Fisherman Filets Tires in Turf War

A turf war over horseshoe crabs led to the arrest of a Flanders fisherman on Sunday. 

Southampton Town police charged John Lombardi, 60, with felony criminal mischief after police said he slashed the tires of two fellow commercial fishermen's cars.

According to police, the two victims hid in the bushes on Sunday, near the Point Road boat ramp in Flanders, and saw Lombardi use a knife to slash their tires at about 7:30 p.m. Police said the fishermen, a Flanders man and a Hampton Bays man, confronted Lombardi and kept him at the scene until police arrived.

The men decided to hide in the bushes, police said, after their tires were slashed in different locations the day before. One car was parked on Red Creek Road in Hampton Bays and the other was parked on Point Road in Flanders.

Police said that Lombardi, who was charged with criminal mischief in the third degree, told them that he slashed the tires because of “turf wars” among local commercial fisherman because some fishermen take more than what the law permits. 

He was held overnight and released on $500 bail the next day. Police said they are investigating reports of other recent tire slashings.