NEW YORK - An ex-con was arrested in the deadly stabbing of a Good Samaritan who tried to break up a fight outside an illegal gambling den in Brooklyn.
The NYPD reported that William Smith, 45, of Brownsville, was taken into custody on Sunday for the death of Yong Zheng, 46, in Sunset Park Friday night and for the stabbings of three other men who are recovering from their injuries.
Two men, ages 39 and 42, were hospitalized in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries. Another man was treated at the scene for a puncture wound.
Zheng was reportedly returning from dinner with friends when they saw two groups of men fighting outside an illegal gambling den.
Police say Zheng was stabbed after he intervened to defuse the fight, which had spilled onto the sidewalk in the area known as Brooklyn's Chinatown following a robbery inside the gambling den.
"I want them all arrested, I want them to be executed," said Zheng's wife Jin Zhao, to the Daily News. "Every time I look at my son, I think about the fact that he has no father."
Smith, who had done time for manslaughter, according to the Daily News, faces charges of murder, robbery and assault. It wasn't clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.
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