By Ben Fractenberg, Patrick Hedlund and Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Staff
EAST VILLAGE — Two graffiti writers fighting over a girl wanted to settle the dispute "like men" in the streets of the East Village, prosecutors said.
So 25-year-old Jairo Pastoressa and 21-year-old Christopher Jusko, who friends said tagged city streets together in the same graffiti crew, met early Monday morning on the second floor landing of an East 7th Street apartment building.
Pastoressa brought an 8-and-a-half-inch kitchen knife, prosecutors said, and Jusko died after being slashed in the neck and stabbed in the back.
Pastoressa turned himself in to police following the incident, police said, and was arraigned on murder charges Tuesday. He faces a minimum of 15 years to life in prison.
Neighbors described Pastoressa as a good-natured person who had had minor squabbles in the neighborhood in the past, but was generally mild-mannered and non-aggressive.
"He was pretty low key," said Will Pentecost, 24, a friend of Pastoressa's since preschool who lives on East 1st Street. "He definitely wasn't one to look for a fight."
Another longtime friend of Pastoressa's, who lives in the building next door to 272 East 7th St. where the attack occurred, said the murder suspect dated the woman who sparked the incident on and off for nearly two years following her relationship with Jusko.
Both residents explained that Pastoressa and Jusko knew each other from the neighborhood and ran in the same graffiti circles, and that Jusko was a regular visitor to the block for years.
"They hung out," said neighbor Damien J., 27, who declined to provide his last name. "That's why people are upset in the street."
Pentecost added that "everyone on the Lower East side that writes graffiti knows each other," and said that despite the circumstances surrounding the stabbing, he was glad the incident "wasn't over graffiti beef."
At the arraignment Tuesday, prosecutors said Jusko called Pastoressa on the phone Monday after discovering his ex-girlfriend was dating Pastoressa. They exchanged words, and Pastoressa told Jusko to come to his apartment to "settle it like men," prosecutors said.
When Jusko arrived, Pastoressa let him into the building before attacking him on the second floor landing, prosecutors said. Police found Jusko in a pool of blood outside the building about 5:30 a.m. Monday, according to the criminal complaint.
The ex-girlfriend, who has not been identified, arrived at Pastoressa's apartment just ahead of Jusko, prosecutors said. She is currently being sought by police, said Pastoressa's attorney.
Pastoressa had previous disputes over girls, Damien J. said, adding that someone once threw rocks at Pastoressa's window for dating another man's ex-girlfriend.
"I could see where [Jusko's] animosity came from," Damien J. said, explaining that Pastoressa previously dumped the woman involved in Monday's incident for another woman, before getting back together with her a couple months ago. "[Pastoressa] had a falling out with mad people [over girls]."
The neighbor described another incident in which Pastoressa got "smacked around" by a group of acquaintances from Brooklyn after he tagged a building during a party there. The group also spray-painted his dog, the neighbor added.
"He's not a retaliation kind of guy," Damien J. said. "But you never know in the heat of the moment who can turn into a killer."
Pentecost said he couldn't imagine Pastoressa intended to kill Jusko.
"I can't believe that he would lay in wait for this kid," he said.
Damien J. added that Jusko, who had hung around the neighborhood for about four years, got beaten up by another resident of the block in a separate situation, but that Jusko never sought revenge.
Jusko's landlady in Bushwick, Brooklyn, expressed shock upon hearing about his death.
"He was no trouble. He kept to himself," said H. Thomas, 63, adding that Jusko lived there for three years. "I'm so sorry."
Pastoressa's lawyer asked at his arraignment Tuesday that his client be placed on suicide watch. His next court date is scheduled for Fri. Oct. 29.
