‘Whitestone Wolverine’ sentenced to 14 years in prison
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Frank Cavalluzzi, the Queens man dubbed “Whitestone Wolverine” for his blade-glove attack of Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020 was sentenced in Queens courts this week. Screenshot via Cruzing_On_A_Cruz/Instagram
By Ryan Schwach
The Queens man who yelled racial slurs and attacked Black Lives Matter protestors with a bladed glove was sentenced in Queens court this week to nearly 15 years in prison.
Frank Cavalluzzi, the 58-year-old man who’s racially-charged attack of BLM protestors in the summer of 2020 made headlines, will spend the next 14 years in a state prison, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Tuesday.
Cavalluzzi, from Flushing, attacked Black Lives Matter demonstrators in June 2020, not long after the murder of George Floyd.
He yelled racial slurs at the protestors and charged at them with his glove of serrated blades and then attempted to run them over on the sidewalk with his Mercury Mountaineer SUV.
On June 2, 2020 at approximately 3:45 p.m., protesters were peacefully demonstrating at the intersection of the Cross Island Parkway service road and Clintonville Street in Whitestone, hanging up signs and posters in support of the racial justice movement that had reached its peak that summer.
Cavalluzzi then arrived in his SUV, abruptly stopping the vehicle across the street from them and yelled profanities and racial slurs.
“You are in the wrong neighborhood,” he yelled at the demonstrators.
He then made a U-turn and got out of the vehicle wearing a Wolverine-esque leather glove with four serrated blades attached strapped to his right arm. He then chased several of the demonstrators while waving the bladed glove and screaming at them.
Cavalluzzi then re-entered his vehicle and yelled, “I will kill you,” before driving onto the sidewalk, accelerating and aiming at the demonstrators, who ran to avoid being hit.
A large portion of the wild attack was captured on video.
Arianna Agudo, a witness to the incident who posted video of the attack to social media, told the Eagle in an email shortly after the incident that the group of young people were “just calmly protesting by just placing signs and posters, [and] all of the sudden the guy started insulting them and the kids just started talking back defending their beliefs.”
“He literally made a crazy U-turn, parked in front of them and started chasing them with his 4 knife weapon,” she said. “After that, he got back into his car and GOT ON the sidewalk, stepped on the gas pedal and started chasing those kids with the intent of running them over. Then he just got away.”
The attack gained notoriety and attention on social media for Cavalluzzi’s bizarre choice of weaponry.
About a month later, Cavalluzzi was arrested and charged with attempted murder for the attack, and was released on $100,000 bail.
In August, Cavalluzzi was convicted of his crimes, which Katz called a “good day for New York and the First Amendment.”
Cavalluzzi was convicted of nine counts of attempted murder in the second degree, nine counts of attempted assault in the first degree, seven counts of menacing in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree and reckless driving.
He was sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice Michelle Johnson to the 14 years in prison to be followed by five years post-release supervision.
“A dangerous man is being held accountable for unleashing terror on peaceful demonstrators who were simply exercising their First Amendment right,” said Katz. “Thankfully, the victims were not physically harmed and we secured justice on their behalf.”
