Carl Perryman arraigned

Facing charges of attempted murder, racketeering

Posted

Carl Perryman, called “the worst of the bunch” among Rockville Centre’s gang members by police, was arraigned last week on charges of racketeering, drug distribution conspiracy and two counts of attempted murder.

Perryman was arrested at his home on Old Mill Court on Feb. 17, 2012. He was charged in a gang-related shooting that took place on March 16, 2011 near the Old Mill Court housing complex in which a 25-year-old Freeport man was shot in the back and arm.

Perryman, a South Side High School dropout who was known in the neighborhood as “Carl Carl,” has been tried and acquitted in Nassau County Court on charges of second-degree murder and attempted murder in two other cases. The first involved the killing of a former childhood friend, David Baez, 27, who dated Perryman’s sister. Baez was shot and killed in May 2008, in front of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, after attending a birthday party there for Perryman’s father.

Less than a year later, Perryman was acquitted of the July 2009 attempted murder of 47-year-old John Bush, who police said was shot numerous times in the face and neck with a handgun as he was walking with Perryman on a footpath behind Old Mill Court.

Rockville Centre police said they worked with the FBI for three years to build a case against Perryman and the other members of his gang, the Bloods.

The police and FBI worked to build a case against Perryman and the Bloods under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly known as the RICO Act. It allows the leaders of a gang to be tried for the crimes they ordered others to commit.

“RICO investigations don’t come lightly. Up to this point, we made over 50 arrests in relation to this investigation,” said RVCPD Lt. James Vafeades, detective supervisor, referring to the arrests of gang members that the police and FBI made in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

“Many of the guys we arrested are never going to get out,” Vafeades said. “And it takes time to build a strong case like that. When you lock somebody up — for, say, assault — you arrest them with probable cause and put them away. And they might not even do jail time. But when you lock somebody up and you want to put them away for 20 years, you need to build a strong, strong case. Informants, intelligence, surveillance — all of these things come into play, and it’s very time consuming.”

Vafeades said that the Rockville Centre police first reached out to the FBI and the Long Island Gang Taskforce in 2010 when Charles Gennario became commissioner. The RVCPD worked as a team with the FBI agents over the years to build the case, and they are still working.

Gennario thanked U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch and her staff for their assistance in the indictment. Lynch’s office will be handling the prosecution of Perryman.

“Carl Perryman has been a dangerous individual living amongst us for a long time,” Gennario said. “It was a top priority for our members to remove him from the streets. His indictment has certainly made us safer. I want to commend my detectives and the FBI, who have worked tirelessly in bringing this individual to justice. It’s been a long-term investigation that has finally paid dividends.”