Woodbury, NY – A Long Island man who is considering converting to Islam was arrested for interrupting a Jewish couple’s wedding reception by commandeering the DJ’s microphone to blast a pro-Palestinian chant, police said Saturday.
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Stephen Buttafuoco pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Saturday, and was held on $1,500 bail. He faces a felony charge of aggravated harassment as a hate crime, said his attorney, Thomas Spreer.
The 23-year-old West Babylon man was working last weekend at the Woodbury Jewish Center when he interrupted the celebration by playing the chant “Allahu akbar” – God is great – over the sound system, officials said.
Buttafuoco taped the chant on his cell phone one day before at a pro-Palestinian rally in Manhattan, his lawyer said.
The 700 guests were stunned when they heard it played at the celebration’s final prayers at about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 4, police said.
“They thought that this could lead to some kind of terroristic act,” Marino said. He said the recording “put the guests in fear that something was going to happen to them.”
The now-apologetic suspect was arrested without incident on Friday afternoon.
Buttafuoco, a waiter with Morrell Caterers for the past two years, was fired on the spot. He worked almost exclusively at Jewish events without any problems prior to his arrest, Spreer said.
“Both the young man and his family are so sorry these events unfolded,” said Spreer. “And they wish to do whatever they can to apologize to the patrons at the wedding that night.”
Spreer, of Babylon, said charging his client with a felony may have been heavy-handed.
“On the other hand, I can understand the concern of the members of Jewish community who were at this wedding,” Spreer said. “I can certainly see both sides of the coin.”
Buttafuoco told detectives that he was trying to disrespect Judaism privately and that he didn’t think the recording was being played throughout the building, just in the sanctuary, where he was, police said.
Police, who called the recording “an offensive Palestinian chant,” said he was not arrested until Friday because detectives wanted to rule out terrorist connections.
Because of the Sabbath, neither the caterer, Morrell Caterers, where Buttafuoco had worked for about two years, nor the synagogue could be reached for comment.
Lets not go overboard on this…he is clearly a troubled young man but indicative of how the hatred is being instilled in these young people throughout the world.
“A Long Island man who is considering converting to Islam was arrested for interrupting a Jewish couple’s wedding reception…”
“Buttafuoco told detectives that he was trying to disrespect Judaism privately and that he didn’t think the recording was being played throughout the building, just in the sanctuary…”
Let me get this straight … this fine young man wants to convert to Islam, which, everyone knows, requires all its adherents to hate Jews, and he gets arrested for practicing his religion???
That’s called religious persecution!!! Call the ACLU!!!
The good news is, he was only trying to disrespect Judaism PRIVATELY. What a relief.
I don’t think he did something terrible….its wrong from him…but he he surly didn’t mean to scare the people at the wedding..and by putting him under arrest it makes all his friends angry..and they will shtilherhiet..take ravange some how some place…all we needed to do is to make him say I am SORRY and that’s it….I wana hear a different opinion,,,so feel free to critize me
Not worth commenting on senseless remarks
Yeah right he didn’t mean to scare people at the wedding.
Would you say the same if he would be playing nazi audio by a holocost survivors convention or anti american slogans by a military funeral? its a hate crime and hate crime in america is a punishable act.
I love his name. Any relation to Joey
his own lawyer said he understands the charges with you compasion towards jew haters you need to be a victim of it then you will understands death to all terrorists
Of course he wanted to scare the people at the wedding. Why else would he do it? If people will see that these actions are not prosecuted, more will feel free to do it. I hope it is prosecuted as a hate crime.
He’s an idiot..how could you say he didn’t do something wrong,,almost everyone what knows in this dayand age what “allah akbar” means..he knew exactly what he was doing!! The anti-semites seem to coming out of the walls now, like roaches..keep davening everyone!!
he should be put on a plane and sent to germany to see the concentration camps then let him chant
He was being disrespectful to Jews. He worked for Jews for 2 years and didn’t have any hakaros hatov. Well, let him go to jail. His actions were hateful.
It was a teenager’s practical joke, carried out by an immature 23-year-old “kid.”
I say, “kid,” because anyone who would do this can’t be mature enough to be called an adult, no matter the numbers on his birth certificate.
It was probably meant to be a little hurtful, get attention, show off, but relatively harmless, but, nevertheless ruined someone’s wedding.
Since “He ruined my wedding!” is not a serious enough charge, this one works fine. He will plead to a misdemeanor, and be stuck with a criminal record, which is certainly enough punishment.
In the meanwhile, the tough felony charge helps the hurt couple and their angry families, deal with their frustration and anger, and the plea will take place after the anger has faded.
Is he relasted to joey butafuoco?
He knew well enough what his stupid action will trigger! And don’t forget were he got the recording from: he got it the day before at a islaist anti israel rally!!! If that’s where this kid hangs out, boy I rather see him in jail.
He should have tried this by a Williamsburg wedding, he probably wouldn’t have been around to say he’s sorry.
And yes my friends, he should have had the crap beat out of him!
Hate crime, plain and simple.
You guys said it all. Nothing to add, except that Yoiny (#1) is a total moron.
How about protesting (with signs) outside his house & showing his neighbors what a creep this Muslim convert is. Just like his namesake, this should follow him.
lock him up. this is the first act he has done against jews. im sure he will do more anti semetic actsif he is not stopped.
let him see how his friends in jail treat the cute young guy
It’s tough to be a moron. We should have rochmones for someone so stupid.
Glue a yarmulke to his head and send him to Gaza. Let’s see how much he likes “Allahu Akhbar!” then.
I tell ya, when I see some of these waiters at weddings and other affairs… I get nervous about eating the food (remember what Jesse Jackson said he did when he worked as a waiter?)
18 …How about the terorists in mumbai were also kids ? Age 20 and all other muslims that suicide themselves are also just kids ?let this kid go to the hoorie choishech
it is correct that this 23 year old learns to take responsibility for his actions. as should every 23 year old “kid” in our kehillos who does not yet understand that he owes his parents or his shver for every page of gemarra he has learned if it’s on their dime.
This guy was working, and took advantage of his employer, and his employer’s property to perpetrate either a prank (at best) or a crime (at worst). In addition to being irresponsible, and lacking in good judgement, he totally lacks appreciation for having a job in today’s economic struggle.
However, if the above translations are accurate, it is worth taking a few seconds to think about what actually went down, especially to lighten the moment for the rest of us. Apparently they were about to bentch. According to the translations above, this guy pointed out, that Hashem is Strong.
we know this.
HaShem Izuz V’Gibor!
An important point to remember, before bentching, and asking Hashem for Health, Peace, and Blessings on our families. Hashem doesn’t get tired… EVER.
We should be really asking for what we need when we bentch.
This is sad–I’ve been reading VIN for a long time now but I just can’t stay silent.
First of all, stop feeling sorry for the waiter. “He surly didn’t mean to scare people at the wedding” is a cop-out. Seriously–he had that recording on his possession and he could have listened to it PRIVATELY (thereby disrespecting Judaism privately) by listening to his phone and not putting it on a loudspeaker. Come on, don’t you have any common sense? Now that he was caught and is in trouble, he’s trying to cover himself. Sorry, it’s too late. And feeling sorry for him is just pathetic. He did this because he wanted to disrespect the Jewish people and he wanted to scare the wedding attendees. That’s the bottom line.
Second of all, the collective intelligence of VIN members is extremely embarrassing. I seriously wonder how old most of you are (and if you’re old, if you had any proper schooling) and if you realize that your comments are reflecting negatively on the Jewish people. The hatred that emanates from comments like this where many of you immediately started hating the victim is ignorant, cruel, and wrong.
We are Orthodox Jews and this publication is for PUBLIC consumption. That means any Arab or non-Jew can use what we write in the comments against us. Must the VIN community be so close-minded all the time? Perhaps most of you need to actually go to a real school and associate yourselves among non-Jews (and Arabs). They are people just like us and they deserve respect unless proven otherwise (just like this waiter guy who had malicious intentions from the start and is now embarrassed because he probably didn’t realize he’d get arrested).
“Let me get this straight … this fine young man wants to convert to Islam, which, everyone knows, requires all its adherents to hate Jews,”
And I have to nitpick this comment, “DizzyIzzy.” Where does it say in the Qu’ran that those who convert to Islam are required to hate Jews? Have you ever actually studied that religious scripture, or are you making assumptions?
Gah – I feel like I always read commentary from VIN readers who live in their little worlds and yet feel like they are able to make such horrific statements without knowing the repercussions of their words. GET OUT AND ASSOCIATE YOURSELVES WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT JEWISH and *then* you’ll be more qualified to make statements!
does anybody know at which wedding this incident took place?
1. yoiny. yoiny, you’re wrong. we can’t allow ourselves to be seen as weak. we can’t let the public see that we’re willing to tolerate this type of anti-semitic behavior. He admitted to police he was trying to be disrespectful, “Buttafuoco told detectives that he was trying to disrespect Judaism….” And worse, because of the nature of the incident and today’s world in which we live: who knows, it could have actually been a terror attack. We need to be vigilant and aware and not see these as “innocent, unrelated, non-Arab, non-terror” related incidents. That’s what the liberal media does with everything that happens here in America. The Seattle JCC comes to mind. In fact, mabye we SHOULD view this as terror related. The terrorists do that. They test how security and police officials react to an incident so they can plan around it. What do you think the “The Flying Imams” incident was. It was to test how the security, and police and legal system would react to the incident so they can use it against us as Americans and Jews.
what do u mean ‘he didn’t want to scare anyone’? tante freidele was so shocked, she threw her kneidelech over the mechitza,they landed right in the mechitens shtreimel. and bubbe genendel spilled her hot soup all over yenti’s tichel
The man should be charged 700 counts of assault. The definition of assault being “to place in fear or apprhesion thereof” (battery is when you touch or hit someone) If I was there I would have dived under a table. The time when every unclaimed package in America becomes a “chafetz chashud” is coming. As demonstrated by the 15 year old kid with S4B that flew a small plane into a Bank of America Building a few weeks after 9/11 in order to show solidarity with the terrorists, one does not need: to be a card carrying member of a major terrorist organization; training, lots of money, or a supply of conventional type weapons. If you’re in a public place and someone screams Allah Akbar, drop to the ground. It should be instinctive. 700 counts, one for each person that was there. Tell the judge to pretend Rubashkin yelled. You’ll get 700 counts.