Jersey City police have arrested a 68-year old man in connection with the stabbing death of former teacher and baseball coach Tony Bello, 77, who died in Pershing field on Sunday.
“Charles Lowy has been arrested and charged with the stabbing death of 77-year-old Anthony Bello,” said Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione, spokesperson for the city of Jersey City, on Thursday. “Mr. Lowy is a 68-year-old local resident who, like Mr. Bello, regularly visited Pershing Field. The two men were known to each other.”
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said that members of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit arrested Lowy on April 18 and charged him with murder as well as weapons charges.
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said that police at about 8:15 a.m. responded to a report of an aggravated assault at Pershing Field. When the officers arrived they found Bello, unresponsive in the park, bleeding from a wound to his chest.
He was transported to Jersey City Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 9:05 a.m.
The prosecutor said a preliminary investigation revealed that Bello had been involved in an alleged altercation in the park with another male. The other male allegedly walked away from the scene.
Ward C Councilman Richard Boggiano said none of the crime cameras located near the park were functioning at the time.
The prosecutor’s office, which investigated the matter along with the Jersey City police, began their investigation in an area near the Manhattan and Central avenues entrance where they found blood on a bench. Homicide Detectives were able to identify Lowy, who lived in the immediate area of Pershing Field.
Bello was well-loved
Known as “The Mayor of Manhattan Avenue,” Tony Bello, 77, was a familiar face around Pershing Field in Jersey City Heights. He often helped local kids and families.
Bello was a retired teacher from St. Nicholas, which is located across from the park on Central Avenue, and lived near the park on Manhattan Avenue.
“I’ve known Tony for four years,” said Mariah DeBenedetto, a resident of the Heights. “He was my neighbor on Manhattan. I talked to him just about every day. He was a wonderful man. Everyone in the neighborhood knew and loved him.”
DeBenedetto said she last saw him a week earlier when she was going on vacation. He helped her put her suitcase in the car. Then, when she returned from vacation, she’s heard he’d been stabbed while going to church.
“He was the type of man that would give you the shirt off his back,” said another Heights resident, Renee Cerreta.
As councilman active in Pershing Field, Boggiano knew Bello well.
“He was a person who cared about kids, and about the park,” Boggiano said. “He was fair. He was a good person. He will be missed by a lot of the young kids in Perishing Field. Hopefully he rests in peace.”
Boggiano said he was trying to get a bench named after Bello with a plague on it as a tribute to a man who loved the park.
“He was an amazing human being,” said Councilman Daniel Rivera, who coaches in Jersey City as well. “He was an awesome coach and completely dedicated to our city’s youth throughout especially the Heights! An icon was taken away from us.”
(Our sportswriter, Jim Hague, remembers Bello in his column this week. See the sports section.)
“He was the type of man that would give you the shirt off his back.” – Renee Cerreta
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Local coach
Bello as a coach mentored a lot of the kids in baseball, local sports officials said.
Bello was president and coach of Pershing Field Little League, coach and board member of Pershing Field Babe Ruth Baseball League, head coach of the Jersey City Giants of the Build Better Boy’s Baseball League, assistant football coach of the Marist High School and Dickinson High School football programs, president of the St. Nicholas PTA, and member of the St. Nicholas Father’s Club.
Bello graduated from the Jersey City State College in 1976, and became the director of the CETA program for the City of Jersey City. After working for the CETA program, he began teaching construction at the Hudson County Vocational School (now known as Hudson County Prep). After retiring from the public school system, Anthony began teaching History at the St. Nicholas Grammar School and then at the Hoboken Catholic Academy from where he retired in 2006.
His obituary said, “He will always be remembered for his dedication to the youth of Pershing Field and of Jersey City, and his eagerness to help those who were less fortunate.”
Surviving is his wife Catherine Bello; his children Vin Bello and his wife Yvette, and Lisa Bello and her husband John Needham; his siblings Carmine Bello, and Marie Magnotta; and his grandchildren Nicholas, Michael, and Dominick.
Concerns about increase in crime
Although other parts of Jersey City have been seen as hotbeds of crime, Boggiano said The Heights – has also seen problems.
“The city needs to realize there is a problem with crime up here,” Boggiano said. “We’ve asked for more police. But we’ve seen many good cops being transferred to other parts of the city. I think the police chief is a good man, and I’m counting on him to change things around.”
Boggiano said the park has also seen an uptick in vandalism.
“There’s been a lot of damage and we have a lot of work to do here,” he said.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.
