By Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

JAY STREET – Standing on the corner of Van Brunt and Pioneer streets in Red Hook, the Bait & Tackle bar has a relaxed and inviting atmosphere. It’s a place where locals can gather from the quiet streets of Red Hook to chat with friends and relax on a cold night.

Some customers know the story of how a former bartender there was held up by a brazen duo in broad daylight and who exploited Red Hook’s quiet industrial streets to rob not one but two Red Hook bars in September 2007.

However, customers at Bait & Tackle on Thursday were just as proud of being Red Hookers as ever.

“I’m not moving away,� said one Bait & Tackle customer.

Another customer that night was close with victims of the robberies and referred to the story of the Bait & Tackle’s former bartender, who was held up at gunpoint, as “traumatizing.�

That individual had testified for the prosecution in the trial of Luis Rodriguez, 28, the man accused of being the teardrop-tattooed suspect in those robberies and currently on trial in Kings County Supreme Court. He is charged with first-degree robbery before Justice James Sullivan.

After prosecution rested Friday morning, defense attorney Joseph Ostrowsky recalled Det. Jesus Estevez to the stand to question him about taking a written statement from Rodriguez and setting up a line-up. Ostrowsky is expected to continue the defense case today, likely calling a gun expert.

It is unknown if Rodriguez will testify on his own behalf.

“There’s always a possibility the accused will take the stand in his defense,� Ostrowsky added.

Rodriguez, who has a double-teardrop tattoo under his left eye, is accused of participating in two robberies with a ski-masked accomplice. They allegedly robbed bars and their customers at gunpoint, binding bartenders and customers with duct-tape before fleeing with thousands of dollars from cash registers filled with weekend profits.

First was the Bait & Tackle robbery on Sept. 23. Then, the following Sunday, Sept. 30, Moonshine bar on Columbia Street was robbed — both at about 3 p.m.

Ostrowsky claimed that prosecutors are trying to use pin these robberies on Rodriguez, and that his alleged confession to the Moonshine bar robbery made to 71st Precinct detectives may have been coerced.

Rodriguez was arrested with his common-law wife, Carmen Garcia, after they allegedly entered the Bait & Tackle bar weeks after the robberies. Bartenders who were aware of the ‘Wanted’ posters depicting the tear-dropped robber called police.

The man accused of being Rodriguez’s accomplice, Gabriel Caro a.k.a. Jose Rivera a.k.a. David Santiago, was arrested this September — two full years after Rodriguez was arrested. Caro was apprehended after police matched his DNA to samples found on a ski-mask and handgun in Garcia’s car.

Prosecutors called the pattern of Red Hook robberies a “family affair� after revealing that Caro was Garcia’s son, claiming that Garcia was a getaway driver and Caro, 29, wore the ski-mask during the robberies.

But during the trial, Justice Sullivan ruled against allowing evidence of Caro’s arrest being introduced into Rodriguez’ trial. Ostrowsky had objected on grounds of relevance.

“That’s [my client’s] step-son, who happens to be older than he is,� Ostroskwy said. According to prosecutors’ version of events, Rodriguez and Caro pulled off the two robberies together before Garcia drove them away in her Chevrolet Blazer.

Prosecutors said that Rodriguez and Garcia entered the Bait & Tackle again on Oct. 15 intending to commit a third robbery when they saw the ‘Wanted’ poster on the wall, and Rodriguez fled. He was arrested a few blocks away hiding under a car.

Rodriguez was paroled from prison just three months before these robberies took place. He has several drug offenses in his past, with his first arrest for possession of narcotics with intent to sell, when he was 15 years old. He was sent to a juvenile facility for 18 months, but two more drug arrests came in 1999, leading to a four-month sentence, and after that sentence, further drug offenses landed him in prison through June 2007.

Caro is also charged with first-degree robbery. His next court date is Dec. 14 before Justice Cassandra Mullen.

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