A former colleague says the alleged MoMA killer shipped a dead rat to a Broadway theater boss after he was fired from his doorman job.
A former colleague said that back in January, 60-year-old Gary Cabana got his revenge after he was fired from his job as a doorman at the Nederlander Theater in Manhattan by mailing a dead rodent to labor relations executive Anthony LaTorell.
The package photo shows a shoe box with a large dead rat inside, and the lid says “LaTorella is a RAT,” according to the New York Post. The police confirmed that such a box had been left with Nederlander in the early hours of 4 January.
Cabana was arrested earlier this week after he allegedly stabbed two 24-year-old employees of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) the day after his museum membership was revoked.
After being told in late 2021 that his services were no longer required in the theatre, Cabana reportedly turned around and sent a series of threatening emails to a woman working for a union that represents the Ushers, the International Alliance of Theater Workers.
“Payback is coming,” he wrote to a union representative, police said.
“F*** you c***,” he allegedly said, according to the New York Post.
He also allegedly punched his former manager in the face while outside the theater on West 41st Street.
Cabana allegedly sent labor relations executive Anthony LaTorella (pictured) a box with a large dead rodent inside with the message “LaTorella is a RAT”.
Former colleague Gary Cabana says he sent a dead rat to the boss at the Nederlander Theater after he was fired from his job.
Following the Jan. 4 rat incident, Cabana allegedly stabbed to death two 24-year-old museum employees in Manhattan in March.
“He was very upset with them and was almost banned from going back to the theater and I think that’s what made him snap,” said a former colleague of Cabana, who has not been named due to concerns for his safety. New York Post.
According to a former colleague, Cabana focused his anger on LaTorella by sending him a rolled up package.
“After they let him go, he got mad at someone in the Nederlander office, so he sent them a dead rat in a shoe box. … It was not in his nature, at least we thought so, ”said a former colleague of Cabana.
The rat package appears to be one of many episodes leading up to the alleged stabbing attack at the Museum of Modern Art.
Cabana was finally arrested last week at a Greyhound bus station in Philadelphia after setting fire to a downtown hotel room.
City of Brotherly Love investigators recognized him from CCTV footage while investigating a fire in a room on the fifth floor of a Best Western hotel. According to WTXF, police said the room suffered significant damage.
Matters came to a head last Saturday in New York when Cabana said he “lost himself” after being denied entry to MoMA, where he planned to watch van Gogh’s Starry Night.
“He was very upset with them, and he was practically banned from returning to the theater, and I think this is what made him break out,” said a former Cabana colleague.
Cabana was fired from the Nederlander Theater in Manhattan last year. He was prosecuted after he allegedly punched his former manager in the face.
Cabana said he “lost it” when he was denied entry to MoMA, where he planned to watch Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
In a series of messages to a Post reporter, he accused a woman named Barbara of conspiring to bar him from the museum with the help of two employees he stabbed to death.
“Girls with knife wounds were also involved in ENTREPRENEURSHIP. I don’t backstab, I only frontside,” he wrote.
“When they said I couldn’t go upstairs to see the STARRY, STARRY NIGHT AGAIN, I was at a loss.”
He said he received a letter from the museum’s director of security saying he was “aggressive”. [and] devastating” on February 24 and last Wednesday, when stabbings took place.
Cabana’s address is listed as The Times Square, a charity building at 255 West 43rd Street for former homeless or mentally ill people.
One of the victims of the stab wounds on Saturday was a 24-year-old woman who worked at the front desk.
Despite her injuries, the woman joked about being paid for working in dangerous conditions after she was stabbed in her back and neck.
A former theater doorman brutally attacked two women at the museum on Saturday before fleeing.
While on the run, he continued to post on social media.
On Facebook, he wrote: “Bipolar disorder is a hard road to a hoe. Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. THEN you were set up and kicked out of MoMA (not just cinema but ALL ART) by an angry old lady who shushes you when you laugh during a comedy,” Cabana wrote.
He seems to blame the museum ban on a woman named Barbara.
“She is a threat, NOT ME. Total Frame work by Team Barbara. It wasn’t SCREAM 6 at MoMA, it was a wake up call. At MoMA’s frame work, get the truth.”
He criticized MoMA for how employees reportedly treated him and criticized the news coverage of the attack.
‘Which is worse? Hackers or magazines. Right now I LOVE MY HACKERS for distracting me from this MoMA framework work,” Cabana wrote on Facebook.
“There were NO VIOLATIONS. The security service NEVER escorted me out of MoMA on those 2 “supposed” days when I was “naughty”: February 24 + March 9. Complete blind side when I received the “letter” from Daniel P.
He also criticized the “cat assholes of the world,” apparently referring to the museum worker who turned him away from Saturday’s Bringing Up the Child show.
“There are security guards at EVERY screening. Nobody ever said come with us cheers NOBODY #nO1. Only this deceitful treacherous woman. Interview HER magazines and I never got mtg with security, only blind letter.
In a Facebook post from Sunday, while he was still on the run, Cabana blamed a woman named Barbara for the MoMA ban.
Cabana’s Instagram account reveals that he is an avid theater and art fan. The account has a lot of photos of posters and performances.
It’s unclear what kind of MoMA membership he had, but the cheapest one is a $65-a-year pass for unlimited access to the exhibits.
In addition, on his Instagram page, Cabana taunted the police, who continue to search for him.
“They knew who I was the whole time, but those morons spent hours searching the museum when I was OBVIOUSLY LONG AVAILABLE and hundreds of witnesses WATCHED, but there were no HEROES in the crowd that day,” he replied to someone commenting on him photograph.
“New York has become a bunch of mind-blowing pussies,” he added. “Not a single person followed me as I ran down 53rd Street (sic) with a bloody face from where the guards hit me with a piece of lucite…”.