Perhaps to no one's surprise, the Tuesday morning armored car robbery was planned by an employee of the armored car company. An off-duty Dunbar Armored Car guard Robert Blackmon was arrested in the $330,000 robbery, after surveillance footage apparently showed his figure waiting in the vestibule of an M&T Bank location in Kips Bay. Police say that Blackmon grabbed fellow Dunbar employee Janell Nelson, who was carrying bags of cash from the bank to the......

A woman returned to her Crown Heights home and made a devastating discovery: Her 16-year-old daughter was lying in a pool of blood, stabbed in the face and neck. Shannon Braithwaite was pronounced dead at the scene yesterday afternoon. WCBS 2 reports the teen, who had the day off for the Rosh Hashanah holiday, was waiting for her mother to return home, "so they could cash her final paycheck from her summer job at the......

A man suspected of mugging a deaf 83-year-old woman surrendered to police yesterday. The Post reports that 21-year-old Anthony Jackson now faces assault and robbery charges after attacking Elsie Barretto, who was leaving her Upper East Side building's elevator. Barretto, standing five feet tall, did put up a fight, but suffered a black eye, broken dentures, and cuts to her mouth; her pants were also ripped (Jackson was really trying to get her money). The......

Nine people were arrested for allegedly smuggling cocaine inside children's toy packaging. NY1 reports that "four kilograms of cocaine, four handguns, and more than $86,000" during the investigation. The suspects pleaded not guilty to charges including drug possession and money laundering; a prosecutor said, "We're investigating whether they were paid in cocaine." One employee worked in a check-cashing facility, and it's believed he laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars there, and the ringleader allegedly wired......

The suspect who allegedly struck Pelagio De La Cruz seven times in the head with a bat during a late-night robbery in the Bronx has turned himself over to police. Jamal Roman, 26, was arrested yesterday after being identified by his accomplice, 20-year-old Gavin Scott, who surrendered earlier, accompanied by his grandmother. Scott was captured on a surveillance video rifling through De La Cruz's pockets after Roman allegedly beat the victim outside a University Heights......

One suspect has turned himself in to police in the Bronx in connection with the brutal beating of Pelagio De La Cruz, a Boston-area radio talk show host who was visiting his children in University Heights. Police say relatives convinced 20-year-old Gavin Scott to turn himself over to police last night after a widely-circulated surveillance tape showed an unidentified assailant who accompanied Scott savagely beating De La Cruz seven times with a bat outside his......

The NYPD released really disturbing surveillance footage showing two men beating a man outside a Bronx apartment building. According to the NY Post, the victim is Pelagio de La Cruz, a Boston-area radio talk show host on WESX who was visiting his children in University Heights. He was returning to their apartment building around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, after having a few drinks at a nearby restaurant.As de la Cruz stood at the door of......

The music has stopped at McCarren Park Pool, the hipsters have moved on to other concrete pastures, and it looks like crooks have been taking advantage of the area. The Brooklyn Paper has two accounts of recent muggings, reporting that "a thug shoved a woman and stole her purse at around 2 am...he threw her to the ground and warned, 'If you don’t stop struggling I’m really gonna hurt you.'" That same day someone attacked......

Board up your windshields and lock yourself in the trunk: The squeegee men—those Giuliani-era poster boys for quality-of-life crime—are making a comeback according to the Post, which has an alarming article about the "pests." Of which there are four. But be afraid! They're congregating near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, and a Hells Kitchen elevator manager tells the tabloid, "They get very aggressive. I was like, 'Dude, don't even think about it!'" The Post......

The Yonkers police officer accused of throwing a woman onto a restaurant floor is saying that he did so because the woman was drunk and interfering with police. Irma Marquez is suing Yonkers police for $11 million for being body-slammed face-first into a tile floor by veteran officer Wayne Simoes last year. Marquez was in the hospital for days with a broken jaw and intense bruising on her face. She says she was attacked while......

After two and a half months sharing a seven-and-a-half-by-eight-foot concrete cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, accused con man Raffaello Follieri will plead guilty tomorrow to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering, the AP reports. The Italian entrepreneur was supposedly dumped by Anne Hathaway the night before his arrest; friends of his have since suggested that Hathaway—who had been involved with Follieri's foundation—may have lured Follieri back to New York from Italy to......

A Shih Tzu named Zahara lost its life last September because a man was angry at his girlfriend and their relationship, and the authorities have finally caught up with him. WNBC reports that 27-year-old Sherman Haynes "threw his girlfriend's small dog out his third-floor window, killing the defenseless animal," yelling, "You need your dog?" to his girlfriend, 25-year-old Farah Benoit. The couple were at his East 93rd Street apartment in Brooklyn, where he also threw......

The man who broke into Kirsten Dunst's hotel room in the SoHo Grand last August, Jarrod Beinerman, is now headed for jail. The NY Post reports that he's been sentenced to 4 ½ years in prison after being arrested on burglary and larceny charges, though "he was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of attempted burglary." All in all Dunst had her iPod, cameras, wallets, purses and cash taken from her. Since the......

Last month the massive amounts of smashed car window glass on Water Street in DUMBO got some attention online, and a blog of its own. Across the cobblestone street from some of the victimized cars a sign appeared on a wall saying the culprit was likely Darren Stone, aka Squarehead. Now the The NY Post reports that the 43-year-old Stone has been arrested for felony criminal mischief after cops used DNA evidence from one break-in......

John Gotti Jr., who was recently arrested by the feds on charges of murder and drug running, pleaded not guilty in a Florida court. Though the murders were allegedly in NY, he is being prosecuted in Florida because prosecutors say the Gambino crime family was "trying to gain a foothold" in Tampa. Which his lawyers are trying to change, saying, "The events happened in New York, and it's a disadvantage to transfer everything here." Prosecutors......

All has been silent on the stabby front in the South Side of Williamsburg. Metro now takes a look at the incidents, which have been going on since April of this year, and have often involved machetes (possibly wielded by the gang called Trinitarios). The paper reports that the 90th Precinct has "experienced the sharpest rise in crime since last year of any neighborhood in Brooklyn," coming in at 13.49% (as a comparison, the 94th......

Early yesterday morning, an 18-year-old woman was attacked in the Richmond Hill section of Queens. WABC 7 reports the woman had been walking down a street when an man wielding a gun "took her to the back of a building where she was robbed and sexually assaulted." According to the Daily News, the victim ran back home and "hysterically pointed out her attacker to [her boyfriend] and his friends." The group tried to chase the......

Cornelius Abson, who admitted to choking and robbing an 85-year-old woman as well as robbing other victims, appeared in court last Friday. However, his arraignment was postponed because his lawyer requested a psychological exam. Lawyer Eric Bannister said, "It's my belief that my client is suffering serious mental health issues," and noted the bruises and bump on his client's head, "I believe my client has a legitimate fear for his safety." Abson, who claimed his......

Here's today's second instance of Asian weaponry used in a potential crime: A Brooklyn resident was arrested for plotting his wife's murder. The police are pretty sure Rockefeller Auguste was trying to kill his wife because he paid $5,000 to an undercover cop posing as a hit man. Captain James Coan explained, "He felt he had been wronged, and he wanted the 'hit man' he hired to follow his exact instructions - and gave him......

After the disturbing footage showing an 85-year-old woman who was followed into an apartment building, choked to unconsciousness in the elevator, and then robbed of her money AND cane, the NYPD is now, per Newsday, "focusing in large part on the area around Flatbush, near Prospect Park." Police suspect the same person is behind that attack as well as 11 others (the other victims are 11 women and one man); they were robbed of money......

The Queens DA's press release gives some more details about the 18-year-old who fatally shot his cousin. Felix Cruz allegedly "pointed the firearm at her and pulled the trigger. The gun made a clicking noise and nothing happened. The defendant allegedly then pulled the trigger again, this time discharging a bullet that struck [Veronica] Cruz in the face, killing her." The Queens DA's office adds that Cruz tried to get rid of the gun by......

Following yesterday's news of Mark David Chapman's latest chance for parole coming up this week, The Daily News chimes in with some more from Yoko Ono. She has, naturally, long been against her husband's killer being released, for her family's safety, but has also stated that: "It's dangerous for him to come out. Not only for us, but for himself. There are so many people out there who dislike him. It's safer for him to......

Yesterday morning, a man was discovered beaten to death, near a Sikh temple in South Richmond Hill on 118th Street. WABC 7 reports his body was "found in a pool of blood, his facial features barely recognizable." It's believed the weapon was a broomstick, as splintered pieces of one were found near the scene. Shocked neighbors described him as a homeless, non-practicing Sikh; one said he was often drunk and sometimes fought with other homeless......

Last year 43% of readers voted that that NYPD's Sky Watch was useless. Now Animal New York reports on the retractable 20-foot-tall watchtower and now it's popping up in more and more neighborhoods (they name Crown Heights, Harlem and DUMBO as a few). More recently one of the temporary watchtowers has been erected on Graham Avenue and Moore Street, which they pinpoint as "the Bushwickish section of Williamsburg." Allegedly this one is for some robberies......

The Lower Manhattan Jack Spade store has been burgled multiple times this year, and as they say: three's a trend. In that vein, Men's Vogue reports that the store has now decided to celebrate their thief, who has returned three times to lift the perfect accessories for his crime (a little over $1K in merchandise). "Smitten by this criminal's dedication and affinity for their products they have created a comic book to commemorate his adventures,"......

Wow: When a man tried to rob 86-year-old Elizabeth Maropoulos in Hell's Kitchen on Sunday morning, she told the Post, "Once I realized he was coming after me, I went kick, kick!" Still, she was knocked down and robbed of $100. Luckily the thief, Earl Wearing, was caught--Maropoulos proclaimed him a "bad, bad boy. He's a bastard." And a bartender at the Blarney Stone, where Maropoulos is apparently a regular, said she's a tough lady,......

Yesterday, another woman was attacked in Queens, and it may be linked to a series of five other attacks in the past few months. WABC 7 reports a man with a knife pushed 18-year-old to the ground (she got away but was cut when pushing the knife away) Police believe there are two serial rapists who have attacked at least 12 twelve women in Queens. State Senator Malcom Smith issued an ultimatum for the NYPD,......

Yesterday, a Canadian tourist, staying at a friend's apartment at The Heywood on Ninth Ave. and West 26th, was followed into the building and attacked around 4 a.m. The Post reports the suspect "followed her into the apartment and choked her into unconsciousness," and the victim "awoke minutes later to find her clothes partially removed, a small amount of cash, jewelry and a cellphone missing." But the attacker was gone; police tell the Daily News......

This year Williamsburg has seen its fair share of stabbings and shootings, and in light of that "a number of local politicians and churches are sponsoring a prayer rally and concert to protest the recent spate of violence in the Southside." One of the latest crimes took place over the East River recently at the daylight drenched hour of 4:45 p.m. The Brooklyn Paper reported that "a gun-toting thug tried to mug a 28-year-old man......

The police released a sketch and surveillance video of the man believed to be involved in a series of sexual attacks in Queens, most near bus stops. While the suspect's face is not visible in the surveillance video, police are hoping someone will recognize the man's walk and mannerisms. In two incidents, the man, who has used a knife to threaten his victims, was wearing a hoodie and black Nike Air Force One sneakers. City......