coated hollow-point bullets, latex gloves, women's clothing, a 12-inch steak knife with a substance that may be blood, a fabric color chart and black plastic bags with a substance that may be blood on it, the source said.

Authorities say it is the same duffel bag seen in the surveillance video at the scene of two slayings. The weapon uses .22 ammunition consistent with ballistics found at each of the three crime scenes connected to the case, law enforcement sources said.

Authorities also found .22-caliber ammunition, three knives, one of which appeared to have blood on it, black gloves and women's pantyhose with the legs cut off in the duffel bag, a law enforcement official said. The blood on the recovered knife is being tested for DNA evidence.

Law enforcement sources say Perrone's girlfriend and ex-wife are cooperating with detectives. Sources say he is a fabric and garment salesman, and has several prior arrests, including for stalking and burglary, in Pennsylvania. 

A woman who lived across the street from Perrone's former home on Staten Island said the divorced father of one was a peculiar neighbor and that he used to sing opera loudly from his front yard at odd hours of the night.

"He was just that crazy neighbor," said Julia Marra, 21, who nevertheless viewed Perrone as harmless.

It appeared Perrone was trying to sell his home on the corner of Clove Road and Beverly Avenue on Staten Island. The structure was visibly in disrepair and in need of rehabilitation Wednesday. A phone number listed on the for sale sign in the yard connected to a voice mailbox belonging to Perrone. 

Detectives who specialize in hate crimes and FBI analysts who specialize in behavioral analysis joined the case this week, authorities said.

"The possibility of a bias motive here is something that can't be excluded," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Monday.

The bodies were all partially obscured by clothing or, in one case, a box. The shops all lacked surveillance cameras, and the owners were alone in the store. The locations of the shops are each about 4 miles apart, with addresses that contain the number eight. Money was taken from everyone but Vahidipour, who had $171 in his pocket.

Kelly said it's reasonable to think the shooter had canvassed the area to find locations where no cameras existed. "Here you have three stores where the proprietor is there by himself, no cameras in any of these," he said. "You'd have to speculate that some sort of reconnaissance was going on before the murders took place."

NBCNewYork.com's Shimon Prokupecz, Jonathan Dienst and Chris Glorioso and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Superstorm Sandy has brought its share of calamity and devastation to New York City, since it made landfall in the Northeast on Monday evening. But there's at least one ray of light: There were no homicides over an almost five-day period.

New York Police Department Detective Cheryl Crispin confirmed that as of 5 p.m. ET Friday, there had been no homicides in New York City since a reported death at 3:40 a.m. Monday in the 62nd Precinct in Brooklyn.

That's unusual in the United States' largest city: In the week of Oct. 15 to Oct. 21 this year, for example, there were five murders, according to the NYPD CompStat Unit. That same week in 2011 saw 13 murders.

The homicide rate in New York has been declining in recent decades. In 2011, 515 deaths were classified as homicides, according to city figures.

In the Monday incident, a man who had reportedly been beaten by a group of men died at Lutheran Medical Center in New York, WNBC's Jonathan Dienst reported. Four people were arrested.

But despite the lull in homicides, Superstorm Sandy was deadly: The U.S. toll has risen to nearly 100.

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An New York City police officer is accused of threatening to kidnap, cook and eat women in a bizarre plot where he fantasized about how "tasty" one victim looked and said it would be easy to roast a person in his oven, officials said Thursday.

Gilberto Valle, 28, of Queens, N.Y., was charged with two counts of attempted kidnapping. The criminal complaint against him includes transcripts of his alleged plans, in which he is quoted at one point as telling a co-conspirator that his oven is "big enough to fit one of these girls if I folded their legs."

"I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus ... cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible," he is accused of saying in the July conversation.

Read the original report  |  More from NBCNewYork.com

"She does look tasty doesn't she," he added, according to the complaint.

According to the criminal complaint, Valle had files on his computer that referred to at least 100 women, including photographs, addresses and physical descriptions.

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Ten of those women have been interviewed by the FBI and confirmed that they know Valle, the complaint said.

Valle had been assigned to the 26th Precinct in Manhattan before his suspension on Wednesday.      

He was expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan in court later Thursday. Lawyer information was not immediately available.

An unarmed man was shot and killed by a New York police detective early Thursday after the man had been pulled over by two police cars in Queens, N.Y., authorities said. 

Noel Polanco, 22, was on his way home to Corona, N.Y., from his job at the Ice Lounge in Astoria Thursday morning when he was shot at about 5:15 a.m. He had offered a ride to a colleague, bartender Diana Deferrari, and another woman, who was an off-duty police officer, according to law enforcement sources. All three lived in the same part of Queens. 

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Noel Polanco, 22, was shot and killed by an NYPD officer after he was pulled over early Thursday morning.

As they headed home on the Grand Central Parkway near LaGuardia Airport, Polanco was pulled over after cutting off what turned out to be an unmarked police van. 

When Polanco stopped the car, a detective approached the vehicle and asked him to show his hands, according to police. 

Police said Polanco reached under his seat and appeared to grab for a yellow electric power drill with a black handle.

That's when the detective, Hassan Hamdy, 39, a 14-year veteran assigned to the Emergency Service Unit, fired a single shot through the passenger-side window and hit Polanco in the stomach. He was taken to New York Hospital Queens, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

Passenger claims incident was police 'road rage'
Sources said the detective may have thought Polanco was reaching for a gun. But Deferrari, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, said his hands were on the steering wheel "at all times" and that the officers were angry when they pulled him over. 

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"This was an act of road rage by the police because my friend cut him off, cut off the police," she told reporters Thursday. "The police proceeded to chase us, sticking their middle finger at us and screaming obscenities at the car."

No gun was recovered from the car.

The off-duty police officer in the car, who was in the backseat, told investigators she was asleep when the shooting happened.

Polanco's mother, Cecelia Reyes, said she demands justice for her son. 

More on this story on NBCNewYork.com

"They're just gonna take my son like that ... like he's some kind of criminal ... 22 years old, never got in trouble. I want justice for my son," sobbed Reyes. "I'm not gonna let his memory stay like this. He was not a bad kid."

Polanco served in the U.S. Army for four years, enlisting in April 2008. He was assigned to the 1156th Engineer Company headquartered in Kingston, N.Y.

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"He actually joined the Army because he wanted to be a cop," said Noel De La Rosa, a friend of Polanco. "He said, 'Why don't I do this for a couple of years, and then I'll join the force.'"

Another friend, Tito Cordero, said Polanco returned from a tour awhile back and in addition to bartending, had been working at a Honda dealership detailing cars. 

"He worked hard, two, three jobs," said Cordero. "He was a quiet, good kid. There's no aggressiveness in this kid." 

Reyes said her son wanted to become a police officer after serving in the National Guard. She says she plans to hire an investigator to review the case.

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Series of fatal NYPD shootings
The shooting Thursday is the latest in a series of fatal shootings by police officers in New York.

In August, New York police officers shot and killed a 51-year-old man wielding a kitchen knife in touristy Times Square. Following the incident, police said the man lunged at them.

Also in August, two officers shot and killed an armed man who had just killed a former co-worker outside the Empire State Building. During the incident, nine bystanders were injured by ricocheting bullets from officers' gunfire. 

NBC News staff contributed to this report

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NEW YORK -- One of the nine bystanders hit by gunfire when police shot and killed Jeffrey Johnson near the Empire State Building last week says an inch probably made the difference between life and death for him. 

In his first television interview Tuesday, Alberto Ramos of the Bronx told NBC 4 New York he was shot through his left foot, and that a bullet also came close to hitting his head.

"As I was getting up from the ground, I heard a round go right by my ear," he said, recalling the terrifying moments when police opened fire on 58-year-old Jeffrey Jones, the man accused of shooting and killing Steven Ercolino, a former colleague. 

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Ramos was working as a tour guide supervisor right where the shooting happened, on 33rd Street across from the Empire State Building Friday. 

Ramos, who had been working for his company about seven months, said he was speaking with one of his tour agents outside when he turned his head and noticed a man in a suit "from far away, down the block." Ramos turned back around.

Then, "about five seconds later, I remember the cops saying, 'Stay right there!' And I heard another scream, 'Stay right there!'" he said.

That's when Ramos saw the police officers usually posted at the Empire State Building approaching with their hands on their guns. When he looked to see who they were speaking to, he saw Johnson walking in his direction.

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"I remember the guy in the suit turning around, and next thing I know, he raised his hand, and there was a handgun in his hand," said Ramos. "And as soon as I saw that handgun -- you kind of freeze, and you kind of know what's coming next, and it's nothing good, when someone raises his gun to an officer."

"We took about two steps running toward the opposite direction, and that's when I heard pop pop pop pop," he said. 

Both officers had raised their guns to Johnson and fired a total of 16 rounds. Nine bystanders were hit, mainly by shrapnel and ricocheting pieces of bullets. 

Despite being wounded, Ramos defended the officers' actions.  

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"I have law enforcement in my family," said Ramos, whose stepfather is retired from the NYPD. "I don't blame the cops, not one bit."

The gunman's own mother echoed the sentiment in an interview published in the New York Times Tuesday, saying, "I believe that he turned and pointed the gun at them to make sure that they would shoot him and he would die."

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said the police officers acted appropriately, and in a question-and-answer session with reporters Tuesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "If somebody pointed a gun at you, and you had a gun in your pocket, what would you do?"

As Ramos recovers, he hopes his injury won't keep him from following in his stepfather's footsteps -- he says he wants to join the NYPD in the future. 

Ramos' prognosis is looking good, doctors told him. The bullet went through tissue, not bone, though he may have to undergo surgery in the coming months. 

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The New York Police Department will officially unveil its sophisticated surveillance system to track criminals and potential terrorists as soon as next week, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Saturday.

Kelly said the city developed the software with Microsoft, The Associated Press reported.

Kelly said the "domestic awareness system" combines citywide video surveillance with law enforcement databases.

He said the tracking system will be officially unveiled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as soon as next week. Kelly spoke Saturday before an audience at the Aspen Security Forum.

Keith Bedford / Reuters file

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly is shown at a July 20 news conference.

NYPD officials in New York told NBC News Saturday evening they had no information about Kelly's comments.

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The NYPD has been under fire for surveillance of Muslim communities and partnering with the CIA to track potential terrorism suspects. Muslim groups have sued to shut down the NYPD programs.

Kelly defended the policies as key to thwarting 14 terrorist plots against the city since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

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The NYPD has been reported to have been working on a domain awareness system for years. A 2009 NYPD counterterrorism document describing the system's use says:

The Domain Awareness System is a counterterrorism tool designed to:

• Facilitate the observation of pre-operational activity by terrorist organizations or their agents
• Aid in the detection of preparations to conduct terrorist attacks
• Deter terrorist attacks
• Provide a degree of common domain awareness for all Stakeholders
• Reduce incident response times
• Create a common technological infrastructure to support the integration of new security technology.

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Lloyd Morgan, 4, was killed when he was struck by a stray bullet at a Bronx playground Sunday night.

At least five people are being questioned in connection with a shooting at a Bronx park Sunday night that killed a little boy who got caught in the crossfire, law enforcement sources said.

Detectives believe the shooting was between four members of one group and an unidentified individual, sources said.

Lloyd Morgan, 4, was caught in the crossfire when gunshots erupted in the Forest Houses Park in the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx.

A 17-year-old individual among those being questioned admitted shooting a gun at the scene, sources said.

Read the original report from NBCNewYork.com here

The gunfire broke out on a basketball court during a game that was being played as part of a memorial for a victim of violence, a woman who died in the area more than a year ago, residents said.

Morgan was struck in the head by a stray bullet and pronounced dead at a nearby hospital a short time later.

"My baby is gone," said his mother, Shianne Norman.

Authorities say two other men were also shot. A 27-year-old was shot in the stomach and a 21-year-old was shot in the arm. Both are expected to survive.

"A massive amount of shots just out of the blue, and then another massive amount of shots out of the blue, and then my baby was gone," his mother sobbed.

Residents described chaos as people began running throughout the park and parents grabbed their children.  

The investigation is ongoing.

Community leaders at a rally Monday night called on anyone with information to come forward. 

"If you know who was involved in that crime, you need to come forward," said New York Council Speaker Christine Quinn. "It is saving a life."

"People deserve to have weekends where they can watch basketball," said Quinn. "People deserve to have weekends where they can be outside enjoying their city."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has taken a lead role in calling for stronger gun control, extended his condolences to the child's family, as lawmakers, clergy and residents in the community planned to rally Monday afternoon to call for an end to the violence. A rash of shootings -- including several in playgrounds and ball courts -- has plagued the city in recent weeks.

Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson called the shooting "the last straw."

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"The pastors who preach God's word are now called on to do God's work and come out and stand up for justice," he said in a statement. "If stop-and-frisk can prevent these types of crimes maybe we should have it."

Lloyd's mother begged anyone with knowledge of the shooters to come forward.

"Please please, if you find it in your heart," she said. "There's no snitching when it's a 4-year-old little boy."

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An NYPD officer has been arrested in connection with a months-long firearms trafficking investigation after he allegedly stole guns from his precinct to be sold on the street and arranged drug buys while on duty, authorities said.

Nicholas Mina was arrested late Thursday and charged with conspiracy, grand larceny and sale of a firearm, among other crimes.  Information on an attorney wasn't immediately available. He and four co-conspirators who were also arrested were scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

Authorities say the group allegedly trafficked at least 10 guns over a two-month period. The alleged ringleader of the group, Ivan Chavez, is accused of procuring firearms from various sources and removing serial numbers before selling them, prosecutors said.

See the original report at NBCNewYork.com

Four additional firearms were recovered from his home when a search warrant was executed. Charges against him are pending and information on an attorney wasn't available.

Five of the firearms involved in the trafficking network allegedly came from Mina. The 31-year-old officer allegedly stole four of them from his colleagues' lockers at the Ninth Precinct station house in the East Village. The fifth was his own. Wiretaps of phones for Mina and Chavez reveal incriminating and explicit conversation about gun sales, the indictment says.

Law enforcement sources say one of the buyers was an undercover officer.

A six-year veteran of the force, Mina was part of a 24-hour security detail and had been assigned to guard the lockers after a series of thefts that included bulletproof vests, cash and an iPad along with the guns. One of the bulletproof vests Mina allegedly stole from a locker was recovered by authorities.

Jeff Siegel

Nicholas Mina in Manhattan Supreme Court. He is accused of stealing guns from fellow officers.

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Mina was arrested following an investigation by the NYPD Firearms Suppression Unit, Internal Affairs Bureau and Manhattan District Attorney's office. He allegedly confessed to investigators that he stole the guns to support his drug habit.

The district attorney's office says further charges, including drug conspiracy, are possible.

Also charged Friday were Meryl Lebowitz, 64, and Jennifer Sultan, 38. Lebowitz allegedly delivered guns and drugs for the ring. According to the indictment, she confessed to having picked up two guns that had been sold to Chavez and lived one floor below him. Investigators intercepted phone calls between the two, the indictment said.

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The indictment alleges Sultan was a gun trafficker and that she had been communicating with Chavez about providing him guns. She and Chavez allegedly engaged in extensive, daily conversation about the guns, as well as providing and selling drugs, the indictment says.

There was no information on attorneys for either of the woman charged in the indictment.

Shimon Prokupecz is WNBC's investigative producer. Jonathan Dienst is WNBC's chief investigative correspondent.

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NEW YORK -- A Bronx police officer at the center of the NYPD ticket-fixing scandal has been charged, along with his wife, with conspiring to hire a hit man to murder a key witness against him.

Prosecutors say veteran Police Officer Jose Ramos and his wife, Wanda Abreu, intended for the witness to be killed during a planned trip to Texas so they'd have an alibi.

"He sold his badge," said Bronx Assistant District Attorney Omer Wiczyk. "He has sold his soul."

Ramos and Abreu's charges included three counts of second-degree conspiracy, punishable with 25 years imprisonment.

"We are blindsided by this," said defense attorney Dawn Florio. "My client is not guilty."

The DA alleges the couple spoke in person and on the phone in code, using five different aliases for their intended victim. Some of the conversations were recorded at Riker's Island, where Ramos is awaiting trial, court papers say.

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"They were willing to pay a fee but it was crucial to them they not be involved in the murder," Wiczyk said.

Read original story on NBCNewYork.com

The Bronx DA's office said the couple agreed on a price and withdrew the funds from Ramos' NYPD pension. But before handing over the money, prosecutors said, Abreu suspected she was being recorded, and called it off.

According to prosecutors, Ramos told his wife to deliver the money: "Go ahead, do it. But do it right away."

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Ramos is being held without bail. The judge set a $500,000 bail for Abreu, or $100,000 cash.

Ramos pleased not guilty last year to a range of corruption charges, including accusations that he attempted to transport heroin from the Bronx to Brooklyn, steal money from drug dealers and commit a robbery while on duty. He was among 16 police officers arrested then in connection with a ticket-fixing probe.

The pair is due back in court Aug. 3.

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Authorities in New York are investigating whether a veteran NYPD detective is part of a larger burglary crew.

Manhattan Special Victims Unit cop Rafael “Ray” Astacio, 39, was arrested along with three others, after a break-in at a Long Island home earlier this month and charged with second-degree burglary. The 14-year police veteran was freed on $2,500 bail and suspended from the NYPD without pay a day after his arrest.

Astacio is now the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Suffolk County Police Department and Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office who are now probing whether he works with a team that pulled off other burglaries in New York City. The investigation is part of a larger attempt to determine whether Astacio was involved in corruption during his years as a vice cop and sex-crimes investigator.

Astacio and his three alleged accomplices were caught June 3 after breaking into a Lindenhust home belonging to Anastasios Matheos, according to court documents.

The court papers say the crew entered the home through the backdoor and was leaving with $2,500 worth of jewelry when cops from Nassau and Suffolk County and FBI agents busted them.

Matheos, 64, who was not home at the time of the burglary, arrived home from church around 9 p.m. to find police swarming his property.

“They told me there was a robbery and they got the guys,” Matheos told the New York Daily News.

Matheos said the burglars didn’t ransack the place, but instead went for the jewelry belonging to his wife, Lasiliki, 60, and his daughter Eleni, 27.

The suspects arrested along with Astacio were identified as Paul Adams, 46, Michael Brown, 24, and Joseph Alacqua, 31. All are free on bond, NBC New York reported.

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Investigators had already been tailing Astacio because they were eyeing him for other heists, the New York Post reported.

Astacio returns to court Aug. 9, Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman Robert Clifford told msnbc.com

During his time as a squad detective, Astacio was involved in several high-profile cases, including the arrest of a man who posed as a gynecologist to molest women who answered help-wanted ads and the arrest of a Queens man charged with abducting a passed-out woman from a nightclub and raping her.

Astacio joined the NYPD in 1995 and made more than $100,000 in 2010 in salary plus overtime, the Daily News reported. He was named in a 2009 false-arrest suit after Jose Gonzalez-Pena was busted on a gambling rap and then held in jail on a warrant that was actually for someone else. Gonzalez-Pena sued the city and Astacio and won a $25,000 settlement.

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