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Co-founder of Gokada found decapitated, dismembered inside New York condo
- wetpaws 6y agoSomething something American Psycho
- filleduchaos 6y agoThis story broke in the early hours of the morning here. Deeply horrific stuff; my heart particularly hurts for his sister. The manner of his death is ominous. For the sake of the people it employs and the businesses it enables, I hope Gokada weathers this.
- mc32 6y agoWTF! That’s too damned grisly. I mean, sure maybe people snap in the heat of passion whatnot, manslaughter —it happens but this is just depraved. I hope they get the person and they get what they deserve. There is no chance for such a person to redeem themselves and join society ever again. Very sad for the victim's family. Tragic.
- tempsy 6y agoIt was a professional hit job given the description here...the killer was wearing gloves, a mask, had an empty suitcase and rode the elevator with the victim to his apartment. The hitman was likely doing a deed for someone who paid for his service...
- polycaster 6y agoNot sure why everybody is suggesting a professional hitman based on the fact the murderer used a mask, gloves and a suitcase. I suppose you get that idea after watching an arbitrary crime movie. All it proves is intention.
- tempsy 6y agoHow could it not be professional? What would it be otherwise? The other clue is from the articles I've read is that there was no blood. No average person with a bone saw is going to be able to pull that off. Sorry.
- polycaster 6y ago> What would it be otherwise? A guy with a plan and a regular job?
- tempsy 6y agoI don’t know why you think it’s less conspiratorial to believe this was just a regular joe vs a professional hit man. He had an electric saw and empty suitcase. left no blood and few clues. didn’t take anything from the apartment either. a regular joe who wanted to do this would’ve just shot him.
- chansiky 6y agoThe story very much reads like a hit for sure. It sounds like he was interrupted because the neighbor called from hearing the screams and loud noises. I would imagine if he had another hour the body would have left the scene in the man's suitcase and the apartment would have looked spotless.
- meowface 6y agoIt surely means it's highly premeditated, but doesn't necessarily mean it's a hitman. The Stephen McDaniel case is an example of a boring-seeming law student showing similar levels of planning when murdering and dismembering a woman he was stalking. The fact that there were screams loud enough to concern neighbors could suggest it wasn't quite so professional. If it were a professional hitman, why not use something guaranteed to instantly and silently incapacitate him, first, then focus on cleaning up the evidence? Or did they try to, but it didn't go as planned? One possible explanation would be that the goal was to send a message (to him before his death, and others after it), not to try to make him disappear without a trace. Though, either way, it doesn't necessarily mean it was a professional hitman.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- filleduchaos 6y agoWhy, in the middle of a ban on international travel, would somebody smuggle a killer across the Atlantic when there are plenty of perfectly capable killers in the extremely violent United States?
- secondaryditto 6y agoKeep American jobs for Americans! ;) However, perhaps they just couldn't get the right killer at the right price? Or maybe they're scarcer than you think? We keep hearing immigrants are taking American jobs, but in reality they're taking the jobs no American would take in the first place, so this may be more simple supply/demand...
- catalogia 6y agoI don't know what you responded to, it's deleted now, so I can only address your question directly: Reputation. If you know a reliable killer across the Atlantic but don't know one in America, it makes sense to smuggle your known reliable killer in rather than risk talking to a police officer posing as a contract killer. Even in "extremely violent America", if you start asking around for contract killers most people will get weirded out and tell the cops to take a look at you.
- filleduchaos 6y ago(The comment had suggested that his killer was likely brought from Nigeria.) The "ban on international travel" is a rather pertinent part of that question, oddly enough. The kind of people that are capable of magicking someone across two closed borders and an entire ocean tend to not lack contacts in either country.
- catalogia 6y agoHaving criminal contacts in both countries doesn't necessarily mean somebody trusts their criminal compatriots in both countries. Particularly when you're talking about a crime that's more severe (murder) than what they're normally trusting somebody with (smuggling perhaps.) I'd guess there are a lot of informants in organized crime. It seems the sort of business where the least trusting survive the longest. If somebody took the risk to find a contract killer once and didn't get caught, it makes sense to me that they'd try to avoid taking the risk a second time by using the same killer.
- smabie 6y agoThis is a professional hit. The hitman cut up the body in order to dispose of it. Presumably, he had to flee the scene early. This wasn't a crime of passion, this was an organized hit carried out on behalf of someone powerful. The hitman is probably a professional who was just carrying out a contract.
- classified 6y agoSo police don't even know the cause of death, or anything else, but they do know they have video of the "killer"? I wish I were clairvoyant like this, but otherwise, may I never come under investigation from those people.
- tempsy 6y agoif you read the article it says he was in the elevator with his killer, who had gloves, a mask, a suitcase. this was clearly a professional hit job...
- henearkr 6y agoI agree, however, as a side comment, nowadays gloves and mask are not any more as suspicious as they used to be...
- tempsy 6y agothe suitcase...
- ardy42 6y ago> the suitcase... Also, the electric saw to dismember the body to fit into the suitcase. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/nyregion/dismembered-body-houston-street-manhattan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/nyregion/dismembered-body... > When detectives began investigating, they found the man’s torso and an electric saw nearby, two law enforcement officials briefed on the matter said. The man’s head and limbs were later found in the apartment, a Police Department spokesman said. > There were several large plastic bags in the apartment, and it appeared that some effort had been made to clean up any evidence of what had happened, one law enforcement officials briefed on the matter said.... > The saw was still plugged into an electrical outlet when the police arrived, leading detectives to investigate whether the arrival of Mr. Saleh’s sister at the condo might have interrupted the killing and prompted the killer to flee through another exit, one of the law enforcement officials said.
- 6y ago
- jeffbee 6y agoThe focus on the cost of the victim’s dwelling is so weird. I hope when they find my body they don’t waste half the article projecting local housing policy onto me, as if it were my fault.
- huffmsa 6y agoIt's of note because it's uncommon.
- Tinyyy 6y agoA 2.4m condo in Manhattan is hardly uncommon.
- sudosysgen 6y agoA person being found chopped up in such a condo is, however.
- jeffbee 6y agoAccording to whom? In this neighborhood in the last year 9 properties sold for over $2.5m and 8 sold for under, meaning $2.4m is below the median value of the area. Why didn't they just say "Dismembered man found in Greenwich Village apartment"? Edit: The article keeps changing, it originally said 200 W Houston, now it says both 200 East Houston and 365 E. Houston. Edit #2: In a standing proof that local journalism isn't worth the cost of the paper it would take to print it out and wipe your ass with it, the actual location, judging from the video that accompanies the article is 265 E. Houston.
- NoSorryCannot 6y agoThe juxtaposition is what's noteworthy, not that the neighborhood is expensive. Gruesome murders are salacious enough; it happening to a wealthy entrepreneur inside his expensive Manhattan home is especially rare. For many reasons, people seem to be interested when tragedy strikes the rich or glamorous.
- 6y ago
- adenozine 6y agoHow horrible. Why would someone do this? I'd never heard of Gokada, it looks like such a cool thing for a developing country. I wonder what the motivation was. It doesn't seem like a market where there'd be the political pressure to assassinate someone. Maybe if there was someone trying to rethink the way pharmaceuticals or something, I could understand a CEO getting chopped into pieces by some shadowy figure, but ridesharing? It benefits everyone to carpool and use fewer cars to get people from place to place. Ugh. God bless his family.
- tempsy 6y agoHe was facing an Uber-like regulatory situation in Lagos where his startup was facing a ban. If this was related to his startup (and not some other personal dealing) then a clear motive would be for a legacy carrier being disrupted to want end his startup...
- adenozine 6y agoOh! Your comment made me realize I was making an assumption that it was related to his business. I guess I just figure for someone to be trying to make progress in a place where progress is sorely needed, that its unlikely for them to have relationships or dealings that would warrant such heavy-handed consequences. If it was political, I wonder who benefits the most from this. Surely there will be scrutiny now, if there's more case details than are reported. I hope they don't get away with this. This will scare off entrepreneurs, maybe that's exactly what the killer wants. Maybe they want to discourage not only Gokada, but any company or product that might disrupt status quo. Who knows. This is nasty stuff.
- chansiky 6y agoIt could simply have been personal too. Have you ever watched Uncut Gems? I knew someone like the loan shark guy that if he didn't win, he would "win" anyways just to ease his inner cognitive dissonance. Just glad that he didn't have the money to pay for a hitman cause I could be dead too.
- 6y ago
- ianwalter 6y agoWow, I went to school with Fahim at Bentley University. Although we shared friends, I didn't know him personally. I did take computer science classes with him and it was clear he was one of the most talented students in the program. This is so unbelievably sad and shocking. My heart goes out to his friends and family.
- csmiller 6y agowow, I went to Bentley as well! never thought i would see alums on here (or getting dismembered)
- opportune 6y agoProbably too early to speculate on motives but it’s interesting to me that he was running a Nigerian tech company. Wonder if he stepped on the wrong person’s toes. It looks like authorities were trying to shut it down on some trumped up safety disputes (which likely means they were not giving out enough bribes)
- ejanus 6y agoMotorcycles kill thousands every year in Nigeria. It kills more than cars and buses combined. Such business has been banned virtually in all state capitals in Nigeria for about a decade ago. Lagos state was the only major state where such was functioning until lately.
- Samuyi 6y agoThis is false. The ban was more political than a safety issue.
- ejanus 6y agoWhy would you say that? The state wants to modernise and they decided to do away with something that is not safe. Could you explain the political side in it? We already had motorcycles in Lagos because Gokada arrived on the scene. A lot of other okadas owned by thousands of people were also knocked out. Even keke
- 1zael 6y agoThis may be socio-politically related. Extremists from Bangladesh (his original country) are known to use hacking and dismemberment as a terror tactic.
- jedimind 6y agoYCombinator rules: "Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents. Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. That destroys the curiosity this site exists for. "
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoA comment telling us that this type of murder is more common in the culture where the victim comes from than the culture local to where he was murdered without passing value judgement hardly seems like flame bait to me.
- jedimind 6y ago"the culture where the victim comes" - The article didn't mention a single word about bangladesh, so why bring it up? By the way, even that information is totally false, he NEVER lived in bangladesh, so he doesn't even come from that culture. It clearly says that he was a New York tech entrepreneur.
- kinghajj 6y agoHis family is Bangladeshi, and his startup was founded in Bangladesh. https://nypost.com/2020/07/15/who-was-fahim-saleh-the-tech-ceo-brutally-dismembered-in-nyc/ https://nypost.com/2020/07/15/who-was-fahim-saleh-the-tech-c...
- jedimind 6y agoHe was still not born in Bangladesh nor did he live there, but he lived and grew up in America. This article didn't mention a single word of Bangladesh, it was still mentioned by the root comment merely for ideological purposes.
- known 6y agoI suspect he owes money to criminals
- rshnotsecure 6y agoThis is being connected to the Chinese Ministry of State Security. Obviously such claims require evidence, explanation, and reason, not to mention means, motive, and opportunity. Let me attempt to do some of that. First, yes the Russians also murder people. They tend to do it themselves via their own agents and in some exotic fashion to send a message. Chinese style of assassination is to hire someone else. This has resulted in usually bizarre murders, no one is quite sure why, and probably has to do with lack of skill, mental issues, or overconfidence in who they're hiring at the time. So the quadruple murder of the successful Washington DC construction CEO back in 2015 [1] (his company later went on to build the FDA building), and of the Sun family in Houston a year earlier, was thought to be the MSS at the time [2]. The CEO murdered ran a firm called Gakoda. Their VC firm is mainly Global Tiger Management alumni, who have routinely been suspected of Chinese Intelligence connections over the years. Global Tiger is a large investor in Credit Karma, which has been an FDCS for sometime (Foreign Data Collection Scheme). Simply compare the military academies of China ("the seven sons of national defense") with their current employees and you can solve the rest. Anyway Gokada in Nigeria competed against another firm, Oride, which is part of the Chinese run conglomerate Opera [3]. The best guess at this point was Gakoda thought they were safe competing against the "chosen" Chinese winner because of their VC firm, but someone else didn't think so, and thus murdered the CEO. Yes there would have been other ways to subvert the company. One assumes though they wanted to send a message. At the very least, I hope the background details inform the reader of this comment on some interesting facts. EDIT: wording [1] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Washington,_D.C.,_quadruple_murder_incident https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Washington,_D.C.,_quadr... [2] - https://thetruecrimefiles.com/sun-family-murder/ https://thetruecrimefiles.com/sun-family-murder/ [3] - https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/11/after-vcs-spend-millions-nigeria-restricts-ride-hail-motorbike-taxis/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/11/after-vcs-spend-millions-n...
- tonywastaken 6y agowow
- filleduchaos 6y agoORide was not in any form the "chosen winners" - in fact, they were driven out of the market by the regulation in question. I know there is the tendency for Westerners to clutch pearls when anything even remotely referencing China is mentioned but at least temper it with reason.
- danielovichdk 6y agoWhy is this even on here?
- Axsuul 6y agoBecause what got him killed may have been related to his leadership position at a startup he founded... so definitely a word of caution for tech founders that read HN in similar local political fights.
- danielovichdk 6y agoFair point. The updated article is also a lot more articulate.
- danielovichdk 6y agoSo much for your political fight in the startup community. What a fucking bunch of speculating wankers
- Axsuul 6y agoI never claimed that was the cause, only to explain why it piques the interest of those in the HN community due to probable causes. Nevertheless, we still shouldn't jump to any allegations based on allegations.
- barkingcat 6y agoprobably similar to the dude who had his genitals eaten after meeting up with an online date. https://7news.com.au/original-fyi/crime-story-investigator/when-online-dating-goes-wrong-us-man-killed-and-eaten-by-cannibal-date-c-661037 https://7news.com.au/original-fyi/crime-story-investigator/w...
- grugagag 6y agoFounded on what exactly?
- barkingcat 6y agodude's chopped up. matches signatures of other cannibal instances where the victim is chopped up.
- meowface 6y agoIt's not uncommon for murder victims to be dismembered to make disposing of the body/evidence a lot easier. It's not so easy or subtle to carry a full body out of a building and take it somewhere to dispose of it, but if you dismember the body and put the parts in trash bags, it just looks like you're taking out ordinary trash.
- ak39 6y agoCan you imagine the maladaptive psychology required to wield a knife to calmly dismember, decapitate and butcher another human being?
- fb03 6y agoYour hypothesis assumes he did it calmly.
- AlexandrB 6y agoHave you seen The Act of Killing[1]? [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
- s5300 6y agoI don't know if you've ever read a history book, but humans have been pretty viciously murdering each other for just about all of forever. Along with torturing, raping, pillaging... you get the idea. Whatever bubble you live in, don't forget we're animals.
- anonAndOn 6y agoThey're called pathologists and they usually do autopsies. [0] [0]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6288235/Saudi-autopsy-expert-butchered-Jamal-Khashoggi-trained-Britain.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6288235/Saudi-autop...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- stickfigure 6y agoI'm sure it's only difficult the first time.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- longtimegoogler 6y agoMore and more I am coming to terms with just how f*#$d up humans actually are. I don't know if the internet highlights the bad but between this and the article about the Khmer Rouge the other day, it's hard to have a lot of faith in mankind.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- stanfordkid 6y agoWhat a tragedy. If this has ties to any foreign business or government entity, I truly hope that the U.S government and military forces take swift and lethal action. Sometimes I feel like this is the sort of thing where the justice system and public media just don't work... send some SEALS to knock out whoever did this. It reminds me of the type of thing that happens with central american drug lords. I wish the article talked about such political issues instead of the weird sort of implied schadenfreude with regards to his material possessions and postings on instagram.
- AlexandrB 6y ago1. Are you advocating for committing an act of war in response to this? 2. Jamal Khashoggi was similarly butchered and there's little doubt about the perpetrator's identity, yet we still trade with them and accept their VC money for our tech startups. I wouldn't hold my breath for a serious response unless the perpetrator turns out to be a government we already don't like.
- chrisin2d 6y agoI think that the FBI and our government should use every tool at their disposal to find the killer(s) and their sponsor and bring them to justice. If the perpetrators are sheltered by an uncooperative country, then we should apply diplomatic pressure. All murder is tragic and horrible. I think that assassination—of journalists, entrepreneurs, activists, and so on—to be an especially abhorrent category of murder, because it is intellectual terrorism and has an outsized impact. A single murder is a tragedy to a family, a community — but a single assassination is a tragedy to all of society. The plausible fear of being killed for challenging an industry incumbent, a corrupt politician, or an unscrupulous business places a sword of Damocles above any would-be upstart. It pre-emptively silences voices and minds and reduces a society's capacity for progress.
- stanfordkid 6y ago1. If needed. I think I over-reacted in saying send a SEAL team out there. But I think in such situations, if this is a sort "gangster" situation -- we should seek diplomatic action and recourse -- esp if it is a foreign entity. 2. This is a horrible travesty. We are too deep in bed with the Saudi's
- ed25519FUUU 6y ago> Inside the man's living room, sources say it appeared the killer worked hard to cover their tracks, but was perhaps interrupted or got spooked before getting rid of the evidence. Uh, those luxury apartments have cameras everywhere. Why would they think they could cover anything?
- ihattendorf 6y agoThe camera probably doesn't matter too much if you have a mask. It's probably more important to remove physical evidence than to worry about additional video evidence.
- ocdtrekkie 6y agoAnd wearing a mask in public is perfectly normalized in New York right now, so it doesn't even draw any unwanted attention.
- dopamean 6y agoEverywhere? They certainly don't have them in the unit unless the owner put them there.
- chubot 6y agoUh wow, I never heard of this company or person, but this is horrible and tragic. However I just read "The Upstarts", the 2017 book about AirBNB and Uber. It specifically mentions that 2 rideshare leaders felt their lives were threatened by local competition. I believe it was the original founder of Seamless in NYC, and an early executive at Uber, I believe when they were launching in NYC. Apparently it's not uncommon for taxis and limos to be have connections to local crime. I have no idea if that happened here, but I've also never heard of a story like this in the tech startup world.
- agustif 6y agoEscobar owned all taxis in Medellin
- everybodyknows 6y agoOur president's former attorney owned a taxi business: https://www.npr.org/2018/05/13/610849891/michael-cohens-troubled-taxi-business https://www.npr.org/2018/05/13/610849891/michael-cohens-trou...
- theduder99 6y agohow desperate are you people? its over, try again in 2024 and good luck to you!
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- randycupertino 6y agoSpent some time in Budapest for work and the local taxis are so dialed in with mafia & local politicians that Uber and Lyft are both banned there.
- agrocrag 6y ago"Police source say a business deal gone bad is being investigated as a motive for the killing. There’s no indication that NYPD detective are eyeing past controversies involving PrankDial." Seems like some other moving pieces in play with his past startup. "The tech bro found sliced into pieces in his $2.25 million Lower East Side condo made a name for himself by creating a prank phone call app that led to the downfall of a Hudson County, N.J. jail honcho." https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-prankdial-app-hudson-county-jail-wiretap-case-20200715-57qvtdrdjfcfhixhcxdj3t4a6u-story.html https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-prankdial-app-hudson...
- cellar_door 6y agoDescribing him as a "tech bro" in the first line is needlessly derogatory. Implying he deserved it. Like calling a rape victim "scantily clad." Pretty gross journalism if you ask me: designed to create outrage and drive clicks.
- umeshunni 6y agoWhat a pathetic piece of shit this Stephen Rex Brown (https://twitter.com/PPVSRB https://twitter.com/PPVSRB) has to be to write an article so terrible about someone who was just brutally murdered.
- dang 6y agoPlease don't do this here, regardless of how terrible an article is. We don't want the online shaming and bullying culture on HN. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20online%20shaming&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
- ficklepickle 6y agoThey also refer to his startup as "Gorkada" multiple times. If they managed to screw that up, I don't have a lot if faith in the rest of the article.
- deleted 6y ago
- rootsudo 6y agoI watched a documentary about this once, it really started Christian Bale's career.
- dang 6y agoPlease don't do this here.
- sacredcows 6y agoHis company's wikipedia page is being edited to remove any mention of his death. Quite suspicious
- Acrobatic_Road 6y agoMore like one user made a single revert that will soon be reverted.
- RubberShoes 6y agoDrove by the scene yesterday afternoon and there were reporters and camera crews extended into the street. A ton of commotion and now I know why. I think this is getting more attention than it deserves because its ripe with "what ifs" that allow one's imagination to run wild. Politically motivated, absolutely brutal, and in an environment that is designed to shield one from any harm. My heart goes to his family and friends - no matter what someone has done in life they don't deserve this ending.
- eruci 6y agoI can't read this article because "abc7chicago.com wants to install and run Widevine" As to the newsworthy debate, yes, the death of a person that is of a greater relative value to society (such as for eg a tech entrepreneur) is more newsworthy than otherwise (such as for eg a homeless person).
- dang 6y agoWe've since changed the URL. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23848620 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23848620)
- escape_goat 6y agoFahim Saleh was born in Saudi Arabia and was killed in a manner that "appeared professional" and then dismembered. This could easily be an atrocious crime by an individual or related to — for instance — organized crime in Nigeria, but it is sobering that one of the usual suspects when something like this happens is a state actor.
- devalgo 6y agoI'm not a defender of Saudi Arabia but besides him being born there how is it relevant? He does business in Africa and was educated in and lives in the US. Is there any indication he was a anti-Saudi activist? I don't see any so why should that be brought up at all?
- escape_goat 6y agoI haven't found any indication that he said anything against the Saudi regime. I brought it up because he appears to have been executed according to a professional (if bungled) plan reminiscent of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi state. I think it merits contemplation any time anyone with Saudi connections is professionally murdered and dismembered.
- devalgo 6y agoSure but Khashoggi was a very high profile Journalist and Activist and that happened on Turkish soil. An assassination like that in the US would be a dramatic change in their behavior and politically very hazardous.
- electro_blah 6y agolol. dude, Turkish goons beat the shit out of American people in front of cameras and got way with it.
- dontcarethrow2 6y ago
- flyingfences 6y ago> The condos in the building are full-floor and the keyed elevator opens right into the apartment. Doesn't this mean that anybody with the [widely, publicly known] FDNY elevator override key can get right into the apartment? I've seen far too many physical pentesting talks (i.e. any at all) to trust a setup like that for my home in a city.
- Naac 6y agoProbably not. There is most likely another door once the elevator opens, that also require some sort of key.
- epc 6y agoNot necessarily. I have not been in the building in question, but have looked at multiple other apartments in NYC where the elevator opened directly into the unit, no door. Typically older buildings, not newer construction.
- dopamean 6y agoI have several friends who live in these types of apartments and all of them have apartments where the elevator opens directly into the unit. This is a common setup.
- libraryatnight 6y agoI've never been in such an apartment, but that is how Robin Colcord's private elevator worked on Cheers, so I believe you.
- m-p-3 6y agoI'd get a lobby built around that elevator with an additional locked door.. or maybe I'm too paranoid.
- voisin 6y agoThis is actually how they are frequently built. Not always, obviously, but it is extremely common for full floor apartments to still have a “lobby” for the unit around the elevator.
- pacija 6y agoThis mostly happens to people who fail to pay their debt. Victim's stance on fairness of bargain mostly differs from the one of the creditors, but unfortunately that doesn't help them being less dead or dismembered. Debt doesn't have to be purely financial, but most often has to do with money. It could be completely delusional, eg. "Business you started robbed me of $$$ which would be mine if you did not. Therefore you owe me triple the value of all your assets." I'm not implying this is what happened in this particular case. It is horrible these things happen.
- dang 6y agoWe changed the url from https://abc7chicago.com/ny-tech-entrepreneur-found-decapitated-dismembered-inside-luxury-condo/6318409 https://abc7chicago.com/ny-tech-entrepreneur-found-decapitat... to one with more information and no autoplaying video. If anyone can suggest a better URL, we can change it again.
- filleduchaos 6y agoAs far as I'm aware, this is the article that broke the story: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-headless-torso-found-manhattan-20200714-rz25uxzsejgrxnsk4rd22vf7hq-story.html https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-headless-t.... I first saw it around 5AM Lagos time. As a bonus there's no paywall. I am not sure but I think the coverage might come across as a bit tabloid-y however.
- dang 6y agoOk, we can change to that from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/nyregion/dismembered-body-houston-street-manhattan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/nyregion/dismembered-body.... Thanks.
- alpha_squared 6y ago> Condos in the building feature Italian marble kitchens and master baths, white oak floors and asking prices in the $2 million to $2.5 million range, according to the real estate website StreetEasy. The website Curbed noted in a 2017 article that access to the building’s units was via a private, keyed elevator. This is such a strange paragraph to read in an article like this. I see the relevance of the last sentence, but the rest just feels jarring. Is that normal for pieces like this?
- umeshunni 6y agoI think the author is trying to set context that this is an upscale neighborhood and access to the building is difficult, so this is unlikely to be a random robbery or assault and more likely to a planned murder.
- alpha_squared 6y agoWasn't that already explicit in the tagline of the piece? > An electric saw was found near the man’s torso, law enforcement officials said. Units in the Lower East Side building have sold for more than $2 million. The additional details about tiling and decor seem quite superfluous.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Liquix 6y agoPerhaps meant to give readers a sense of how wealthy he was? The fact that he was a young millionaire entrepreneur adds a layer of depth to the story.
- throw03172019 6y agoThe extra details of the kitchen and bathroom is strange. As far as the price point, they may be trying to show he was not living in a run down neighborhood with higher crime?
- libraryatnight 6y ago
- grugagag 6y agoRIP Saleh Fahim. They have a CCTV video with the murderer but unfortunately he had a mask on. During the pandemic killers can operate with a cover, the mask, gloves, etc Does anyone know if theres a lead to who the murderer is?
- jb775 6y agoLooks like Gokada had investors in America, South Africa, and Dubai[1], did most of their motorcycle ride-hailing business in Nigeria, but Nigeria recently banned passenger motorcycles which was obviously a huge blow to the business. His investors probably weren't too thrilled seeing him live in a multi-million $ NYC condo shortly after their substantial investments tanked. [1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/gokada#section-investors https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/gokada#section-inves...
- grugagag 6y agoThey could have abducted or blackmailed him but killing him like that makes no sense from an investors POV, they get nothing back and the risk of getting caught. Hope he will get justice
- rndgermandude 6y agoThey get him dead, which can enough for some particularly evil people with a grudge. Look at e.g. (probably) the FSB poisoning Litvinenko, six years after he fled to the UK. After six years there wasn't much to gain for the FSB other than making an example out of him and retribution.
- grugagag 6y agoYes but this is diferent though. Those were ex spies who “talked” and wanted to send a message to other spies as in “if you talk we’ll find you anywhere”.
- ganoushoreilly 6y agoThe same could be said that if you don't make good on investments or "the take" if there was one, you are handled. Not saying I agree, but I can see where the circumstances aren't different.
- filleduchaos 6y agoGokada pivoted to deliveries after that regulation was passed; it's certainly possible that while that's a decent niche, it's not enough to meet investors' expectations for their capital. If that's the motivation here it would be a huge shame, because the company has done and is doing a lot of social good.
- neonate 6y agohttps://archive.is/lcz7t https://archive.is/lcz7t
- programbreeding 6y agoThat snap was 18 hours old and was lacking new details (like it being the co-founder of Gokada). Here is an updated link: http://archive.is/7LbxX http://archive.is/7LbxX
- mola 6y agoWhat's up with the real estate byline?
- cameronfraser 6y agoI think it was like, "Oh my god rich people can die"
- Penguinx628 6y agoA stringer captured this video below of a similar incident that happened recently in New York. Could this be related/ him? https://youtu.be/iJIImjO9lVw https://youtu.be/iJIImjO9lVw
- CommieBobDole 6y agoLooking at the address on Street View, it definitely appears to be the same building.
- woko 6y agoIt reminds me of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Khashoggi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Khashoggi), and then this appears in the article. Coincidence? > According to a 2016 blog profile, Mr. Saleh was born in Saudi Arabia, and moved with his family quite a bit before settling in Rochester, N.Y., and, later, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
- newacct583 6y agoWith Khashoggi we had a clear motive for the killing, though. It's not at all clear who wanted Saleh dead, and in particular why Saudi should be involved at all. It's merely where he was born, not the target of his opinion writing (note also that per the article he's Bangladeshi ethinically, not Saudi).
- ryanisnan 6y agoThe Saudi government is corrupt AF and doesn't need much in the way for justification for killing people? Also the US leadership is so incompetent at the moment, seems like a good time for other countries to do whatever TF they want.
- electro_blah 6y agoMaybe they are trying make it look like a Saudi hit job.
- RspecMAuthortah 6y agoAs an immigrant founder of a small company, America no longer seems to me like a safe environment. The entire political culture has become nothing short of toxic, and crimes like this out in the open makes you question why would an immigrant come to US to start a business if they can get murdered like this? The fact that this happened in one of the safest areas in New York, makes you wonder if city life even worth it? May be he should have owned a gun? So many questions. Hope his family finds some answers.
- wruza 6y agoHow is an immigrant status related to (presumably) business/political issues the victim had? Do you believe that it is safe anywhere when you make deals and conflicts with people whose values do not include lives? Remember terrorism acts in both US and EU in last two decades. I'm assuming you're honest in your anxiety, but this rhetoric sounds just alarmist. As if some cityname was equal to a bunker-like safety zone and not just street-crime protecting area. What did you expect from local authorities to do to prevent his sudden murder? Put a wall around the city and profile everyone for a week to allow an entrance? Nobody and nothing can protect you from a random professional hitman, neither a personal protection service nor a gun, but as a regular person who does a legal business in a first world you're damn safe everywhere.
- ogre_codes 6y ago> The death was not immediately labeled a homicide, and a Police Department spokesman said that the medical examiner’s office would determine the cause of death. Umm. I think it's safe to rule suicide out when the corpse was dismembered with a saw.
- atombender 6y agoThere have been cases where people have committed crimes (often on the books as "desecration of a human corpse") while trying to cover up accidents or suicides. Not saying it's the case here, but there's no point in jumping to conclusions.
- ogre_codes 6y agoYou are correct. It was a poor (and in poor taste) attempt to be snarky.
- strogonoff 6y agoThe terrible tragedy of the incident aside, graphic details hint at this being a very costly signal. The sender(s) of the signal must feel threatened, but generally consider themselves immune to American law enforcement. Although many circumstances are unknown to me, at first approach this looks like a sad illustration of the intense frontier between new business models powered by emerging technology and entrenched business interests in many parts of the world. Judging by Gokada’s business model, the signal is probably intended to deter any further attempts at competing with local taxi and limo businesses.
- stopratelimit 6y ago>The sender(s) of the signal must be feeling threatened, but generally consider themselves immune to American law enforcement. Can you say with any confidence that the sender isn't American law enforcement?
- neonate 6y agohttps://archive.is/ltGpQ https://archive.is/ltGpQ
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- imranq 6y agoThe amount of speculation in the comments is surprising for HN. There are very few facts established so far. What a tragedy. God bless his family.
- bot_a_not 6y agoI knew Fahim, met him several times and hung out with him when he was investing in Pathao and HackHouse in Bangladesh. He was the type of person who would hang out with you having beers and you'd be shooting the shit about an idea for a startup and he'd end up going home, writing up the code all night and send you a link in the morning with a registered operating version of the site. He dealt with a lot of the same issues of shady regulators, broken ecosystem back then in Bangladesh but having his roots from there may have made things easier to navigate. Uggh I still can't believe how gruesome this is. I'm devastated for his family, the world is a horrible place a lot of times.
- Accacin 6y agoThere's a lot of speculation going on here, and I do not think it helps. I feel incredibly sorry for his family, especially his sister. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to walk in on a family member murdered in such a brutal fashion.
- codecamper 6y agoWhy has nobody pointed out that we need ways to launch products anonymously. When one coder can upend a market that is controlled by mafia, that one coder needs a way to remain anonymous. The problem is that to publish an App with Apple or Google you cannot be anonymous, correct?
- amadeuspagel 6y agoAccepting payments is another problem, but the most important one is taking investment and hiring people.
- dredds 6y agoUpdate: "..a personal assistant of a young tech entrepreneur ... was arrested early on Friday and is expected to be charged in the grisly killing." Lots of prior speculation, but this early arrest will be some small comfort to his family and friends.
- pcvarmint 6y agohttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/nyregion/fahim-saleh-suspect-tyrese-devon-haspil.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/nyregion/fahim-saleh-susp... https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/17/us/fahim-saleh-killing/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/17/us/fahim-saleh-killing/index....