We sure do love our criminals here

From Epoch Times:

A once-deported Dominican man with a criminal record and felony arrest warrant was recently released on bail, despite immigration authorities requesting that he be handed over to them.

Instead, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had to locate and arrest Joselin Medina as he left the Bronx Criminal Court in New York on June 16, the agency reported.

Medina has a past felony conviction for the criminal sale of a controlled substance and a pending misdemeanor charge and felony re-entry charge, according to ICE.

“Even a federal criminal warrant issued by a United States magistrate is not enough for the city of New York to turn over a convicted felon to ICE,” said Thomas R. Decker, field office director for ERO New York. “It is unfathomable that New York would create such a public safety risk for the sake of political expediency.”

Medina is now in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and is facing up to 20 years in federal prison, after which he will be deported.

And if it was up to Joe Crowley, the sanctuary system will stay in place.

Do you feel safer in the subway?

From NY1:

Newly released subway crime statistics show drops in more serious crimes but big increases in lesser offenses.

Transit police say subway robberies are down 32 percent from last year.

Three hundred and thirteen robberies have been reported in 2014, compared to 465 in 2013.

They also say major felonies in the transit system have gone down 15 percent.

Arrests for panhandling and illegally selling goods on trains have dramatically increased on the other hand. So far this year, over 400 more people have been arrested for panhandling compared to last year.

FMCP still worst park in city for crime

From the Queens Chronicle:

With a recent holdup at the Queens Zoo and hot rodders speeding at a Meadow Lake parking lot, crime at Flushing Meadows Park has been in the spotlight lately.

But talk to Parks Department and NYPD officials and you’d never know that Queens’ premier greenspace has been rated the worst for crime out of 30 parks throughout the city.

Since earlier this year, the NYPD has been mandated to compile quarterly crime statistics on parks over one acre. That would total about 100, but Geoffrey Croft, who heads NYC Park Advocates, a city parks watchdog group, said the police are taking too long to add the 70 additional facilities. Nevertheless:

“Flushing Meadows, Central Park and Randall’s Island Park accounted for more than 60 percent of the crimes in all the parks,” Croft said. “They are mostly grand larceny and robbery.”

Deputy Inspector Ron Leyson, commanding officer of the 110th Precinct, which has the main jurisdiction of Flushing Meadows, explained that the grand larcenies include theft of valuables left in cars, unattended purses in public spaces and from lockers at the Aquatic Center.

He noted that year-to-date overall crime is down 13 percent in Flushing Meadows, although there has been a 6 percent increase in felonies — more serious crimes — usually involving assault.

One case involved an intoxicated man who assaulted a police officer during a game at Citi Field.

According to the NYPD park statistics, Flushing Meadows had 27 crimes in three months: two robberies, four felony assaults, 15 grand larcenies and six auto thefts.

Assembly Member turns out to be illegal alien

From the NY Times:

A New York assemblywoman in her first term became the latest state lawmaker to be forced out of office as she pleaded guilty on Friday to two felonies in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

The assemblywoman, Gabriela Rosa of Manhattan, unlike some of her convicted colleagues, was not accused of bribery; she was undone by making false statements, including one concerning a fraudulent marriage that she admitted was part of an immigration scheme.

Ms. Rosa told Judge Denise Cote that she had gotten married some years ago to “regularize my immigration status.”

“I married this person and it was not a real marriage,” she said.

Prosecutors said that around 1996, Ms. Rosa, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, paid a United States citizen about $8,000 to enter into “a sham marriage” while she was in a relationship with a man she would later marry; she ended the sham marriage a few years later. In subsequent submissions to the immigration authorities, she falsely represented that her marriage had been bona fide, the government said.

Ms. Rosa pleaded guilty to two counts of making false statements, to immigration authorities and in a bankruptcy proceeding. As part of her plea, Ms. Rosa agreed to resign from the Assembly, where she had represented the 72nd Assembly District, which includes Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill.

Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said that Ms. Rosa’s crimes “cut to the heart of her legal qualification to serve the people of the State of New York as a New York State assemblywoman.”

“She gained the ability to run for that office only as a result of a yearslong immigration fraud, and then she compounded her lack of fitness to serve by defrauding a federal bankruptcy court,” Mr. Bharara said.

Ms. Rosa also admitted that she had received $1,000 from a representative of a foreign government in connection with her election to the Assembly, a violation of the campaign finance laws, and she agreed to return the money, her plea agreement says.

Although she faces a maximum of 10 years in prison when sentenced on Oct. 3, the plea agreement says that both sides have agreed that the recommended guideline range is 12 to 18 months.

Cockfighting ring busted

From the Daily News:

The chickens came home to roost Sunday for members of a bloodthirsty New York cockfighting and betting ring.

As many as 3,000 birds were seized and more than 70 people rounded up in "Operation Angry Birds," the largest cockfighting takedown and rooster rescue in state history, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said.

State investigators carried out three simultaneous raids that stretching from Saturday night into Sunday morning, busting up a cockfighting event in Queens, a secret rooster coop in Brooklyn and breeding farm in upstate Ulster County.

Nine people were arrested.

The crackdown began Saturday night as Schneiderman's Organized Crime Task Force joined state police and U.S. Department of Homeland Security cops to execute a search warrant at 74-26 Jamaica Ave. in Woodhaven, Queens, where chicken-livered rooster owners, gamblers and spectators were watching birds fight to the death.

Six people who brought and fought gamecocks at the event were arrested and charged with animal fighting, a felony punishable in New York by a maximum penalty of four years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

The Woodhaven location, a two-story rowhouse with a shuttered first floor barber shop, hosted cockfights twice a month, an informant told cops, who zeroed in on the spot last May. It stank of wet bird feathers Sunday.

The unnamed informant, who made video recordings of an event for authorities in the lead-up to the takedown, admitted he bred, trained and fought roosters for roughly 10 years before turning in his non-feathered friends.

The roosters were plied with performance-enhancing drugs and fitted with razor-sharp spurs to tear each other apart in a small pen surrounded by alcohol-swilling gamblers, authorities said.

Spectators were charged admission and seating fees and booze was sold without a permit during the all-night fights. The ring even had security guards who frisked spectators and wagers reached as much as $10,000.

"I don't know what they were doing in there," said Sammy Ayala, who works down the street. "I never saw any chickens."

Flushing Meadows still #2 in violent crime

From the Wall Street Journal:

Serious felonies rose in New York City's largest parks during the spring months this year, increasing 44% for April 1 to June 30 compared with the same period in 2012, according to a New York Police Department report.

There were 128 felonies in the city's 31 biggest parks from April 1 to June 30, compared with 89 in the same period last year, according to an NYPD Compstat report.

The increase comes on the heels of a park-crime spike of 7% in 2012, compared with 2011—the biggest year-over-year jump in half a decade, NYPD statistics show.

The report didn't include historical data for crime in parks. Crime in Central Park has reached historical lows in recent years, according to NYPD data for the park's precinct. Major crimes fell nearly 73% from 1990 to 2012 in Central Park, according to the NYPD, and robberies went down more than 90%, from 152 in 1990 to 15 in 2012.

Central Park saw the most serious felonies in the spring with 37 reported crimes—including a rape, two robberies and five felony assaults.

Flushing Meadows Park in Queens had the second-highest number of serious crimes with 27, including two reported robberies and two felony assaults, according to the report.

In 2012, there were 354 major felonies in the city's largest 31 parks, up from 331 in 2011.

Rikers inmates scammed unemployment

From the Daily News:

Seven Rikers Island inmates conned the state into paying them $160,000 in unemployment benefits while they were living in the big house — a felony that may get them moved to state prison if convicted, the state Department of Labor said Tuesday.

The inmates each had an accomplice who helped them file their claims and deposit their weekly unemployment checks, the Labor Department said.

All 14 were arrested Tuesday and charged with third-degree grand larceny. They could face up to seven years in prison if found guilty.

Huntley in second guilty plea

From NY1:

Already awaiting sentencing on corruption charges, former Queens state senator Shirley Huntley admitted today she falsified documents to get state cash to a local non-profit group she founded.
It’s the former state legislator's second guilty plea in a month.

Huntley officially pleaded guilty to a felony count of tampering with physical evidence.

The charges were brought by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

Huntley said she doctored records to try to ensure a sham nonprofit received state money for so-called educational programs.

That funding allegedly went into the pockets of Huntley’s niece and her aide.

In January, the former senator also pleaded guilty to fraud in federal court.

She will be sentenced there in April.

Hevesi to be sprung from prison soon

From the Daily News:

Disgraced former state Controller Alan Hevesi will be out of prison for the holidays, the Daily News has learned.

A state Parole Board panel approved Hevesi’s second attempt at parole after a Wednesday hearing, a source familiar with the situation said.

Now known as inmate 11-R-1334, the 72-year-old Hevesi will be back home by Dec. 19.

The former pol was denied his first shot at parole last December by a 2-to-1 vote of a Parole Board panel. In keeping him locked up, the majority cited his “shallow” attempt at accepting blame.

Andrew Hevesi said his father this time accepted full responsibility during the hearing.

Hevesi said his father also took responsibility “for several life-long patterns that have hurt his family and friends that are unrelated to what happened in the controller’s office."

His crony, Hank Morris, was denied parole.

Parks ok with hiring criminals

From the NY Post:

Advocates say the city Parks Department overlooks the sordid results of its background checks on job applicants — and even puts new hires in the field before the criminal screening is complete. 

“When you go into your public park, you should know if the person working there is a murderer, sexual predator or bank robber,” said Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates. 

Shockingly, even when the city is aware of an applicant’s violent past, the job seeker is not automatically rejected for work in the parks. 

A criminal record in and of itself does not disqualify an applicant,” agency spokeswoman Vickie Karp said. “If the offenses involve recent behavior, or if an applicant exhibits anti-social or disruptive behavior during the hiring process, we would decline to hire that person.” 

Karp said the city collects fingerprints, which are sent to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. The state then checks for convictions through an FBI search. 

The background review continues during the term of employment if new details are brought to Parks’ attention, Karp said. She refused to say whether workers are put into the field before background checks are complete — which several Parks employees told The Post was common practice.

NYPD still fudging stats

From the NY Times:

On a Friday night two years ago, a 17-year-old fired a pistol at a group of young men on the street near Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx; two were struck in the leg.

Nearby, Amanda Dominguez, 14, and her older half-sister, Jazmin Rodriguez, were chatting away when the shots rang out. Each suddenly felt a sharp sting.

Jazmin looked down at a hole in her cargo shorts and saw blood. She picked a sliver of metal from her wound, but dropped it, she would later recall. Her sister, Amanda, felt a burn along her shoulder, which a hospital nurse later told her was a graze wound, she said.

But the New York Police Department concluded that both women had merely received scrapes while fleeing the shooting, and did not count them as crime victims.

In recent years, the integrity of the Police Department’s crime statistics has been questioned as accounts emerge by officers who say they are being pressured by their bosses to reduce the number of felony incidents reported.

The issue is particularly sensitive for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, who have overseen a significant decline in serious felony crimes throughout their tenure.

Forest Hills mortgage fraud

From Forest Hills Patch:

Two attorneys with a Forest Hills practice were convicted of mortgage fraud this week, according to the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn.

Matthew Burstein and Aaron Rabinowitz, both 40, were found guilty on ten felony counts of fraud for illegally obtaining $25 million in loans from half a dozen lending agencies, including Countrywide and Wells Fargo, part of a Byzantine scheme to enrich themselves in the midst of a down housing market.

According to U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, the defendants worked with a co-conspirator network of straw buyers and real estate agents to draw up dummy sale documents for homes in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. They would then file for mortgages and pay themselves attorney's fees from the falsified loans.

The incidents took place between January 2006 and September 2008.

Quinn gives back dirty money

From the NY Post:

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn plans to return $2,000 from convicted felons after The Post questioned the campaign cash she was holding in her probable run for mayor.

Her 2013 campaign will give back a $1,000 donation from Ponzi schemer Kenneth Starr, formerly of Starr & Co., but is keeping $10,000 from his associates, Quinn spokesman Mark Guma said.

The Quinn camp also plans to return a $1,000 gift from Hassan Nemazee, a former businessman and Democratic donor who pleaded guilty in 2010 to defrauding banks of $292 million, but the campaign will keep a $1,000 donation from his wife.

“We carefully review contributions when the campaign receives them and return any that appear questionable. These donors made contributions five years ago, long before there was any suggestion of impropriety,” Guma said.

Starr gave Quinn $1,000 in 2007, when she was mulling a run for mayor in the 2009 election, before she and Mayor Bloomberg orchestrated an extension of term limits.

At that point she froze her account and is now using it for her 2013 race.

Fido theft to become a felony

From the Daily News:

State lawmakers want to make it a felony punishable by up to four years in prison to steal a family dog or cat.

"Pets are family members, and we want to make sure they are protected like anybody else," said state Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Nassau), who sponsored the measure.

Marcellino said the bill - which easily passed in the Senate Wednesday - is a response to a spate of dognappings on Long Island.

The family pets, he said, are sometimes taken by the operators of dogfighting rings to be used as "bait" in the training of fighting dogs.

It's currently a misdemeanor to steal family pets.

Violent felon registry may be coming soon

From the NY Post:

Murderers, muggers and even simple barroom brawlers will find their names on the same kind of public listings now required for pedophiles, rapists and other pervs if the state Senate gets its way.

The Republican-controlled state Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to force violent felons to register their names and whereabouts annually with local law enforcement and on an Internet database accessible to the public.

The law would apply to anyone convicted of a crime classified as violent under current state law, ranging from murder to robbery to assault, and would last 10 years from release unless lifted by a court.

It could face a hitch in the Democratic-controlled Assembly, where it is sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Spano (D-Yonkers). Assembly Codes Chairman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn) said he favored hearings to determine whether such a law would prevent convicts from successfully returning to society after serving their time.

Corrupt pols may lose pensions

From Capital Tonight:

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is proposing legislation that would strip public officials of their pension benefits if they are convicted of a felony.

Convicted ex-pols like Joe Bruno, Alan Hevesi and recently deceased Guy Velella all collected pension benefits despite corruption convictions.

DiNapoli’s bill also imposes a penalty of up to twice the amount of money a public official garnered as a result of a crime committed while in office and elevates Official Misconduct to a felony – which, in the case of the Senate and Assembly, would also result in the loss of one’s seat.

The state constitution does not allow retirement benefits of sitting public officials to be reduced, but they would be subject to the penalty of up to twice the amount they benefited from their crime.

Sounds like we need a change in the state constitution.

Brooklyn pols support money launderer

From the NY Post:

A Brighton Beach-connected international money launderer — who worked under the European equivalent of John Gotti — counts ranking New York politicians among his friends.

A trio of powerhouse politicos is coming to the aid of Nikolai Dozortsev: state Sen. Carl Kruger, Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, and even Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. The elected officials all sent letters on his behalf to the Brooklyn federal court judge who will sentence Dozortsev later this week.

Dozortsev – a twice-convicted felon with a criminal career spanning two decades – was the money man for a violent organized crime syndicate. The group’s illegal activities in the U.S. and Europe easily exceeded $50 million a year, officials say.

He worked alongside the legendary European mob boss Ricardo Fanchini, and faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced.

But Brook-Krasny calls Dozortsev a man "of integrity and strong moral fiber" in a letter written on Assembly letterhead and addressed to the judge presiding over the case.

Kruger, another Brighton pol, who sits on the state Senate’s Crime Victims and Crime and Corrections committees, urged Judge Frederic Block to kindly "take under consideration" the assistance Dozortsev and his family has given to other immigrants from Russia settling in New York.

Markowitz wrote Block a letter praising the character of Dozortsev’s parents and explaining that although he had never met "Nick," he hopes their qualities had been passed on to him.

P.S. Pedro Espada's been indicted.

Bruno off the hook

From the NY Post:

Federal prosecutors, citing a recent US Supreme Court decision, have conceded for the first time that last year's conviction of former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno on two felony counts must be dismissed, The Post has learned.

The concession came in a letter from Northern District US Attorney Richard Hartunian to Bruno lawyer William Dreyer late last month in response to Dreyer's inquiry about the impact of the unanimous Supreme Court ruling in June throwing out the complicated "honest services" statute under which Bruno was convicted.

Hartunian, after reviewing details of the decision and noting that the judge's instructions to the jury were based on the now-nullified statute, told Dreyer, "We will concede that reversal is appropriate as a result of the instructional error."

Hospital stats may reveal more cooked books

From the NY Times:

Felony assaults, along with all other major crimes in the city, have sharply decreased over the last decade, according to the New York Police Department.

But during much of that period, the number of assault victims taken to emergency rooms nearly doubled, according to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Comparing the figures is difficult. It is unknown, for example, how many of the hospital assault reports were felonies and how many were misdemeanors, which the Police Department does not regularly report to the public.

But two criminologists say the difference provides more evidence of a Police Department culture that puts so much emphasis on annual crime reductions that some police supervisors and precinct commanders may be manipulating crime statistics.

“Emergency room visits are not going to happen just because somebody needs a Band-Aid,” said John A. Eterno, one of the researchers and a retired police captain. “Somebody is going to go there because they’ve been seriously assaulted.”

Mr. Eterno and his fellow researcher, Eli B. Silverman, presented their latest findings on Friday at a crime data conference at John Jay College.

The news media were not allowed to attend the conference, but the researchers provided reporters with a copy of the presentation.

Much of the presentation focused on a survey of retired captains and higher-ranking officers that The New York Times reported on in February. In the survey, many retired officers said pressure to reduce crime led some managers to alter crime data to show annual decreases in the seven major felony categories measured in the department’s CompStat program.

Police officials questioned the methodology of the survey at the time and pointed to other reviews of CompStat that supported its accuracy.

Police officials said Friday they could not comment specifically on the assault data until they examined the numbers.

Hospitals reported 47,779 assault victims in 2006, the latest figures available, a 90 percent increase from 1999. By comparison, the Police Department reported 19,173 felony assaults in 2006, a 33 percent decrease from 1998. (Numbers from 1999 were not immediately available.) The hospital numbers also show that assaults in which a firearm or cutting instrument was used, almost always constituting a felony offense, also grew, to 5,502 from 3,468, Mr. Eterno said.

Health officials said the disparity was not new and should be interpreted with caution. Part of the rise in hospital assault reports may stem from improved reporting and outreach, they said.