Three from Brooklyn indicted for murder, extortion of Queens business owner

March 8, 2018 By Rob Abruzzese, Legal Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Four people involved with the murder of a 64-year-old business owner in Queens were indicted in Brooklyn federal court this week. Three of them face possible life in prison, the four faces up to 20 years. Eagle file photo by Rob Abruzzese

Share this:

Four men, including three from Brooklyn, were indicted on Thursday for the murder and extortion of a Queens business owner that occurred in October 2017.

Dwayne Ling, 55; and Frederick McCoy, 52; as well as Ppassim Elder, a 38-year-old from Staten Island also known as “Big Sam,” were indicted on murder charges. The fourth defendant, Mahdi Abdel-Rahim, 24, was indicted on extortion charges.

“As alleged in the court filings, defendant Ppassim Elder exploited a business owner’s need for a loan and sent his enforcers to try to collect it, ultimately leading to a senseless and tragic murder,” stated U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue. “No son should ever watch his father be killed.”

According to the indictment, Elder loaned money to the son of 64-year-old Hani Kasem, who then used it to support the family business. When the son could not repay the loan, Big Sam began what officials called a “campaign of intimidation” that began in March 2017.

On the morning of Oct. 27, 2017, Elder sent three people, Ling, McCoy and a third co-conspirator, to the Queens grocery store Garden Valley Distributors in Ozone Park, which was owned by the murder victim, to collect on the debt, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

That confrontation ultimately ended when the perpetrators brandished a gun, pistol whipped the son across the head and shot the father to death, according to government officials.

According to a report by the Daily News at the time of the killing, NYPD believe Elder lent the family $50,000 to open the business.

All four defendants have been charged with extortionate collection of credit conspiracy and extortionate collection of credit. Elder, Ling and McCoy are also charged with brandishing a firearm and causing the death of another through use of a firearm.

The murder charge and firearm charges can both potentially turn into life sentences. Abdel-Rahim faces up to 20 years in prison.