Deadly stabbing started with argument over cigarette in Manhattan: DA

MANHATTAN (PIX11) — A request for a cigarette ended with a man being stabbed to death, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thursday. 

John Wright, 35, allegedly chased, beat and fatally stabbed Carlos Rosario on Dec. 6, Bragg said. He was arrested two weeks later in the Bronx. Wright was charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with one count of murder in the second degree.

“As alleged, Mr. Rosario’s life was brought to a violent end when he was stabbed following a dispute that started over a cigarette,” Bragg said. “Today’s indictment demonstrates we will not accept this violence, and my thoughts are with those grieving Mr. Rosario’s loss.”

On the night he was killed, Rosario’s coworker asked Wright’s girlfriend for a cigarette near a Hell’s Kitchen parking garage, officials said. An argument started, escalated and became physical.