New York retiree Linda Marie Caccese arrested for beating Florida man
You can take the septuagenarian out of Brooklyn, but you can’t take the Brooklyn out of the septuagenarian.
A fiery New Yorker who retired to Florida was arrested Monday after raining down punches on a man who called her an “Italian bitch” during a heated argument in their normally tranquil Sunshine state community.
Linda Marie Caccese, 71, who was born in Brooklyn and later lived in Staten Island before moving south, said she had every right to pummel her nemesis — and stressed that she successfully landed several haymakers on him.
The fracas was first reported by The Villages News.
Caccese, who lives in the sprawling retirement community The Villages, told The Post in a feisty interview that her close friend lives in the same house as her combatant, who’s identity has not been released.
“They were engaged, and she broke it off after she realized what kind of man he is,” Caccese fumed.
The retiree explained that she went to their shared home because she needed her friend to help reconnect a bluetooth device for her.
“When I pulled up, he came out of the house cursing at me, calling me all sorts of names,” she said. “He doesn’t like me, probably because I take my friend out of the house that’s like a prison for her.”
At one point, the man uttered a phrase that the pugnacious Brooklynite was unable to tolerate, calling Caccese “an Italian bitch.”
“I got into a rage,” she explained, recalling that her enemy scampered back into his home and locked the door as Caccese sprinted towards him.
“Come out here and say that!” she bellowed. “Come out here and call me that!”
Scared that she might break down his door or shatter a window to make him answer for the ethnic slur, the man begrudgingly opened the door.
Caccese said he forcefully grabbed her on the arm and left a bruise, arguing that she was forced to defend herself.
“We just started fighting,” she said, noting that she managed to connect on several stinging jabs and straights.
Caccese was eventually arrested on a misdemeanor battery rap. “They told me it was because I was on his property,” she said. “I tried to tell them that I was invited to come over there.”
In the end, the brassy New Yorker was released on $500 bond and is pushing to have the charges dropped.
After a reporter attempted to pose one final question, Caccese interjected.
“Look, I have to go,” she said sharply. “I have a doctor’s appointment.”