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Subway Stabber Unremorseful, Blames Victims For Murder Spree
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 19, 2012
Modified Jan 19, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 19, 2012
Modified Jan 19, 2012
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Yesterday, the 24-year-old Brooklyn man who admitted to killing four people and injuring four others during a 28-hour stabbing rampage across Brooklyn and Manhattan last February was sentenced to 200 years to life in prison. Maksim Gelman was completely without remorse during his sentencing, got into verbal arguments with family members of the deceased, and continued to blame his victims and the police for his murderous rampage: “I am not the bad guy; these people who died, they did bad things to me. It’s not my fault all this happened; the cops knew about it.”
Maksim Gelman's lawyer, Edward Friedman, tried to contextualize that statement: “The words that came out of his mouth are not the words of a healthy human being in any way, but clearly emanate from a diseased mind.” Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent DelGiudice sounded horrified by Gelman's behavior: “Sir, we have a saying, ‘Crazy like a fox.’ I believe you put on a pretty good act,” he said before ordering his sentence. “You, sir, are a pathologically violent predator. You’re a sociopath.”
While Gelman has no family in court, the relatives of two of his victims—Yelena Bluchenko and her mother, Anna—spoke at the sentencing. Andre Lev, Yelena’s brother, testified that Gelman destroyed more lives than just those he killed. Gerard Honig, Yelena’s boyfriend, said, “He doesn’t seem like he has any remorse or a care in the world for what he did.” Gelman became enraged at that, yelling, "You fell in love with a heroin addict you f--king faggot." He was taken out of court after that outburst, but was still smirking when he returned.
Gelman's 28-hour murder spree began on February 11 when he stabbed his stepfather, 54-year-old Aleksandr Kuznetsov, in Sheepshead Bay after a family argument over the use of his mother’s car. He told the News Kuznetsov had to die because he tried to scam his mother out of two condos in her name. Later in the day, he fatally stabbed Bluchenko and her mother, Anna, 56. Bluchenko, whom friends said Gelman had stalked, was portrayed by him as a former associate who betrayed him.
After killing the two women, he allegedly attacked a passing motorist, stabbing 60-year-old Art DiCrescento in order to steal his car. While driving DiCrescento's Pontiac Bonneville, Gelman struck 62-year-old Stephen Tanenbaum, who later died in the hospital. He was eventually caught by police at the Times Square subway station around the 40th Street and 7th Avenue exits after slashing subway passenger Joseph Lozito.
After he was apprehended, Gelman was held in the Bellevue psych ward after failing the intake physical and mental exam at Rikers Island. Among other things, he allegedly said of his stabbing rampage, "Sometimes, my mind isn't right." In a jailhouse interview last weekend, Gelman claimed he was responsible for six more murders before this year, including two people he says he ran over in Sheepshead Bay six years ago, and four drug dealers who crossed him. He also revealed that he desperately wanted to track down and kill notorious murder suspect, Levi Aron, who allegedly dismembered and slaughtered a little boy in Brooklyn: "I would have been New York’s hero."
Before he left the courtroom yesterday Gelman screamed at the judge, "suck my Russian d--k." DelGiudice replied, "I decline your offer." This was at least the second time DelGiudice had received such a taunt: when DelGiudice sentenced Fort Greene murderer Zaire Paige to 107 years in prison a year ago, he yelled at him, “From the bottom of my heart, suck my di*k.” The judge replied, “I respectfully decline your offer."
Tagged
brooklyn
maksim gelman
manhattan
murder
subway
subway stabber
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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