A horrific crime that resulted in the murder of Paul Garofalo, an Orange business owner and 80-year-old grandfather from Caldwell, took place around the corner from the Orange police station and not far from Baristanet reader’s fave pizza haunt, Star Tavern. From the Star Ledger…
Garofalo, 80, — a former television repairman who became a video and DVD merchant and ran Suburban Video — was found by police about 1:20 a.m. Sunday on the back-room floor of his store.
He was sprawled, bleeding from the forehead, and unresponsive, said investigators, who responded after a passerby reported the front door of the business was unlocked.
“There was a hammer next to his head,” according to an Orange police incident report of the homicide. “The cash register was found open. There was no cash in it, except for some coins.”
Garofalo, in business for 52 years, had once been a frequent critic at city council meetings, where he complained about loitering, littering, drug trafficking and the need for walking police patrols along the lower Main Street area.
In the past year, he had started advertising a sell-off of his VHS tape and DVD inventory so he could retire. The business is around the corner from police headquarters on Park Street.
Cordell Aarons, a retired letter carrier and friend of Garofalo’s since 1958-59, said he is in disbelief about the violence that claimed his friend’s life.
“Everybody knew this guy. They loved him. Now he’s gone, after all he’s done,” said Aarons, a resident of nearby William Street. “He hired people from the neighborhood, even after many of the white merchants left the area, following the (1967 Newark) riots,” said Aarons, who is African-American, about Garofalo, who is white. “He definitely gave back to the community. He had such a good rapport with customers.”
I’m sorry for his family. It takes gutless cowards to kill an 80 man at the Holiday season. Let’s not go soft on prosecuting crime or trying to rehabilitate thugs. They only respond to like violence.
Your on the wrong blog Iceman. The people on this blog are more likely to blame the hammer company than the animal that did this. What a total waste.
Please do not insult animals. I have never known an animals to have the same cruelty as a human.
how about an alligator or a killer whale who flips seals in the air….
I’m with Ice on this one. Man is the most dangerous animal of all. I hope they catch the perp quickly. NO MORE WRIST SLAPPING!
Sadness upon sadness here. What else can be said? May his soul find its promised reward.
Well said Cathar.
are you remebering your time together
No matter how liberal minded this neck of the woods may be, this is a evil crime. Anyone looking for mercy for the perpetrators has to have a screw loose. What makes this particularly tragic is the store’s proximity to the police station. It reinforces the belief that there is no safe haven. May Mr. Garafolo rest in peace.
Rest in Peace!!!! Never..his spirit will stalk the killer and visit endless calamaties on him or her.
This is extraordinarily sad news and I believe there’s no rehabilitating the killer.
….are you remebering your time together
WHO?
“This is extraordinarily sad news”
Agree.
“and I believe there’s no rehabilitating the killer.”
Disagree.
How does one define “rehabilitation” for person who could so cruelly murder a relatively helpless and defenseless 80 year old man?
For me, it is a moot point, because in my world such a predatory individual would spend the rest of his or her life behind bars, never to step foot back into civilized society again, “rehabilitated” or not. Save the rehabilitation effort for those who might actually have a shred of compassion and empathy bureid somewhere deep down in their hardened criminal hearts.
I let my 10 year old son walk to the corner store with his older cousin the other day to get some chips. NEVER AGAIN IN THIS TOWN!!!
right on, pork roll,
as my brother would say, it’s time to thin the herd.
Rehabilitation in this case should be a hammer to the head. If you kill someone you should be killed the same way preferably by a relative of the victim if they wish. The only exception should be accidents and this was not one.
“If you kill someone you should be killed the same way preferably by a relative of the victim if they wish.”
The death penalty has never been given to innocent parties!
I heard on the news that he had had a video surveilance system, but had sold it recently since he got a good price, and didn’t figure to be needing it anymore. Police think they may get some useful images from a neighboring store owner’s video camera, though.
I’m all for punishment to fit the crime. However if some object, how about beating the perp’s writing hand to a pulp with a hammer, then life in jail for murder? That is, if he/she escapes the death penalty.
How about just life in jail and just really mean it? None of this parole crap.
I am against the death penalty and *cruel and unusual* punishment because what does that make us? We’re supposed to be a civilized nation and all that jazz.
But for heinous crimes of this type, I believe in a true life sentence.
And no, not everyone can be rehabilitated.
The old geezer probably refused to pay reparations for society’s past injustices to the perpetrators and therefore had to suffer for his intransigence.
When caught, the cold blooded killer needs to be put in jail, and then not fed and starved to death. There is no greater pain than starvation. Film the final day of life and air it on TV as a 2-hour Special!
“old geezer”??
Very nice….