Loan shark sentenced to life in prison for killing Queens businessman over son’s unpaid debt

A brutal Staten Island pawnbroker was sentenced to life in prison for participating in a debt collection that ended in murder.

Ppassim Elder was charged with the October 2017 death of 64-year-old Queens business owner Honey Kasem.

Elder sent three people to Kasem Ozone Park’s Garden Valley Distributors to recover the $50,000 balance from the owner’s 32-year-old son, prosecutors said.

Honey Kasem, 64, was gunned down on Monday, October 23, 2017, in Ozone Park, Queens, due to an unpaid loan.

When Kasem’s son told the men he couldn’t pay, he ended up being beaten with a gun and his father shot in the face.

Judge William F. Koontz II called the life sentence “justice”.

“This is a well-deserved life sentence,” Kunz said.

Applause was heard at the decision of the federal judge, and some members of Kasem’s family, including his wife, burst into tears.

“Life!” exclaimed one of the sons of Kasem.

The elder apologized to Qassem’s children and said he felt “deep sorrow” for the family, but denied responsibility.

“The event that happened that fateful morning was not my fault,” the Elder said. “I have nothing to do with this. I don’t know anything about it.”

Elder’s attorney, Thomas Wouter, stated that “the killing was not premeditated.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kara Migios called Elder’s actions “heartless,” noting that the two families knew each other and interacted many times over the years.

The elder was “driven by pure greed, driven by money he had fraudulently obtained to send people to detain the Kasem family at gunpoint,” Migios said.

In the victim impact statement, Kasem’s son looked into Elder’s eyes and told him, “This pain will never go away.”

“Your whole life consists of cheating, killing and harming,” said Mahmoud Qasem. “Thank God, the truth came out.

“I lost my husband,” Fozie Kasem told the Daily News. “Eight girls have lost their father. My grandchildren always talk about him when they come, they never forget.”

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