Food Fight! Halal Chicken Vendor War Ends in Slashing

Apparently there's been some infighting in the "halal mafia." Blame it on the chicken.

Warring halal vendors got into a brutal food fight that resulted in one being knifed and two arrested after one longtime hot dog vendor added chicken to his menu, according to a published report. 

Walid Osman sold hot dogs out of his cart outside Kings County Hospital until sometime in August; then he thought it would be wise to add chicken to his offerings, reports The New York Post.

Mohamed Hanafi and Abdelrao Akl Hamdy, who had always sold poultry out of the cart on the same corner – Clarkson and E. 37th Street – were miffed that Osman, 32, was luring away their customers with the scent of succulent chicken.

So they did what any New Yorker would do – they relocated their cart right next to Osman's and slashed their prices in half, reports the Post.

Touché. 

The simmering food fight boiled over on Wednesday, when Hamdy and one of his workers, Farajat Yehiak, allegedly took a butcher knife to Osman's arm, reports the Post.

The two foodies were charged with assault, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, and were released without bail after arraignment in Brooklyn court yesterday, according to the paper.

Osman, an Egyptian immigrant with two daughters, was treated at the scene for non life-threatening injuries, reports the Post. But that may not be the last he hears from Hanafi.

"He said, 'If you don't move your cart to another area, I will kill you,'" Osman told the Post. "He wants to kill my business. I have kids and a family." 

The alleged menacing won't keep Osman from doing what he has to do to provide for his family, however; he plans to be back at his cart today, reports the Post.

Hanafi argues that Osman is to blame for the feud. The vendor says Osman used to work for him and signed a non-compete agreement of sorts – promising not to manage a chicken cart – and alleged Osman slashed himself and he had nothing to do with it, reports the Post.

For his part, Osman told the paper he was forced to sign the agreement and he did not knife himself.

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