Staten Island woman arrested for anti-Semitic harassment, posting swastika stickers

(Arutz Sheva) A 49-year old woman from the New Drop area of Staten Island faces numerous charges related to anti-Semitic posters discovered throughout the New York borough.

On Tuesday, Staten Island District Attorney Michael E. McMahon announced that Gina Aversano, 49, was arraigned in criminal court on two counts of first-degree aggravated harassment and four counts of making graffiti, reported silive.com.

According to a court filing, Aversano was alleged to be behind the posting of a sticker with a swastika on it on a rock in Wolf’s Pond Park and posting a second similar sticker on a van in New Dorp. Both incidents occurred in early November 2020.

Between December 31, 2020 and January 1, 2021, Aversano was alleged to have posted anti-Semitic flyers from a white supremacist group, the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA), on an advertising sign and on a parking meter.

According to local media reports, NJEHA has a small presence in Staten Island that appears to be increasing in size. Last year, the district attorney’s office placed the group under investigation.

In January, the group’s posters plastered in Staten Island were condemned by the Staten Island Hate Crimes Task Force, which was co-chaired by McMahon and the CEO of the Council of Jewish Organizations on Staten Island Scott Maurer, along with over 50 politicians, police officials and other local leaders.

“These anti-Semitic postings in New Dorp have no place in our community, and we stand united in our absolute condemnation of this despicable act of hate and bigotry,” the group said statement.

“The mission of the Staten Island Hate Crimes Task Force has always been to foster diversity in our borough while working with our local law enforcement, elected officials, and community leaders to prevent and prosecute hate-based crime,” they wrote.

The arrest of Aversano came after a joint investigation by the District Attorney’s Cyber Crimes Unit and the NYPD’s Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremism Unit, said McMahon.

According to the ADL, NJEHA’s main method of spreading its message of hate is through flyers and stickers. Followers are encouraged by the group to print these out and leave them in their neighborhoods.