Legendary actor Steve Buscemi is the latest victim of New York’s escalating street crime crisis.
The “Boardwalk Empire” actor was left bloodied and bruised on Wednesday after being randomly assaulted in mid-town Manhattan, his publicist confirmed to Fox News. Buscemi, 66, was attacked just before noon and admitted to a nearby hospital where he was checked out for bruising, swelling, and bleeding around his left eye.
“Steve Buscemi was assaulted in Mid-Town Manhattan, another victim of a random act of violence in the city. He is ok and appreciates everyone’s well wishes, though incredibly sad for everyone that this has happened to while also walking the streets of NY,” Buscemi’s publicist told Fox News Digital.
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The New York Post added that the assailant escaped and that a police investigation is ongoing. An area worker told the outlet that Buscemi was walking with a woman when he suddenly fell to the ground and his attacker ran in the opposite direction.
“I saw he was with a woman, and then through the corner of the window I saw him trip and fall backwards. He right away got up and ran in the opposite direction. I didn’t see who hit him. It worries me for when we close because we close at 11 and it can get scary around that time,” said a woman who witnessed the attack.
Video surveillance released by the New York Police Department shows the aggressor clad in a blue t-shirt, black sweatpants, and white sneakers. He wore a black baseball cap and has a grey beard.
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Buscemi, a former firefighter, is a recognizable figure worldwide for his roles as a leading or supporting character in some of Hollywood’s biggest hits in recent decades. After toiling in side roles in films such as “Fargo,” “Mr. Deeds,” and “The Big Lebowski,” the Brooklyn native earned his big break in 2010 with HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” Set in the Prohibition era, Buscemi plays Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, a politician hoping to make it big in the black market for alcohol.
Sadly, he is not the only “Boardwalk” cast member to suffer at the hands of the city’s spiraling crime crisis. Michael Stuhbarg, who played gangster Arnold Rothstein on the show, was assaulted in March after being struck on the back of the neck with a rock. In that case, NYPD officers arrested Xavier Israel, 27, a homeless vagrant who was on parole for robbery at the time.
Mayor Eric Adams has been vocal about the need to crack down on mentally ill vagabonds roaming the city’s streets. Earlier this year he garnered fresh criticism for deploying street teams into the city’s subways where homeless or deranged individuals are strong-armed into shelters and in some cases involuntarily committed. Adams has won plaudits for going against the grain of other Big Apple Democrats like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Trump prosecutor who controversially downgrades charges in similar violent cases.
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