New York – The man at the center of the 1991 Crown Heights riot now lives incognito in a New Jersey town, untroubled by memories of his terrible deed.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
“Up until today, I left it alone,” Lemrick Nelson Jr., now 34, told The Post. “I don’t even think about it.”
“That was 19 years ago,” he said about fatally stabbing Hasid scholar Yankel Rosenbaum at the height of the notorious race riot. “I was a kid then. I made a mistake. Kids make mistakes. I’m a man now. I’ve never been in or out of trouble. I don’t live that life.”
In his first interview since his 2004 release from prison, Nelson described himself as a sober family man.
“I don’t drink anymore because of what happened in 1991,” he said. Nelson’s legal team had blamed his violent act on drunkenness.
The Brooklyn riot was sparked when a Hasidic motorcade struck and killed a black child, Gavin Cato, 7. Hours later, a mob of angry black residents, including Nelson, hunted down Rosenbaum, a visiting Australian who had nothing to do with the fatal accident.
Bloody rioting, and clashes with cops, continued for days. By the end, 152 cops and 38 residents were injured, six stores were looted, and 27 police cars damaged.
Nelson now lives with a woman and their toddler daughter in an apartment in Hillside.
Neighbors and even his landlady, unaware of his notorious past, call him by his new nickname, “Ricky.”
Nelson, who was tried three times for Rosenbaum’s death and eventually served 10 years in prison, offered an apology for the riot, but not to his victim’s family. “I regret the fact that people got hurt out there,” he said.
He repeatedly asked that his whereabouts and current life not be disclosed. “Let bygones be bygones,” he pleaded. “All it will do is bring back people’s memories. You’re just going to create tension for me.”
you can’t ignore the fact that he killed an innocent man by fataly stabbing him.we will never forget yankel Rosenbaum HYD.
It’s a dark time we live in when an admitted killer is playing the victim.
Bum!!!!!
Yes he looks very clean in his picture – someone you would want living next door – real tzaddik Baal tshuva
I don’t get the point of this article?
Hello, “Ricky.”
I am God. I got some news for you . . .
Our nechama is that there is a next world where the judge is not as lenient as the judges here.
I find it funny that after writing exactly where he lives including the huse # they then write that he asked “that his whereabouts not be disclosed”
Can someone explain why a murderer gets 10 years but for non-violent first time offender white collar crime they were recomending life, then comuted to 25 years – (which is practicly the same thing in this situation)?
What is the logic?
Where is the logic?
May G-d avenge Yankel Rosenbaum’s, HYD, blood.
I am sure all the jews on this site that what to put smr away would be very upset with 10 years.
Shame on shaul and the rest of you that are afraid to put you name online.
Where is your justice
Now that Thug killing a person got away with 10 years while with rubashkin they’re asking for 25 years…. That’s justice, isn’t it???
Leave him alone we yidin don’t seek revenge and b”h we have an eibeshter who deals with justice
This is the justice system in this country. But for bank fraud, life.
post his contact info so we can call him and tell him exactly what we think of him!
We live in a world that jewsish blood is hafkar compare this tug and lowlife to the Rubashlin case.
may hasham send the geula shlima bakorov imalkani baroshani
“I regret the fact that people got hurt out there,” he said.
Note: He regrets that people got hurt, not that he hurt people. Not even a hint of remorse.
He probally got out easy because he was a minor.
they should have locked up Dinkens in the same cell with this piece of garbage. If he had done his job there would not have been riots.
for someone that was in the streets of CH all 3 nights of the riots it is bllod boiling, and another chutzpa is that that jew hater SHARPTON that was walking around on eastern parkway yelling antisemitic slogans, is a big mentch today and is having breakfast with obama, this is unreal, if you like to meet al sharpton go to the HAVANA CLUB, a sigar bar at 666 fifth avenue where he is a member seating there somking expensive cigars and he does not look very worried about his poor black brothers,
How about Grossman, why was he executed while this guy only got 10 years?
If you kill someone in the U.S., you’re in trouble.
But if you mess around with the banks, you’re in real trouble.
Why? Because in the U.S., they value money, not life.
He got ten years and rubashkins looking at 25
Time to move on. You know, like it is time to forget about those six million, and time to forget about Hamas and Arafat, and you know, time to just turn the other cheek.
This lowlife should lose all four limbs and get ALS so he can’t even move the stumps.
“I was a kid then. I made a mistake. Kids make mistakes”.
Mistakes??? kids make mistakes like skipping school or even shoplifting. Running around stabbing human beings is hardly a “mistake” it takes a specific species to commit such horrific acts and sleep at night.
If he did tshuva fine leave alone and get on with his life ; however he has not done tshuva since he has not asked the family for forgiveness he just wants to be left alone; excuse me SCUM don’t you think the family thinks of their dead son and brother DAILY. After reading this the family will feel worst knowing you skum never
even care that you killed another person. SCUM YOU SHOULD KNOW PERSON TROUBLES ALL YOUR STINKEN LIFE
The ethnic slur in post 34 should be deleted! But please post the murderer’s address and phone#.
The address really doesn’t tell you much. Just see how many results Google maps turned up for 176 Hillside Ave, NJ:
176 Hillside Ave, River Edge, Bergen, NJ 07661
176 Hillside Ave, Demarest, Bergen, NJ 07627
176 Hillside Ave, Livingston, Essex, NJ 07039
176 Hillside Ave, Hillside, Union, NJ 07205
176 Hillside Ave, Succasunna, Morris, NJ 07876
176 Hillside Ave, Allendale, Bergen, NJ 07401
176 Hillside Ave, Chatham, Morris, NJ 07928
176 Hillside Ave, Springfield, Union, NJ 07081
176 Hillside Ave, Piscataway, Middlesex, NJ 08854
This artice will accomplish nothing but bring up old wounds. Why was this article written. What is the intrinsic value to us. If he were a rabblerouser and trouble maker, maybe. If he is a quiet neighbor, why get evryone excited. You are looking for another crown heights? I dont understand story
10 years but SMR live?
“Neighbors and even his landlady [are] unaware of his notorious past.”
They need to be made aware of it. Especially his landlady. I know I would never want to rent to someone who committed an act like that.
I am appalled at the extent of moronics in many of the comments.
This killer was acquitted by a jury of his “peers”, who were as murderous and anti-semitic as him. They acquitted in the face of unquestionable evidence. It was a travesty of justice.
The issur of taking nekomoh, as clearly stated in the posuk is “es bnei amecho”, only against a Yid. There is no issur of nekomoh relevant to a goy. There is the midos question, and it a serious one. I would put this to Daas Torah for an opinion.
I am no advocate of violating secular law. But I would hope there was a way to locate this creep and do enough things to him (without breaking laws) to make every day of his existence pure misery. Let him hate his life. Every day that he walks free is a mistake. Yes, Dinkins deserves no less than that. He was also a mistake from the outset.
usa corropted justice a bruttal guy who admitted killing a man is free after 10 years in prison with his brutal bluetooth in his gusty ear.
he should have been sentenced to dead.
thanks to our president he is out there.
The explanation is simple:
Nelson is a free man enjoying life because he killed a Jew,
SMR is being persecuted because he IS a Jew.
Why did Grossman get KILLED while he gets 10 years?!
If I feel like a kid today can I “MISTAKENLY” go and tear this guy apart limb by limb?? Bygones will then truly be bygones.
We’re living in a real sick country, he kills a man and is out after 10 years and Rubashkin they want to lock up for 100’s of years. The Jury that let him walk should all have a Misa Meshina
His landlady and his employer need to be made aware of his criminal record. The community in which he lives must also be made aware of it.
Nelson killed a person in cold blood for absolutely no reason. He removed from this earth a scholar, a kindhearted person that would have contributed immensely to humanity and to his community.
It matters not why he is walking free – that the prosecutors messed this up, or this or that.
SMR has been thrown to the dogs – he was a victim of a terrible witch hunt. Making excuses for his horrible persecution, the lawyers the this, the that; changes nothing.
The fact is Nelson is free after MURDERING someone who never hurt him or was not a threat to him, but was viciously pulled out of his car at a red light. Nelson is free after a decade in the SAME COUNTRY as SMR who is having the book thrown at him.
Nelson lives in quiet peace – SMR has his names slandered daily without reprieve – in the SAME COUNTRY.
In the SAME COUNTRY two cases as different as day as night. Two people as different as day and night. One is free – and the others lives in fright.
IN THE SAME COUNTRY
Stop making excuses for the persecution of SMR. It is time to do Tshuva.
Nelson story is timely and important because it underscores once again the terrible disparity and horrendous injustice being perpetrated.
If “Ricky” Nelson had killed an Italian, he would be dead meat by now.
Maybe ex mayor Dinkins will come over to his house for dinner.
David Dinkings is equally to blame for not saving Rosenbaum while he was bleeding to death at the hospital while waiting for someone to even look at him.
Norman is a Tsadik and an inspiration to how brother’s ought to pull together in a time of need – even at huge personal cost.
I just want to clarify my post #96 about anti-Semitism. The anti-Semitism I was talking about, only refered to today’s 21 century, “politically correct” times, where people are in general more educated than in the previous centuries and it’s harder to lie off the bat. Therefor, the majority of people who hate us, will twist reality to serve their purpose. For example, when Israel responds to rockets being thrown into their cities and sends in the army to take care of the terrorists, there obviously will be unintended damage to innocent Palestinians and or their property. This is what the Palestinians play up and they distort the truth.
This kind of anti-Semitism is different than what was in the previous generations where anti-Semitic priests stirred up the uncultered boors, the peasants and even the superstitious nobles who believed that Jews have horns and tails and used Christian blood in their matzos.
Lemrick Nelson should still be rotting in jail where he belongs. Yankel Rosenbaum was killed for nothing more than being a Jew and had nothing to do with the tragic accident. Let us also remember Anthony Graziosi an Italian gentlemen who was killed during that insane time because he had a beard and the animals that came at him though he too was a Jew. Let us also not forget or forgive the lack of help that then Mayor Dinkins gave by having the police back off and allow the animals to run wild for three days before the police were finally allowed top do their job. Let us not forget or forgive the inaction by then Governor Mario Coumo who had an obligation to the people of NYS and NYC to preserve order. Had the Governor done his job (in reaction to Dinkins not doing his) the National Guard should have been called out with live ammunition and orders to shoot those who were looting, burning etc.
Firstly this murdering bastard got way to linent a sentence. The 10 years he served should have been 100 years. And may every day he walks a free man be a living hell to him. He should suffer the same as the parents of Yankel Rosenbau; Z”L have suffered.
For all my friends who are “anti -revenge”. I may be a “doofis”, but in my Siddur, it says,”Yivada bagoyim l’eineinu, nikmat dam avadecha hashafuch”. No poster on this blog, is going to murder Limerick Nelson, but I, and probably many others, will have him in “zinnen”, next time I say “Av Harachamim”. May the RBSO give him, what he gave one of ours.
Like someone commented above a good reporter would cover what happens to that jury. The hand of Hashem will strike them in all and someone should document it for the people to learn.
May he m,eet a horrible and painful death wherever in NJ he is. This is not a reformed guy. THese lowlifes never change their attitudes. For the safety and securtiy of yidden, I hope that no jews live in whatever area this mutilation is living in.