Area's Jewish Community Reacts To Alleged Hate Crime

Members of Little Neck's Jewish community reacted with dismay at news of the arrest of two Nassau County teens charged with  in the parking lot of a Great Neck synagogue last weekend.

The teens were arrested shortly after they were caught committing the act on Saturday evening by the rabbi at North Shore Sephardic Synagogue on Cuttermill Road in Great Neck, police said.

"There is a something wrong when you have kids who don't know what the swastika represents," said Assemblyman David Weprin, D-Little Neck. "Especially in a community with such a large Jewish population, including a few Holocaust survivors."

In recent years, federal and state grant money has been made available to upgrade security systems, including the installation of cameras, at area synagogues and other places of worship, Weprin said.

Many of those upgrades were made in response to a foiled plot to bomb two synagogues in the Riverdale section of The Bronx in 2009.

None of the places of worship in the area contacted by Patch planned any additional security measures as a result of Saturday's incident.

However, one particular cause of alarm among members of Little Neck's Jewish community was the age of the two suspects, who are both 16.

"It's important that there be significant amount of punishment, not just education, which is also important," Weprin said. "This is not a random act of graffiti."

The teens, Erik Bracamonte and Joseph Cianciulli, were arrested for aggravated harassment and released on appearance tickets for First District Court in Hempstead on Dec. 3.

Port Washington local editor Adina Genn contributed reporting for this article.