A beloved Brooklyn security guard was brutally beaten to death in a random subway attack after he held a door open for the man who killed him, police said. Nicola “Nick” Tanzi, 64, was working at the Jay Street–MetroTech subway station on Tuesday when he was attacked by 25-year-old David Mazariegos, according to New York City police.
Tanzi, originally from Bari, Italy, had lived in New York City for about two decades and was a fixture in Brooklyn’s Italian community and a devoted parish volunteer. He was known for his warmth and acts of kindness, but when he held open the subway emergency gate for Mazariegos, he was allegedly met with rage. Mazariegos admitted to killing the victim “because he didn't like the way he looked at him,” officials told WABC. He allegedly pummeled, kicked, and stomped on Tanzi’s head up to 15 times before fleeing.
Paramedics rushed Tanzi to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in critical condition, but he was later pronounced dead. Police circulated Mazariegos’ photo citywide before “eagle-eyed cops working near Times Square recognized this perp from the photos they had just received and immediately brought this dangerous criminal into custody,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch in a post on X.
At the time of his arrest, Mazariegos was allegedly carrying four of Tanzi’s credit cards, including one he had just used at a nearby Target, and a katana-style sword with a 20-inch blade. Authorities said Mazariegos has 17 prior arrests, including for assault and petit larceny. He is being held without bail and faces charges including criminal possession of a weapon.
For Tanzi’s friends and neighbours, the violence was incomprehensible. “He was always kind,” Carmine Racaro, co-owner of Flowers By Emil near Tanzi’s Bay Ridge apartment, told the New York Post. “Always kidding around. He was like family to us.” At St. Athanasius-St. Dominic’s Parish in Bensonhurst, where Tanzi volunteered as an usher and attended Italian Mass three times a week, grief quickly spread. Deacon Anthony Mammoliti said, “Nicola is for all purposes, one of the most congenial, friendly individuals that you could ever meet. If you were his friend, that was something very, very powerful. He’ll do anything for his friends.”
