Angel Franco/The New York Times
Troi Torain, known as D.J. Star, was arrested for threatening to sexually abuse the 4-year-old daughter of a rival, police said.
Troi Torain, the disc jockey known by the name D.J. Star, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, the Manhattan district attorney's office said. Law enforcement officials had launched an investigation into his remarks on Thursday after reviewing a transcript of his recent rants about D.J. Envy and his family.
The police called Mr. Torain to police headquarters in Lower Manhattan this afternoon and ordered him to surrender his target pistol license and his weapon, a .9-millimeter handgun, they said. When he arrived, he was arrested by detectives from the police department's Hate Crimes Unit, they said.
Benjamin Brafman, Mr. Torain's lawyer, said he would issue a public comment on the arrest later today.
Mr. Torain's arrest comes a day after widespread complaints about his May 3 on-air tirade against D.J. Envy, a rival.
On Wednesday night he was dismissed by WWPR-FM, known as Power 105, one of the top-rated stations in the city. The station, owned by Clear Channel Communications of San Antonio, also apologized to anyone offended by the comments.
The next day, City Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr., of Queens, a former prosecutor and the head of he Public Safety Committee, sent a letter with a transcript of D.J. Star's remarks directly to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. Another City Council member also sent a letter alleging that what the disc jockey said amounted to a hate crime, the police said.
At a news conference earlier that day, City Council members, who said they had been contacted by the wife of the rival, D.J. Envy, played an excerpt from a May 3 broadcast in which Mr. Torain mentioned D.J. Envy's wife and two children and threatened to track down and sexually abuse his daughter, who is 4. D.J. Envy works for WQHT-FM, known as Hot 97.
"I will come for your kids," Mr. Torain, 42, said in the excerpt, adding that he would pay $500 to anyone who told him where the girl attended school.
On Thursday, council members held a second news conference and insisted that they would not be satisfied unless Mr. Torain was prosecuted. The lawmakers have also called for a Federal Communications Commission investigation.
Today, Mr. Vallone, the father of two girls, ages 10 and 12, said he was pleased by news of the arrest.
"We needed this arrest to send a clear signal that society won't put up with this despicable type of behavior," he said.
He said many members of the council were "more than disgusted" by Mr. Torain's remarks.
Sewell Chan and Lola Ogunnaike also contributed reporting for this article.
― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Friday, 12 May 2006 19:46 (nineteen years ago)
I am, and I am surrounded by people who also are, completely fed up with the New York Times. It's getting to the point where I almost know any film, book, or movie they praise will suck. If they cite a trend, it's almost guaranteed to be a fake trend, or at best old news. The sources are second-hand, and the stories themselves are filled with such huge lapses in reporting that they often don't make any sense.
In this case, Star said some really offensive and racist things -- hence the question whether he should be charged with a hate crime. I read about it in some other paper I found on the subway last night, here are a couple choice grafs from AllHipHop:
"The two DJ's had traded insults over the week. The rivalry reached its peak when Star offered $500 to any listener that would provide information about Envy's daughter's school. He also referred to Gia Casey as a "slant-eyed whore."
"I will come for your kids," Torain said before referring to the 4-year-old as a "mongrel" and "little half a lo mein eater." Star also said he wanted to "do an R. Kelly" on the child and made several references threatening to molest and urinate on the child."
Urinate on a New York Times, dude.
― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Friday, 12 May 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)