Arizona prosecutor slams ‘soft-on-crime’ DA Bragg, refuses to send suspect in Soho hotel murder back to NYC
An Arizona prosecutor took a scathing swipe at progressive Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Wednesday, saying she won’t ship the suspect in a vicious Soho hotel slaying back to the Big Apple because “it’s safer to keep him here.”
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said Raad Almansoori, who is sought in the beating death of a Queens mom at a Manhattan hotel earlier this month, will remain behind bars on her turf because of Bragg’s track record handling hardened criminals.
“I know there’s been discussion about New York wanting to extradite this individual,” Mitchell said during a press conference. “This is not aimed at the New York Police Department at all. I know they did a hard job and they did a good job. But we will not be agreeing to extradition.
“I’ve instructed my extradition attorneys not to agree to that,” she said. “We’re gonna keep him here. These are mandatory prison sentences. Having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by the Manhattan DA there, Alvin Bragg, I think it’s safer to keep him here.
“And keep him in custody so that he cannot be out doing this to individuals either in our state, county or anywhere in the United States.”
Almansoori, 26, is being held without bail in Arizona on charges that he carjacked and stabbed one woman and kidnapped and slashed a McDonald’s employee last week — just days after the NYPD says he beat and strangled Denisse Oleas-Arancibia to death inside Soho 54 Hotel on. Feb. 7.
Oleas-Arancibia, who moved to New York from Ecuador, was reportedly working as an escort when she booked a date with Almansoori, police said. He allegedly got into a dispute with her over how much time paid for, according to authorities.
The accused killer has lived in Texas, Florida and Arizona, where his family still lives, and left a trail of busts and crimes along the way, including an open Florida criminal case for which he’s free on bail.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said this week that the department hoped to extradite the career criminal back to Manhattan to face murder charges in the Soho case.
But that was before Mitchell put the brakes on the plan.
In a statement Wednesday, Bragg spokesperson Emily Tuttle fired back at the Arizona prosecutor.
“It is deeply disturbing that DA Mitchell is playing political games in a murder investigation,” Tuttle said. “In Manhattan, we are serious about New Yorkers’ safety, which is why murders are down 24% and shootings are down 38% since D.A. Bragg took office.
“New York’s murder rate is less than half that of Phoenix, Arizona, because of the hard work of the NYPD and all of our law enforcement partners,” she added. “It is a slap in the face to them and to the victim in our case to refuse to allow us to seek justice and full accountability for a New Yorker’s death.”
Bragg has often come under fire from cops and other critics who believe he goes soft on crime — including announcing that he would not prosecute some offenses after he first took office.
“It’s a sad state of affairs in New York when you have prosecutors from other states who don’t trust that District Attorneys like Alvin Bragg will ensure justice,” Paul DiGiacomo, president of the NYPD Detectives Endowment Association, told The Post on Wednesday.
“NYPD Detectives are fed up and it shows in the retirement numbers. New Yorkers should be fed up too.”
Maricopa County officials said they’re convinced that Almansoori was in the middle of an out-of-control crime spree that would have continued had they not busted him when they did.
