Statement From Senate Majority Leader John J. Flanagan Regarding Release Of Cop Killer Herman Bell

Thanks to an incomprehensible decision by members of Governor Cuomo’s handpicked parole board, notorious cop killer Herman Bell is scheduled to be released from prison today and will become a free man.  This is a slap in the face to the victims’ families and law enforcement officials all across this state, and it should not be happening.

In 1971, Bell lured New York City police officers Waverly Jones and Joseph Piagentini to a Harlem housing project, where he murdered them both solely because they were cops.  Incredibly, he shot Piagentini 22 times and killed him with his own gun after the officer begged for his life.  He should never see the light of day.

Our primary obligation as elected officials is to keep New Yorkers safe in their homes, on their streets, and in their communities.  Instead, the Governor has put politics ahead of the public interest, and he now seems entirely focused on satisfying the radicals on the far left who have taken over the Democratic Party here in New York.

The Governor likes to brag about what he has accomplished since he became the state’s chief Executive, but here’s the reality: In Andrew Cuomo’s New York, cop killers go free, parole board members fall in love and marry cold-blooded criminals, and murderers and rapists are granted pardons just so they can vote in our elections.  The Governor has put the safety of law-abiding New Yorkers at risk, and he must be stopped.