HOMELESS MAN INDICTED FOR A MURDER THAT HE ALLEGEDLY COMMITTED DURING AN ATTEMPTED ROBBERY 34 YEARS AGO WHEN HE WAS 20 YEARS OLD

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a 54 year old homeless man has been indicted for murder 34 years after a shop keeper was shot to death during an attempted robbery at gunpoint.

A grand jury charged Larry McCoy with two counts of Murder in the death of Israel Pacht who was a 51 year old tailor. McCoy was charged with one count of Intentional Murder and one count of Felony Murder during an attempted robbery. McCoy is to be arraigned on the indictment on January 12, 2006 in Part A. He is facing a maximum sentence of up to life imprisonment if convicted.

It is alleged that McCoy shot Pacht to death on December 18, 1971, as the two men struggled during an attempted robbery at the victim’s tailor shop at 492 Claremont Avenue. McCoy fled empty handed following the shooting, and remained at large until detectives from the NYPD ‘Cold Case Squad’ arrested him on November 14, 2005. The defendant was arrested at a homeless shelter in Stamford, Connecticut. Responding to an appeal by relatives of the victim, The ‘Cold Case Squad’ reopened the investigation of the Pacht’s murder last April. Detectives spent six months looking for a witness who at the time of the fatal shooting was a 15 year old boy who worked in the victim’s shop. The witness identified McCoy as the alleged gunman after examining police department mug shots.

Assistant District Attorney Gary Weil is prosecuting the case.