There is no coincidence or connection. There are over 7 million people on Long Island. Sex, drugs and crime are a normal part of life here, none of it has a connection, criminals are let out on the streets to reoffend. It only gets worse when if you add the New York five boroughs in the mix with Harlem and the Bronx to the north. It’s a free for all. This behavior has been a part of New York for the past 250 years. The only way this serial killer is gonna be caught is if they catch him red handed with a victim in his trunk.
Every single part of what you wrote is incorrect.
1. First and foremost, there isn't a single person on Long Island that would ever consider people who live in Queens and Brooklyn to be Long Islanders. The 7+ million figure reflects the number of people located on a detached piece of land, but it has no political or even economic significance. The Queens and Brooklyn are not independent counties but fall under the jurisdiction of the office of the Mayor of New York City.
2. I have lived in Suffolk county all of my life, and have seen FBI, DEA, DHS, ICE, and ATF vehicles and agents on several occasions. Do you know how many times I have seen NYPD or even Nassau PD vehicles east of Sagtikos? Not even once. They have no jurisdiction in Suffolk county.
3. These murders have a distinct link to Suffolk County , and especially SCPD , and to justify the lack of action by this department by transposing its workload onto areas of Nassau, Brooklyn and Queens is both illogical and distasteful to anyone who knows anything about Suffolk County.
4. Suffolk County Police Department does not have any type of "clearly " jurisdiction East of Calverton. Town of Riverhead is in a constant state of war with the county (even over water rights, with the county now trying to block the Calverton park development) and RPD despises SCPD for a lot of things over the years, but especially for trying to annex the town's PD into SCPD. Towns of Southampton and East Hampton have no patience for SCPD nonesense. These towns, and the county, both know what SH/EH and surrounding areas bring to the table through the property taxes they collect, and in exchange they get left alone. On the North Fork east of Riverhead you have Southold, and then finally Greenport, which, in addition to the July 4th fireworks show, is known for its own private type of systemic corruption.
5. In 2019, Suffolk County recorded only 24 deaths in a category that combined manslaughter and murder. In a period of 4 months, SCPD added 10 deaths to that annual total and attributed them to a single killer. Remains of additional victims, including those predating the late 2000s murders were also found subsequently. This is an insane statistic. Let's assume that the 24 manslaughter/murder figure represents only violent murders. Adding another 10 deaths to it represents an increase of over 40% year to year. Crime rates have a disasterous effect on property rates, and property rates determine property taxes. It is one thing if these bodies are found in Wyandench and Brentwood, where crime is widespread and property values are the lowest on LI, and another thing if the same happens in Oak Beach, or Mannorville. Commissioners and Chiefs get grilled over stats all the time, because they reflect money collected by the governments they ultimately represent.
6. The only reason this case did not get solved in early 2011 is because it was not in the interest of the people making these decisions in the county. A true modern day serial killer in one of the wealthiest areas of the US, can you even fathom the amount of strong arming and coercion it takes to first delay and then ultimately sweep 10+ murder victims this under the carpet?
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And finally, we can get to our scapegoat of the hour:
John Bitrolff
I have no idea who wrote that little section about him on wikipedia's LISK case but they should be ashamed. Bitrolff's trial was a circus, a travesty of justice of unbelivable proportions, and all brought to you courtesy of the SCDA. The miscarriage taking place every day of the trial was actually very well covered in Newsday at the time, but you know what they say "if a tree falls in the forest but..." and all that:
1. His attorney (not sure if it was a public defender ultimately, but I know he filed a motion to request one which you can look up on CaseLaw) was presented with the vast majority of the evidence only two weeks before the start of the trial. “This case had been pending for two years” since Bittrolff’s arrest, Keahon said. “The Brady [rule] material should have been turned over immediately.”
Attorney: Evidence withheld in murder case Then further down “It shows they [Suffolk prosecutors] have no understanding of what the Brady rule is. All they care about is conviction, regardless of guilt or innocence. It’s a systemic problem in the Suffolk district attorney’s office.” (The Brady violations are a notorious tactic of SCDA, 3 convictions have been stricken in the last few years , one ADA temporarily disbarred recently, 2 sentences vacated, 1 pled down to manslaughter)
2. The medical examiner himself "estimated that Tangredi was killed less than 26 hours after sex and that McNamee likely died less than 24 hours afterward. During cross-examination by defense attorney Jonathan Manley of Hauppauge, Caplan said he had never before testified as an expert about drawing conclusions from sperm density."
Bittrolff murder trial: Medical examiner cross-examined
3. "During the trial in Riverhead, the prosecution has argued that because both women were killed in similar ways and posed similarly, they likely were killed by the same person. But during questioning by Manley[Bitrolff's attorney], Caplan [ME] said there were differences between the two killings" [SAME LINK]
— Tangredi’s body was covered with leaves and brush; McNamee’s was not.
— McNamee’s right hand had possible cigarette burns, while no such injury was on Tangredi’s body.
— No bones were broken in Tangredi’s face, but every facial bone other than McNamee’s jaw and nose were broken.
(Even the most amateur detective would have been able to tell that McNamee's wounds showed that she had experienced very significant trauma abuse pre and post mortem, while Tangredi's body was left more or less intact. This would not have been dependent on experience, but their basic powers of observation)
4. "Further, DNA from numerous men was found on the bodies and clothing of Tangredi and McNamee, Keahon has said. Any of them could have been the killer or killers..Keahon also pointed to a list of more than 75 suspects in the deaths over the past two decades, which includes at least two Suffolk police officers."
LI carpenter faces trial in women's murders
Now this part is so rarely mentioned. Among the 1000 pages of evidence there was apparently a confession from R. Tankredi's husband:
Attorney: Evidence withheld in murder case
5. “Rita’s husband admitted to killing her,” Keahon said, referring to interview notes describing a confession. The notes say the husband described beating her to death and leaving the body in the woods in Bellport.Tangredi’s body was found in a wooded area in East Patchogue, about a half mile from Bellport. Keahon demanded the name of
the detective who conducted the interview."
[Bitrolff was convicted due to two things: DNA dating back over a day and wood shavings]
"Keahon said later that other than DNA, there is nothing linking his client to either victim “in any way.” He noted that DNA testing found semen from several men in both bodies and on their clothing. Without conceding that his client had sex with either woman, Keahon said sexual relations are not evidence of murder."
“At least 75 other suspects who were with either of the girls threatened them, did drugs with the girls or beat them,” Keahon said. One of them was a police officer whose car contained wood shavings, Keahon said. Biancavilla declined to comment on that allegation. Keahon also demanded the names of the officers who were suspects."
There were also multiple instances of SCDA trying to tie the rest of the victims to Bitrolff.
.....The jury returned back with a deadlocked verdict on 3 separate ocassions before finally reaching a guilty verdict.
.....John Bitrolff never took a plea, never admitted guilt, and claims innocence to this day...
Even if you disregard all of the above, understand one thing: If the killer actually happened to be from the Manorville area, they wouldn't have found a single body to this day.
This article from New York Times dates back to 2003 and is an interesting read describing our mentality back then:
4 Bodies Leave Hamlet On Edge (Published 2003)
