Tag: Brooklyn

Hero of the day – 52-yr-old bus driver catches falling girl

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Keyla McCree crawled out of her bedroom window and was dancing atop an air-conditioning unit when she lost her footing and plunged towards the concrete below.

She was saved by a neighbour who had looked up when he heard the girl, who suffers from autism, singing above.

Steve St Bernard, 52, a bus driver and fellow resident at Coney Island Houses building in Brooklyn caught the girl in his outstretched arms…”I just prayed that I’d catch her,” Mr St Bernard told the New York Daily News. “I was right underneath her…”

Witnesses told police that the child had pushed aside the accordion closure that held a newly installed air conditioning unit in her apartment.

She crawled out through the empty space around 2pm and astonished onlookers as she sang and danced a routine on the ledge.

Mr St Bernard heard the commotion and went to help…

The girl walked away unscathed but her rescuer was treated for a torn tendon in his left bicep.

RTFA for the details. The important part was that an ordinary guy, a bus driver, heard the commotion – saw what the danger was – and stationed himself to help the little girl if the worst happened.

It did. And he saved her.

Brooklyn Democrat pleads guilty in corruption case

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Photo taken when Kruger was surrendering to the FBI
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

State Senator Carl Kruger, who for months had insisted on his innocence, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal corruption charges, admitting that he conspired to accept nearly $500,000 in bribes, which prosecutors have said supported a lavish lifestyle.

Mr. Kruger, an influential Democrat and 16-year legislator, stood before Judge Jed S. Rakoff in United States District Court in Manhattan and pleaded guilty to four of the five counts in the indictment against him. He sobbed and mumbled unintelligibly as he admitted his crimes. The charges included two counts of fraud conspiracy, for which he could face up to 20 years in prison each, and two counts of bribery conspiracy, which carry a maximum term of five years each…

The broad corruption investigation, which also resulted in the arrests of Assemblyman William F. Boyland Jr., two hospital executives, a lobbyist and a developer, indicated that Mr. Kruger used the money to live beyond his means; a prime example of that, prosecutors said, was his mansion in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, where he lived with two gynecologist brothers and their mother…

And the schemes were lucrative, according to the charges. Mr. Kruger collected at least $1 million in bribes, the authorities initially said, in return for all manner of political favors, like helping hospitals seeking to merge, getting state money for real estate developers and even expanding the business hours of liquor stores. The bribes, according to prosecutors, financed a four-door Bentley Arnage and the Mill Basin home, which was originally built for a boss of the Luchese crime family…

Mr. Boyland, a Democrat, who was tried separately before Judge Rakoff last month, was acquitted of conspiring to take $175,000 in bribes in return for using his influence on behalf of a health care organization that operates hospitals in Queens and Brooklyn…

In September, another defendant, David P. Rosen, the former chief executive of the health care organization, MediSys, was convicted of conspiring to bribe Mr. Boyland — as well as Mr. Kruger and a third legislator, Anthony S. Seminerio, a Democratic assemblyman from Queens — in return for favorable treatment for MediSys.

Poisonally, I would throw away the key. This man crapped on the voters who elected him. He conspired to break the law to benefit medical corporations feeding off the healthcare of Brooklyn taxpayers.

My only regret is that the scumbags who lobbied the healthcare changes to drug regulations through Congress for George W. Bush – before officially going to work for the Pharmaceutical industry – aren’t going to be sharing a cell with Kruger.

Jewish traditional bakery kept alive in Brooklyn by two Muslims

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Two Pakistani Muslims in Brooklyn are now running the oldest bialy store in the city, and keeping it kosher.

Zafaryab Ali and his business partner, Peerada Shah, were shocked on hearing through a friend that Coney Island Bialys and Bagels was closing. Ali had worked at the store for 10 years in the 1990s and remembers it always being crowded, with lines out the door and people waiting up to half an hour for fresh bialys. So Ali and Shah bought the store to keep the 91-year business alive.

Bialys are a lighter, softer cousin to the bagel, traditionally made with onion sprinkled on top.

“I know bagels and my partner knows management,” Ali said. “If we work hard and pay attention, we’ll build up and bring more customers in.”

Ali and Shah are keeping everything the same — ingredients, equipment, recipes — all used when it was a kosher store under Jewish management. Ali is now on the hunt for a rabbi to come and give the store an official kosher certification.

They even have some of the same staff, like Ernie Devivo, a semi-retired baker who is still helping out around the shop. “I’m glad we opened up again,” Devivo said. “It’s good for everybody.”

A wonderful tale. RTFA and enjoy ordinary working people who respect other traditions and the sense of community a neighborhood is capable of enjoying.

That the tale is of two Muslims reviving a Jewish tradition is icing on the cake. Or in my case, garlic on a bialy.

NYC threatens to close bus service that makes women sit in back

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New York City authorities said they will shut down a city bus service run by Orthodox Jews if the group doesn’t stop making women sit at the back of the bus.

The Private Transportation Corp, which operates the city’s public B110 bus under a franchise arrangement, has come under criticism following publicity about its practice of making women give up their seats in the front to promote Hasidic customs of gender separation.

New York City’s Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Gastel said the agency’s executive director Anne Koenig has asked the company to respond to the allegations and was waiting to hear back…If such a violation is found, the franchise could be revoked, the DOT said in a statement…

The B110 bus runs through the sections of the borough of Brooklyn that are heavily populated by Orthodox Jews.

A student reporter at Columbia University in New York published a story about a woman told by other riders to give up her seat in the front. Other news organizations then sent reporters who encountered similar situations…

Cripes. This franchise is 38 years old. No one noticed? No one complained before now?

Sorry; but, I find that hard to believe. Can there really be an overwhelming number of women in Brooklyn who rode that bus line and never noticed anything this backward going on?

Copper gets broken finger – saves his own life

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The piece that Miller and Reddin took away from Graves

A police sergeant saved his own life by sticking his finger between the hammer and cylinder of a gun jammed into his stomach by a desperate suspect during a Brooklyn struggle. Police said the suspect pulled the trigger of the loaded .38 caliber revolver several times during the struggle before he was subdued.

Sgt. Michael Miller emerged with a broken finger.

The incident began about 4 a.m. after Miller and Officer William Reddin of the 81st Precinct’s anti-crime team, on patrol in an unmarked car, stopped a speeding livery car on Quincy St. and Malcolm X Blvd. in Bedford-Stuyvesant…

…When Miller felt a gun in the waist of one passenger during a frisk, he ordered him to put his hands behind his back…

The suspect attacked the cop, pushing the gun against his stomach. Miller used his right ring finger to prevent the suspect, identified as Eugene Graves, 30, of Madison St., Brooklyn, from firing. Reddin jumped into the fray and helped subdue Graves. His companion fled, cops said.

Graves was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, criminal possession of about 2 ounces of what cops believe to be crack cocaine, weapons possession, assaulting a police officer, menacing and resisting arrest.

It’s an old stunt that still works. Good for you Sgt. Miller – glad you made it, OK.

After Graves lands in the slammer – throw away the key.

Teacher threatened to match Columbine – all over again

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A Brooklyn high school teacher was held Saturday on $100,000 bail after prosecutors revealed she had threatened a machine-gun rampage that would be “Columbine all over again.”

A handcuffed Sabrina Milo, 34, kept her head down during her arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court.

According to prosecutors, the art teacher was weeping inside the teachers lounge at Fort Hamilton High School last Tuesday when she delivered the threat.

Three teachers heard her mention bringing a machine gun to school beneath a trench coat before she warned it would be “Columbine all over again,” prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Andrew Stoll asked for Milo’s release without bail, insisting she was no threat to anyone.

“She does not own any firearms,” Stoll said. “She needs to be medicated.”

Stoll insisted the charges of making terroristic threats were “completely unwarranted.” Milo faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

The suspect’s husband, Lee Anderson, sat stoically in the rear of the courtroom during the hearing.

Milo, after the judge set bail, was also ordered to stay away from the high school and the teacher who made the complaint against her. She was also ordered to surrender any and all firearms.

Cripes. She’s a Real Madrid fan. Most places that doesn’t qualify as daft.

Deadly fire started by Voodoo sex ceremony

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Candles used in voodoo sex ceremony caused a fatal five alarm fire after they tipped over and ignited bed sheets in a Brooklyn, New York, apartment…

The fire left an elderly woman dead and injured 20 firefighters and three Brooklyn residents, according to a New York Fire Department statement.

A voodoo priest allegedly placed the candles on the floor around the bed on Saturday after a woman paid him $300 to perform a ceremony with a sexual component, that was meant to bring her good luck, fire department officials said.

The candles were accidentally knocked over during the ceremony prompting the man to douse the flames with water and open a window in an effort to clear smoke from the room, the statement said.

Forty mile-per-hour wind gusts instead shot the flames back inside the room, it said, creating a “blowtorch effect” that whipped through the open window and pushed the fire into the building’s fourth floor hallway.

“Time and time again we respond to tragedies that could have been so easily prevented,” Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano said in the statement. “This fire had so many of those elements … hopefully others will learn from this tragedy.” The occupants fled the apartment, leaving the door open, the statement said.

Nearly 200 firefighters from 44 companies took seven hours to bring the fire under control.

So, uh, could this be the one true religion?

And aren’t they all?

Traveling grifters snag $1 million worth of Apple products

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A gang of grifters used thousands of stolen identities and counterfeit credit cards to go on a $1 million shopping spree at Apple stores across the country, prosecutors said.

The traveling band of about two dozen alleged thieves was indicted on conspiracy, grand larceny, identity theft and forgery charges in the whopping take-down after a two-year investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s Cyber Crimes Unit and the Secret Service…

Reputed ring leader Shaheed “Sha” Bilal, 28, who orchestrated the May 2009 to December 2010 conspiracy from jail, was held on $1 million bail, according to court papers.

Prosecutors said the gang bought stolen identities and used Yahoo! email accounts to store, send and receive thousands of stolen credit card numbers. They used a credit card encoding machine to make the fake cards.

Armed with the plastic, they shopped, hitting mostly Apple stores where they snapped up iPods and MacBook laptops, but also gift cards and clothing. They swiped the cards in California, Nevada and Florida, as well as Manhattan and Edison, N.J.

Gil Einhorn, a 26-year-old married Brooklyn dad, was labeled by prosecutors as a “primary fence” who bought the hot electronics.

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Roper told a judge Einhorn was caught on surveillance tape handing over cash for “large bundles of items believed to be stolen electronic goods.”

Always pleased to see the fence caught along with the street thugs. A great deal of property crime could be brought to a screeching halt with the removal and warehousing of the financial kingpins of the process in some handy dandy slammer.

That the head of the gang was granted the necessary “freedom” to run his racket from prison is another topic guaranteed to piss me off. Perish the thought some sluggo doing time didn’t have free time and access to communications – that allowed him to continue stealing from his cell.

Bully online retailer arrested by Feds

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A Brooklyn cyber-merchant who recently drew attention by boasting that he used unusually bad customer service to boost his business was due in federal court in Manhattan Monday, following his arrest for allegedly threatening customers and other violations.

Vitaly Borker was charged with cyber-stalking, the making of interstate threats and both mail and wire fraud.

“Vitaly Borker, an alleged cyber-bully and fraudster, cheated his customers, and when they complained, tried to intimidate them with obscenity and threats of serious violence,” said Manhattan US Attorney Pheet Bharara in a press release. “Especially during this holiday shopping season, today’s arrest should send a message that we will protect online consumers and that victims of people like Borker are not alone.”

In a Nov. 26 article in the New York Times, Borker told a reporter that securing many online reviews, regardless of what they say, is part of his strategy to generate business for his site, DecorMyEyes.com, which sells high-end eyeware…

Google announced last week that it changed the methodology behind how it ranks search results in order to make it harder for unscrupulous merchants to appear prominently in searches…

The complaint spells out details of the offenses, in which Borker’s firm sent customers defective and counterfeit eyeglasses, refused to give refunds and threatened customers physically.

According to the complaint, Borker told one customer, known as Victim 4, “I know where you live” and “I can hurt you,” after the victim threatened to file a complaint against the merchant with the Federal Trade Commission.

I read the article in the Times, last weekend. Didn’t post about it, then, because I felt it wasn’t productive to introduce some other lowlife bastard to the same stunt.

But, Google has repaired the fault – and the Feds will hopefully throw this creep in jail.

College buddies stayed in touch – ripping off banks of $422K

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Armed with ATM cards and a little-known federal regulation, four old college buddies used a “beaut of a scam” to rip off Brooklyn banks for $422,000.

The four, who studied finance together at NYU, exploited a regulation that requires banks to repay customers who claimed their ATM cards were lost or stolen within 10 days, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

Using something known in the banking world as Regulation E of the Federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act, the four cleaned out their accounts and put in claims for some $700,000 over five years, prosecutors said…

Cameras caught defendants taking the money out, but they were almost always wearing motorcycle helmets or some other covering to protect their identities, Hynes said.

“They thought that nobody was looking,” Brooklyn rackets chief Michael Vecchione said. “But these institutions have massive data bases and it’s just a matter of time when they cross-reference them and people get caught…”

Eric Manganelli, 36, a lawyer; Lam Dang, 37, a financial consultant; and John Tluczek, 37; and his wife, Marzena Tluczek, 35, who both have worked for banks over the years, face multiple counts of grand larceny, falsifying business records and other charges.

Each faces 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison for the top counts. Hynes vowed to ask for consecutive time, if they are convicted.

Greedy bastards.

The rule isn’t so obscure, though – except maybe to journalists. Believe me, the banking IT folks I chat with all knew about it.