NYC cops arrest suspect accused of beating Steve Buscemi in random attack

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From Joe Marino, Jorge Fitz Gibbon And Natalie O’Neill

Police on Friday arrested the crazed suspect who allegedly beat beloved actor Steve Buscemi to death in an unprovoked attack on a Manhattan street.

Clifton Williams, 50, is accused of walking up to Buscemi, 66, in Kips Bay about 5:45 p.m. on May 8 and punching him indiscriminately before casually walking away.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) identified Williams on video surveillance cameras near the crime scene and searched for him throughout the city, including at a Brooklyn homeless shelter that was believed to be his last known address, police sources said.

Police received a call Friday from the manager of a homeless services building in Hell’s Kitchen who said Williams had been harassing him about possessions he believed had been stolen.

When an officer arrived, the officer asked Williams to fill out a lost property report, police said.

But as he filled out the paperwork, the officer recognized his name and linked it to a photo of the person wanted in Buscemi’s attack.

The officer pointed to an NYPD wanted poster and asked Williams, “Is that you?” – to which he allegedly confessed that it was.

“Steve Buscemi was attacked in Mid-Town Manhattan, another victim of random violence in the city,” the publicist said in a statement Sunday. “He is doing well and appreciates everyone’s well wishes, although it is incredibly sad for everyone that this happened while he was walking the streets of New York at the same time.”

Buscemi was spotted with a gleam in his left eye and a swollen cheek while filming a commercial in Soho on May 11.

“The guy just came up to him and hit him on the side of the head for no reason,” a worker in the neighborhood who had previously seen security video of the attack told The Post. “(Buscemi) didn’t see anything. He went straight to the ground and the guy kept going.

“(Buscemi) came right back with an expression like, ‘What just happened?’ and looked at the guy who hit him,” the worker said. “The guy yelled something at him and kept going.”

Buscemi is a former FDNY firefighter who famously rushed to the scene of the World Trade Center on 9/11 to help his former company, Engine 55, in its time of need.

He started his film career almost 40 years ago and has a string of successful films to his credit, including “Farco,” “The Big Lebowski” and “Reservoir Dogs.”

He also had a recurring role on the HBO hit “The Sopranos” and recently gained recognition for his portrayal of corrupt Atlantic City police officer Enoch “Nucky” Thompson in the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire.”

The attack makes Buscemi the second cast member of the hit series to fall victim to random street violence in New York City this year.

On March 31, actor Michael Stuhbarg, who played gangster Arnold Rothstein in the series, was walking on the Upper East Side when he was hit in the neck by a rock.

Stuhbarg pursued the fiend, who was arrested after encountering police officers guarding the Russian consulate.

The NYPD arrested mentally disturbed tramp Xavier Israel, 27, in the attack.