John Doe Duffel Bag Case: Perrone, Shopkeeper Killings, and Trial

The John Doe Duffel Bag case ended with the conviction of Salvatore Perrone, a 64-year-old Staten Island clothing salesman who was identified from Brooklyn surveillance footage as the man carrying a black bag near the scenes of three 2012 shopkeeper murders. Inside that bag, prosecutors said, was a “kill kit” that tied him to all three killings. A Brooklyn jury convicted him of three counts of murder in February 2016, and he was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison the following month.¹²

Three Brooklyn Shopkeepers Killed in 2012

Between July and November 2012, three small-business owners were shot to death inside their Brooklyn stores while working alone. All three were of Middle Eastern descent, and in each case the body was moved away from the front window and partially covered with merchandise, which investigators read as an effort to delay discovery.

Mohamed Gebeli, 65, was found dead on July 6, 2012, inside Valentino Fashion at 7718 Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge. He had been shot in the neck.³
Isaac Kadare, 59, was killed on August 2, 2012, inside Amazing 99 Cents Deals at 1877 86th Street in Bensonhurst. He was both shot and stabbed.⁴
Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78, was killed on November 16, 2012, inside She-She Boutique at 834 Flatbush Avenue in Flatbush. He was shot in the head, face, and chest.⁵

Ballistics on the first two killings matched the same .22-caliber firearm, and the NYPD stood up a task force that included a member of the hate crimes unit because of the victims’ shared heritage.⁶

How Surveillance Footage Produced the Nickname

After Vahidipour’s killing, cameras near the Flatbush store captured a man walking with a black duffel bag. With no name attached to the image, investigators labeled the figure “John Doe Duffel Bag” and circulated the footage publicly.⁷ Similar footage from near Kadare’s store showed a man matching the description, though Police Commissioner Ray Kelly cautioned at the time against assuming the two images were the same person.⁸

The break came on November 20, 2012, when someone at a Bay Ridge pharmacy recognized Perrone from the circulated image and alerted police. He voluntarily went with officers to a station house for questioning.⁷

What Was Inside the Duffel Bag

Perrone had left the bag at the Midwood apartment of his girlfriend, Natasha Charova. Detectives obtained a search warrant and opened it early on November 21, 2012.⁹¹⁰¹

Forensic testing connected the contents to each of the murders. Shell casings recovered from all three crime scenes had been fired from the Ruger, which was registered to Perrone and carried his fingerprints and DNA. Blood on the kitchen knife matched Isaac Kadare, and blood on the exterior of the bag matched Rahmatollah Vahidipour.⁵ Cell phone records and additional surveillance footage placed Perrone near the second and third scenes.⁴ Police said statements Perrone made during questioning implicated him in two of the killings. He was arrested on November 21, 2012, and later indicted on three counts of first-degree and three counts of second-degree murder.¹¹

Who Salvatore Perrone Was

Perrone was 64 at his arrest, a Bensonhurst native, divorced father, and independent clothing salesman who traveled to small shops to sell apparel and spoke of launching his own line. He owned a three-story house on Clove Road in Staten Island that neighbors described as essentially uninhabitable for roughly two decades, and the property was in foreclosure. In the months before the killings he had been staying on and off at Charova’s Midwood apartment. His prior record included drunk-driving incidents, and he had no documented history of mental illness before the arrest.¹²

His account of motive was strange and shifting. He told police he had been paid by Middle Eastern men connected to “the Palestinian section of the CIA” who wanted the shopkeepers dead for becoming “too Americanized.”¹¹ Other officers reported he also referenced an Italian spy agency. No evidence backed any version. Prosecutors did not pursue hate crime charges, and no clear motive was established at trial.

Three Years of Competency Fights

Getting Perrone to trial took more than three years, mostly because of repeated questions about his mental fitness. His public defender said early on that he was “laying the groundwork for an insanity defense.”¹³ In February 2013, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus ruled Perrone fit, after psychiatrists concluded his talk of intelligence agencies reflected “grandiosity” consistent with a personality disorder rather than psychosis.¹⁴

In December 2014, Marrus reversed, finding Perrone unfit based on unanimous evaluations that pointed to a possible delusional disorder or paranoid personality disorder and an inability to assist in his own defense. The judge sent him to a state psychiatric facility.¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷

The Trial and Sentence

The trial opened on January 21, 2016, in Brooklyn Supreme Court before Justice Marrus.¹⁸ Prosecutors told jurors that Perrone had “staked out and methodically killed three Brooklyn shopkeepers over the course of several months” and described the duffel bag as a “kill kit.”¹⁹ Perrone interrupted testimony, accused his own lawyer of “presenting half-truths,” and called a search warrant document “fabricated.” Marrus warned him that his “life is on the line” and eventually barred him from parts of the proceedings.²⁰

Perrone testified in his own defense that he had been “set up” by an Iranian national he called “Michael Bila,” who he said had given him the duffel bag and had stolen his rifle back in 2010. He said the bag on surveillance near Kadare’s shop was full of clothes he planned to sell, and that he was at a dinner party when Gebeli was killed.¹⁹ The jury convicted him of three counts of murder in February 2016.¹ On March 4, 2016, Marrus sentenced Perrone to 75 years to life, a term that effectively ensures he will die in prison.² Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson called the three victims “decent, honest and hard-working business owners who all left behind devastated families.”²¹

1
CBS News. Clothing Salesman Gets Prison for Killing 3 NYC Shopkeepers
2
The Wall Street Journal. Convicted Triple Murderer Sentenced to 75 Years to Life
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CBS News New York. Son of Sal Serial Killer Sentence
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Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Serial Killer Convicted of Murdering Three Brooklyn Shopkeepers
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Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Staten Island Salesman Sentenced to 75 Years to Life in Prison
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CNN. New York Three Murders
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ABC News. NY Cops: Serial Murder Gun Found in John Doe’s Duffel
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Fox News. NYPD Questioning John Doe Duffel Bag in Connection With 3 Shopkeeper Murders
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CBS News. Murder Arrest in Brooklyn Shopkeeper Killings: John Doe Duffle Bag Charged
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NBC New York. Serial Killer Brooklyn Shopkeeper Shooting Person of Interest
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NBC New York. Serial Killer Shopkeeper Brooklyn Salvatore Perrone Court Indictment
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The New York Times. Salvatore Perrone, Suspect in 3 Murders, Faced Financial Troubles
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Brooklyn Paper. Attorney: Southern Brooklyn Serial Killer Has Mental Health Issues
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New York Daily News. Accused Serial Killer Son of Sal Salvatore Perrone Mentally Fit to Stand Trial
15
New York Post. Man Who Killed 3 Shopkeepers Deemed Unfit for Trial
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New York Daily News. Accused Serial Killer Son of Sal Is Declared Fit for Trial
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New York Post. Accused Serial Killer Fit to Stand Trial
18
The Wall Street Journal. Accused Triple Murderer’s Trial Begins in Brooklyn
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New York Post. Accused Serial Killer Takes the Stand: I Was Set Up
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New York Daily News. Judge Tells Suspect to Knock Off Outbursts: Your Life Is on the Line
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DNAinfo. Serial Killer Convicted of 2012 Murders of 3 Brooklyn Shopkeepers