Weddingbee Blog

Wedding Punches KO Bliss

BY TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The bride wore white, and the groom wore handcuffs.

Eleven members of a Westchester wedding party, including the groom, wound up in jail after brawling with another bridal party and cops at a hotel bar, police said yesterday.

Instead of spending the night in wedded bliss with bride Erica Cancel, Joseph Fortunato Jr., 29, cooled his heels in a White Plains lockup with his dad, brother, new father-in-law and other guests.

“It was pure bedlam,” White Plains police spokesman Martin Gleeson said of the Saturday morning melee.

The trouble started when Fortunato’s wedding party arrived at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains, where a group from another wedding was relaxing in the bar. Apparently, a member of the wedding party in the lounge mistook Fortunato’s best man, his brother Alfonse, for their missing photographer and confronted him. Alfonse, 26, of Katonah, took umbrage and “clocked” his antagonist - sparking a free-for-all, police said.

“Everybody’s fighting everybody,” Gleeson said. “And both brides are kind of walking around helpless like, ‘This is my wedding? I can’t believe this is happening!’”

At least 10 police officers responded, and when they arrested the groom, other members of the Fortunato group went ballistic and started fighting the cops. Eleven suspects - all from the Fortunato wedding - were charged with first-degree riot, a felony that carries up to four years in prison, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Sebastian Russo, 28, of Staten Island, also was charged with criminal mischief for kicking the glass out of a hotel door as he was escorted to a squad car, cops said. The combatants were released on bail the next day.

Police said the hotel sustained about $2,000 worth of damage, but no one was seriously hurt. “We believe the event may have been alcohol-driven,” Gleeson said.

Originally published on September 15, 2005