Chaos in Manhattan: As a violent mob runs riot again in Washington Square Park, party promoter behind out-of-control raves tells fed-up residents to LEAVE if they don't like it
New York's iconic Washington Square Park has been hit by a fresh wave of crime that saw two people stabbed, an elderly cook attacked, and a man beaten and mugged.
The Manhattan park saw two men, one aged 24, stabbed in the early hours of Saturday during a 10-person brawl, according to the New York Post.
Around 50 people were dancing in the park - which is surrounded by upmarket homes - at 2:15am when an argument erupted, and spiraled into a stabbing.
One of the victims identified themselves to cops as 'Psycho Wilson' according to the New York Post, and has been uncooperative. A 21 year-old woman was also shoved to the ground, with all three victims expected to recover.
Just two hours before that stabbing, a 43 year-old man filming an argument on his phone had the device snatched out of his hand, with his two attackers then punching him in the face and kicking him.
And on Saturday morning, a 77 year-old cook at the nearby Washington Square Diner was shoved into a plate glass window after kicking a troublemaker out.
The victim, named only as Constantino, suffered a gash to his head after the assailant - who the NYPD named as 27 year-old Gregory Conwell - hurled him into the diner's window, which shattered on impact.
Diner manager George Takos told the Post: 'He started cursing and screaming and yelling and doing whatever he wanted, and then he grabbed the chef and threw him on the window.'
Cornell - who is said to be a serial troublemaker - was chased by Constantino's colleagues and held on the ground until police arrived. He is said to have bitten one of those good Samaritans, and now faces a felony assault charge.
The New York City man behind out-of-control raves in Washington Square Park has said that fed-up wealthy residents should be the ones to leave. Partygoers are pictured on June 10
People are seen packing into Washington Square Park on Friday night, after cops declined to enforce a 10pm curfew brought in just last week
Two women are seen dancing during a massive rave in Washington Square Park on Friday. Local residents say anti-social behavior is making their lives unbearable
People are seen crowded into Washington Square Park near its iconic arch on Friday. It has been vandalized with anti-police graffiti
Meanwhile, a party organizer condemned for planning raves at the crisis hit park has branded residents who complained 'Karens' - and told them to move away.
Party promoter David 'Shaman' Ortiz, 28, also branded male critics of the noisy raves 'Kevins' who want to 'steal joy' in an interview with the New York Post.
'This is my response to the residents. If you have an issue with amplified sound and you live in the downtown area, you live in the Washington Square Park area, then you should move,' Ortiz, who lives in Queens, said. 'I'm not letting anybody steal our joy.'
The landmark park has been plagued by noisy parties with complaints becoming so bad the NYPD imposed a 10 p.m. curfew two weeks ago that lifted Saturday. That curfew has since ended, amid repeated clashes between parkgoers and cops.
Washington Square Park - which sits in Manhattan's ritzy Greenwich Village, has been described as 'ground zero for the city's descent into crime and chaos.'
In a recent Instagram story, Ortiz also referred to the NYPD as 'the biggest gang in New York' while he also claimed to be the person who got NYPD Chief Terence Monahan to kneel in support of Black Lives Matter at the park last summer.
The park, located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan, has long been a destination for bohemian crowds to hang out, enjoy music and party with friends, in part because of its proximity to New York University.
But residents say all night parties with loud music, public drug abuse, impromptu boxing matches and cars spinning donuts are too much to contend with, and have begged NYC officials to step in to help them.
And Ortiz, who lives in the Queens borough of the city across the East River from Manhattan, has thrown the massive raves in Washington Square Park despite not living anywhere near it.
Crystal Howard, a spokesperson for the city's Department of Parks & Recreation, told the New York Post that park will keep midnight as its standard closure hour after the curfew was lifted.
When cops went to enforce the curfew on Friday, a 'militant group' started to taunt police, according to a woman who did not want to give her name to the outlet.
'It was a staged confrontation by the agitators, it was not some random event,' said the woman who lives on Fifth Avenue overlooking the park.
The New York Post reported that the festivities went well past midnight as the officials ignored enforcing the closure of the park.
A fight broke out at 2:15 a.m. that sent three people to the hospital - one of whom was stabbed and another slashed with a razor blade, police said.
David 'Shaman' Ortiz, 28, has since dismissed his critics as 'Karens and Kevins' who want to 'steal joy'. He lives in Elmhurst, Queens - miles away from the scene of his Manhattan raves
People gather in Washington Square Park, Manhattan, New York, where police did not enforce a 10pm curfew on Friday
People gather in Washington Square Park, Manhattan, New York, where police did not enforce a 10pm curfew on Friday
The NYPD has put up a sign reading 'no alcohol' in Washington Square Park even as the city fails to enforce curfews
The landmark park has been plagued by noisy parties with complaints becoming so bad the NYPD imposed a 10 p.m. curfew two weeks ago that lifted Saturday
People gather in Washington Square Park, Manhattan, New York, where police did not enforce a 10pm curfew on Friday
People continue to gather in Washington Square Park after the 10 PM curfew on June 6
Revelers party in Washington Square Park on Friday after violent clashes broke out between park goers and police when the curfew was enforced last weekend
A couple kisses while revelers party in Washington Square Park on Friday after violent clashes broke out between park goers and police when the curfew was enforced last weekend
Revelers party in Washington Square Park on Friday after violent clashes broke out between park goers and police when the curfew was enforced last weekend
Revelers party in Washington Square Park on Friday after violent clashes broke out between park goers and police when the curfew was enforced last weekend
Revelers party in Washington Square Park on Friday after violent clashes broke out between park goers and police when the curfew was enforced last weekend
Revelers party in Washington Square Park on Friday after violent clashes broke out between park goers and police when the curfew was enforced last weekend
According to WABC, a group of men wielding razor blades approached a 24-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman dancing inside the park.
The suspects punched the woman and slashed the man on his left thigh, calf and arm before slashing another man who tried to intervene. The three victims were taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition, according to the outlet.
Leslie Rylee, another resident, sent a letter to the New York Post and local politicians in which she said Greenwich Village 'has become a dystopian other world' which she said is the result of 'apathy, corruption and abject neglect by elected and law enforcement officials.'
Last week, when the NYPD arrested 22 people when enforcing the 10 p.m. curfew while the violent mob injured five officers, according to the New York Post.
In an op-ed, even the New York Daily News described officials as playing 'whack-a-mole' as people 'suffering from mental illness and drug addiction are now using other areas of the park and surrounding streets instead.'
Adam Weprin, a longtime resident, told the New York Post that there are now 'zero rules' at the park.
'Even with the public drug use, there are zero rules. It's all out in the open. It's chaos,' he said.
William Abramson, director of brokerage for Buchbinder & Warren Realty Group which is the landlord for hundreds of nearby properties, said residents have found human waste in their doorways and passed out addicts on their stoops.
His company even hired private security six months ago to patrol their properties near the park after local politicians failed to address complaints.
Crime in New York has spiraled since COVID hit US shores, with felony assaults rising eight per cent for the first six months of 2021, compared to the same period last year.
A total of 7,971 assaults took place between January and the start of June 2020, compared to the 8,604 recorded so far this year.
Rapes are up by 10 per cent this month, compared to 2020, with 108 recorded this month, compared to 99 over the same period in 2019.
And robberies - which includes muggings - have soared by close to 40 per cent this month, from 782 for the same period in 2020, to 1,086 this year.
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