NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Staten Island man and a Brooklyn man were found guilty of extorting and murdering a Queens business owner after lending his son money, federal prosecutors said.
A federal jury on Friday convicted Ppassim Elder, 42, of Staten Island, and Wilbert Bryant, 57, of Brooklyn, on extortion, bank fraud, firearms and murder charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a press release.
Elder, also known as “Big Sam,” lent the son of Ozone Park-based Garden Valley Distributors owner Hani Kasem, 64, money to put towards the business in 2017, prosecutors said.
When Kasem's son wasn’t able to repay Elder, however, the Staten Island resident launched a “campaign of intimidation” against his family, paying accomplices to throw a rock through the son’s home and barging into his family’s home himself to intimidate them, according to prosecutors.
On Oct. 23, 2017, Elder sent Bryant and two accomplices to Garden Valley Distributors, prosecutors said. After they entered the business, they pistol-whipped the son and fatally shot Kasem in the face, according to prosecutors.
“With today’s verdict, a jury has held the defendants accountable for their heinous crimes, including the murder of a Queens business owner while attempting to collect a debt they claimed was owed by the victim’s son,” Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said in a statement.
“This Office and our law enforcement partners are working tirelessly to protect the communities in our district from violent criminals like the defendants, who will now face very serious consequences for their actions,” Kasulis added.
The two men face up to life in prison at their sentencing, prosecutors said.
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