Repeat Offender With 33 Arrests Kills Brooklyn Church Usher After “Kind” Gesture
His accused killer, a man with 33 arrests, walked free until he met a good man holding a door. And that act of kindness cost an innocent New Yorker his life.
A Brooklyn man known for his faith, humility, and service was beaten to death in broad daylight last week by a career criminal who should have been behind bars. The murder of 64-year-old Nicola Tanzi has become the latest indictment of New York’s revolving-door justice system, which continues to release violent offenders back into the community, often with tragic results.
Say his name: Nicola Tanzi
Nicola Tanzi (64) held a gate open for David Mazariegos (25). In response, Mazariegos brutally beat Nicola for 10 minutes, kicking and stomping on his head, before robbing him.
Mazariegos has a long rap sheet with at least 33 prior arrests, including… pic.twitter.com/t06voealsG
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) October 11, 2025
Tanzi, a church usher and security guard, was attacked on Oct. 7 outside the Jay Street–MetroTech subway station. Police say 25-year-old David Mazariegos erupted in fury after Tanzi held a gate open for him, unleashing a savage ten-minute beating before robbing him.
.@GovKathyHochul has blood on her hands. Nicola Tanzi’s life was taken by another repeat offender roaming New York’s streets freely.
New York needs leaders who will back the blue and make America’s transit system safe again. https://t.co/KrAVxRkqCU
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) October 9, 2025
“@GovKathyHochul has blood on her hands. Nicola Tanzi’s life was taken by another repeat offender roaming New York’s streets freely. New York needs leaders who will back the blue and make America’s transit system safe again.”
According to police and court records, Mazariegos has at least 33 prior arrests, including multiple assaults, robberies, and violent offenses. Just months ago, he was arrested again, only to be released after prosecutors downgraded felony charges to misdemeanors, forcing a judge’s hand. The suspect allegedly confessed to the killing, telling police he “didn’t like” that Tanzi had held the door for him.
Tanzi was a fixture at St. Dominic’s Parish in Bensonhurst and Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Church in Carroll Gardens, where he was known for his gentle spirit and steady presence.
“Nicky had such a kind heart and was always a glass-is-half-full kind of person and he always had concerns for others,” said Deacon John Heyer. “So, I believe he’d help and forgive the person who did this and gotten them the help that they needed.”
His friend Deacon Anthony Mammoliti called him “probably the most Christ-like parishioner I’ve encountered,” recalling how Tanzi often covered shifts for co-workers with families and greeted parishioners with his warm smile.
“When I engaged with him in the parish, it was always with a congenial smile,” Mammoliti said. “He would have forgiven his assailant, because that’s who he was.”
Tanzi’s death is now yet another symbol of New York’s leniency gone deadly. His accused killer, a man with 33 arrests, walked free until he met a good man holding a door. And that act of kindness cost an innocent New Yorker his life.
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Comments
This is democrat leniency make no mistake about that. Almost all democrats support coddling of criminals and have for at least 40 years. Law and order democrats are a relic and would be run out of the party today.
Yep. Coddling criminals is 100% accurate. The folks who push this ideology don’t believe in consequences, that is kryptonite to them…unless some normie refuses to become a victim … then the wokiesta/leftists are in favor.
Who did this young guy think he was, anyway- Katie Porter?
This is a busy street… a ten minute beating? I wonder how many people just walked by, afraid to help for fear that the progressive scum legal system of NYC would come down on them like they did Daniel Penny.
In saner jurisdictions, the scumbag career criminal would have received a taxpayer relief shot (probably long ago).
In a more normal jurisdiction, the taxpayer relief shot would have come with a slug of lead.
See Kitty Genovese. It may be a NY thing.
Except that the claim that 38 witnesses, or anything like that, saw Kitty Genovese being killed, or heard her scream, and did nothing is completely made up. No one saw her being killed or knew she needed help.
This is how you get more National Guard.
At this point we know that releasing chronic offenders to prey on the public has become both a deliberate and widespread policy. The big question: why? Is it simply a hatred of normal people on the part of government officials? Or some kind of identification with the criminal class as when Stalin announced that criminals are our “class allies.” It will only get much worse if Mamdani gets elected mayor of NYC. He has made that very clear. He regards criminals as the victims of a capitalist society. The only solution at this point: the Paul Kersey approach. Even a small number of Kerseys will have a big impact. I never go beyond my mailbox at the end of my driveway without my weapons. I refuse to be any kind of victim. The people in NYC won’t do anything. I can’t even convince an old friend there to carry pepper spray.
I wonder how many here will have to run a “Google search” to find Paul Kersey, and learn why he is relevant here. Nothing personal, folks, it’s an age thing. 🙂
oden:
The answer to “why?” is quite simple. The collectivist/statist/authoritarians are hoping for vigilante activity so that they can use it as an excuse to finally eliminate private ownership of firearms. They’ll point to the widespread violence happening as justice is finally meted out to the criminals, while the current “legal system” is ignored because of its abject failure.
The problem with vigilante activity is that under our current “legal system”, with its multi-tiered levels of punishment, since the punishment for actually defending yourself is now either death or being thrown into a rape cage, pretty much every criminal activity which is caught by a vigilante(s) will be punishable by death. Why should anybody take a chance on doing the citizen’s arrest, when the thugs are likely to target you in retaliation? It’s much safer to do the “three esses” (shoot, shovel, and shut-up) than it is to risk retaliation.
A place like NY-effing-C will rapidly reduce itself to a semi-feudal state…except it will probably be organized crime gangs competing with what’s left of the police for the taxpayer’s dollar. And they use that to justify disarming the honest, since they’ll be killing far too many criminals.
Marxist ideology. Crime is a product of capitalism, criminals can be re-educated. It also helps to keep citizens scared and businesses to close, making citizens more dependent upon the state.
Of course, after the glorious Revolution, those criminals will simply be executed.
Because criminals in a capitalist society are caused by capitalism and are preying upon the innocent because they must, while criminals in communist society are caused by anti-communist radicals, kulaks, and wreckers, and are trying to overthrow the glorious revolution.
It is probably due to many factors but primarily the belief held (by the Soros backed and like minded district attorneys) that the criminal justice system is systemically racist from the single variable observation of a multivariable problem that the demographics of the prison population is markedly different from the demographics of the general population. The simple, and “effective” solution of these Soros backed district attorneys was to depopulate the prisons primarily by not putting criminals in prison. What could go wrong?
In my county, we had a county executive push to sell a newly constructed juvenile detention facility. all because his goal was not to arrest young (up to age 24) criminals but rely on “restorative justice”. The county prosecutors did not support jail time and pushed restorative justice with the result that property and other crimes are sky high.
Basic principle: keeping criminals in jail promotes public safety.
This is just non stop
Blacks murdering white
20-40 priors
Just insane
He’s not black. He’s Hispanic.
Although I have to say, the press is doing its usual “choirboy Trevon” thing, going by that top photo. The guy in that photo looks like the cover model for a pirate bodice-ripper.
Compare him with “Juan Pérez” in the second photo. I Can’t Believe It’s The Same Guy!™
That’s a lot of opportunities for ‘the system’ to have had one victory amongst a string of failures. It’s almost as if the folks in charge of ‘the system’ prefer to allow criminals to run wild, terrorizing the rest of society instead of being locked away. /S
I noticed that while there were multiple mentions of Tanzi’s Italian background and beloved status in the community, the only mention of David Mazariegos’ background is that of being a multiple repeat offender who the system has worked to avoid punishing or limiting the scope of his crimes.
Looking at Mazariegos’ last name, could it be possible that he is a member of a protected class which is allowed and encouraged to prey on Americans? In fact, what is his citizenship/legal residency status?
Get used to Things like this happening once New Yoirkers elect Mamdani mayor.
Subotai Bahadur
TDA?
He will be quietly set free in a couple years with the full intention of the court being that he kill again. There has been a complete breakdown in rationality among Democrats. A collective insanity that allows for and expects non-white criminals and mentally ill pychopaths to prey upon America as a whole. This disease has completely infected the Democrat within the judiciary system as well as urban executive branches.
I am a born and raised Manhattanite. After college, I left for the Southeast. I now avoid the city and state like the plague.
The Cultural Marxists are letting out their criminal thugs to prey on citizens.
Out of control crime is what the left wants, self-defense and dissidents are the ones they want to keep in prison. They don’t want to disarm criminals, just the law-abiding. They want us to live in fear and be dependent.
It’s a left-wing version of Shariah law where only approved groups can rent a meeting hall or get a permit for events in public spaces.
I swear, when I saw that picture, I thought it was Craig Charles, from Red Dwarf.
Unrelated to the subject, of course, but I was amused and wondered if anyone else saw the same…
The sanitation guy who becomes a hologram? No way, not nearly smarmy looking enough.
ten minutes is a helluva long time to beat on someone–unbelievable (especially given the fond reputation of the victim) that NO ONE acted to stop the assault
lord
You can be arrested in NY and NYC for coming to a aid a citizen being attacked by the non-white majority there.
This one didn’t involve that crowd, though.
To Texan Samurai,
You don’t remember Daniel Penny?
He saved an entire subway car of New Yorkers from a deranged criminal threatening death to all.
Mr Penny was arrested and put on trial.
That has made everyone in New York afraid to save others as they will be charged
Another preventable tragedy thanks to soft on crime policies. It’s too bad we don’t have some Federal charges on this POS to keep him behind bars for a long time as that’s where he clearly belonged.
This is why “3 strikes and you go to prison for life” was working till the demonrats forced it to go away. The results are what we are seeing today. Career criminals committing more violent crimes, innocent people being violated and murdered. All preventable, except for the liberal mindset that prison doesn’t help. Well these idiots can’t grasp the fact that some are beyond redemption.
This fiend admitted to heinous murder. There is no doubt to his guilt, he has forfeited his humanity and any right to due process. Arraign him in the morning, consider the confession and evidence and if damning execute him. Hostis Humanis.
Maybe we take a trick from Singapore and cane/flog them, in public. No Prison time. Second offense doubles the strokes.
The problem is their definition of “help.”
They want to rehabilitate the perp.
I want to stop the perp from hurting more people.
When we eliminate therapeutic sentencing/justice, and get back punitive sentencing, we’ll get that crime rate back down to reasonable levels.
At what point do you put the rabid animal down?
At the point he moves to Texas, Arizona, Florida…
So what heard was that there are a couple of DA’s and a Judge that need to be tried for negligent homicide right beside this POS.
End qualified immunity. Let some of these morons be sued into abject poverty and I bet their decisions we be a lot less lenient.
That, weirdly, was the cause of a fight I got into in middle school. I held a door open for a guy. He took great offense to it (he and I didn’t get along – even less so after this) and proceeded to try and beat the crap out of me. I had my back against the brick wall, but I also had a lot of motivation for ducking and weaving. I know I popped him once in the jaw and he clipped me once. But his animosity toward me rose because his knuckles were so bad from punching the brick wall he had to withdraw from the track meet that weekend.
And, yeah, this guy was “let out” a lot after incidents that should have had him in a lot worse trouble. I can sympathize.