Unhappy Ending

I made a passing reference to the gay hustler who was murdered last week here in Chelsea. Little did I know that the brutal slaying and torching of his body took place across the street from my apartment.

It seems 45-year-old Shlomy Rejwan was running a massage business out of his digs at 228 W. 18th St., in the building above the Venezuelan joint where I occasionally get arepas con queso (El Cocotero). Police believe he was strangled to death by a robber and then set on fire to destroy the evidence.

Rejwan, who reportedly charged his clients $100 for massages that included sexual acts, was found guilty of prostitution way back in 1995. Police sources tell the NY Post that immigration officials were planning to deport him as part of a recent crackdown on foreigners convicted of sex-related crimes.

As alarming as it is that an unsolved homicide was commited in extremely close proximity to my residence, perhaps the most shocking thing of all is how a 45-year-old man managed to continue turning tricks in this youth-obsessed mecca of a gay neighborhood ...