MAR '11 - The Nyack Villager

Remember the days?
by James F. Leiner
Bullets fly on Elysian
Avenue
It was around two on a chilly
March afternoon in 1967 when a
young woman walking up
Prospect Street towards Elysian
Avenue heard loud voices arguing.
She looked up and could see
a man in gray slacks and a beige sport coat
standing on the front porch roof of the house
at the top of the block. He was gesturing and
yelling at a group of men standing in front of
the house next door. Others in the neighborhood
heard the yelling, some looked out their
windows, but most ignored the outbursts;
they were common in the neighborhood
where Baker Zada and his family lived.
A young man a few houses up the block heard
the arguing getting louder, and went outside
to see what was going on. He was standing in
the street watching when, all of a sudden,
Baker Zada grabbed a rifle from inside his
house. He turned and fired the rifle at the
group of men. His neighbor, Howard Cummings
and his lawyer, Orangetown Justice
George “Juni” Writer Jr., ran for Howard’s
house. A shot ripped through the front door
shattering glass and cutting Writer as a bullet
passed through his fedora. e other two
men, Werner Loeb, Zada’s attorney, and local
land-surveyor Fred Kay, ducked down behind
their cars as more shots were directed at them.
Twenty-four year old South Nyack Policeman
Harry Nolan was patrolling in the area and
heard the rifle shots. He drove up Prospect.
Parking his cruiser, he ran towards the Zada
house; he didn’t get very far. e young man
across the street heard another shot. It ripped
into Nolan’s right shoulder. Wounded, and
bleeding profusely he got back to his patrol
car and radioed for help. In what seemed like
only seconds Nyack Police veteran Peter Gentile
arrived and headed for the front door of
the Zada house. Within a few short minutes,
Gentile emerged with Zada in handcuffs. Patrolman
Nolan was rushed to Nyack Hospital
where he underwent surgery to remove the 30
caliber bullet from his shoulder. ankfully,
Officer Nolan is the only South Nyack Police
Officer ever shot in the line of duty. Justice
Writer was treated for cuts on his nose from
the flying glass. Later that evening Officer
Gentile was taken to Nyack Hospital with
chest pains he suffered at the Nyack lock-up.
It was a stressful day for all involved.
I’m not sure anybody ever understood Baker
Zada’s reaction to the meeting that was called
to discuss a long standing boundary
dispute with his neighbor
Cummings. Neighbors said the
dispute has been going on for a
long time and there was a previous
“big-fight” over the disputed
boundary line that reportedly involved
less than a few feet of
property. Zada was later convicted
of assault, and spent some time in
the county jail. Tragically as time
went on, the shots on Elysian Avenue started
the crime spree of the most notorious crime
family in the history of the Nyack area.
e shooting on Elysian Avenue was not the
last run-in with the law for Baker Zada. On
December 11, 1969, while on parole for the
shooting of Officer Nolan, Zada assaulted
Rockland County parole officer Joseph Barnwell
when Barnwell sought information about
an allegation of sexual molestation. Zada
grabbed a pancake skillet and started flailing it
at Barnwell and Nyack Police Officer Timothy
O’Shea who accompanied him.
In 1973, the oldest son of Baker and Bahrieh
Zada, Samir Zada, was convicted for the murders
of Monsey dance instructor Jerry Stout
and Congers plumber Christian Gunther.
eir middle son, Nazar Zada, was arrested in
1977 for promoting prostitution using runaway
Rockland teenager girls in a Queens
prostitution operation. He was also convicted
for weapons possession later that year. Nazar
died a few years ago when a heroin bag he was
smuggling into his brother exploded in his intestines.
Not to be outdone, the youngest son,
Amer Zada, was arrested and convicted in the
brutal murder and sex slaying of seventeen
year old Nyack resident, Shirley Smith, on
June 15, 1979. Both Samir and Amer are still
in prison in upstate New York. ey both
have been denied parole on several occasions.
eir parents, Baker and Bahrieh Zada never
became US citizens.
In his book Murder Along the Way, former
Rockland District Attorney Ken Gribetz, devoted
an entire chapter to the crimes of the
Zada family. Titled, e Family that Preys Together,
it is a detailed account of the crimes
that I have outlined here. I find it ironic that
Elysian Avenue, a name derived from Greek
mythology (Elysian Fields)—the final peaceful
resting place of the blessed chosen by the gods,
was the beginning of a crime spree unlike any
other in the history of our area.
The Nyack Villager thanks Jim Leiner for helping us
all ‘Remember the Days.’ ✫
8 The Nyack Villager March, 2011