Results tagged “crime”

A 66-year-old Harlem woman became the second victim of stray gunfire this week in NYC. Virginia Valree was walking along Lenox Avenue in Harlem around 3:30 p.m. yesterday, carrying potatoes to deliver to a sick friend, when a bullet struck her left leg and knocked her into traffic on West 135th Street. "I'm horrified. All I know is I was just standing there and my leg gave in," Valree told the Daily News from her hospital bed last night. "I was on the ground. I was laying there saying, 'Somebody stop the traffic!' because I didn't want to get run over."

Yesterday, the NY Attorney General's Organized Crime Task Force and NYPD raided a number of homes and business in Staten Island, Brooklyn, NJ, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, arresting 22 people from two investigations dubbed "Operation Pure Luck" and "Operation Night Gallery." The charges, according to Cuomo's office, stem "from the operation of lucrative loan sharking and gambling activities closely controlled by organized crime"—the Gambino and Luchese crime families.

Thieves ransacked a Brighton Beach home after the city mistakenly marked it for demolition. After a fire ravaged the house next door to Martin Senzer's Brighton First Street residence, a Department of Buildings inspector who "is either legally blind or an imbecile," according to Senzer, slated the 66-year-old's home for demolition last January. That mix-up sent a plumber and a National Grid employee to Senzer's house to turn off the gas and water — and they had to cut the locks to get in.

Earlier this morning, a shooting at the Norwood Palace Bar in Brooklyn has left one person dead and others injured. Around 3 a.m., patrons got into a huge fight and then, according to WCBS 2, "Two plain clothes officers with the anti-crime unit entered the bar in Cypress Hill, and that's when, police said, gunfire was exchanged."

The Manhattan District Attorney's office announced yesterday that 15 people were arrested on charges including grand larceny in connection with an identity-theft ring. Prosecutors say that the crime ring stole more than $700,000 in an overly elaborate and complicated scheme, involving (but not limited to): An old-timey band of pick-pockets, futuristic identity theft, and of course, costumes.

Cops arrested two men yesterday suspected of shooting and killing a 24-year-old, chucking their guns in trash can in front of a police precinct, then reporting to police that they were the victims of a shooting. Officers at the 73 Precinct in Brownsville spotted the suspects ditching their firearms inside a garbage can before entering the station house on Thomas Boyland Street just after 6:15 pm.

A brazen gunpoint mugging in Central Park has the papers pondering whether or not it's safe to pass through the green-space at night. The discussion comes after three muggers held up two men who were walking near the intersection of East Drive and East 102nd Street on Sunday at around 12:30 am. According to the Daily News, one of the perps pulled out a gun while his accomplices snatched a wallet and an ATM card from the victims, aged 25 and 22. When a 46-year-old passerby happened upon the scene of the crime, the robbers held him up and stole his wallet. After the perps fled, the victims hailed down a passerby and called 911. Police canvassed the area and arrested 20-year-old suspect Ramelle Moore, whose arrest record includes busts for drug possession and trespassing. The other suspects remain at large.

A man suspected in 14 subway robberies since January was arrested yesterday in North Carolina. Rasheem Williams, 37, who had been one of the NYPD's most wanted criminals, was apprehended, as were two other fugitives wanted by the cops, in Rocky Mount, N.C.

Newark is in the middle of a four-day "Safe Surrender" program, which allows fugitives with open warrants for non-violent crimes "favorable consideration" for turning themselves in. One such fugitive was a 36-year-old man whose many traffic tickets and failure to pay them prevented him from getting a job or driver's license; after a judge dismissed some charges and consolidated his fines, he said, "I was a little leery about it at first. But the program is excellent. It is what they say." Nearly one thousand have turned themselves in.

The brazen drive-by shooting in Williamsburg yesterday apparently started as a dispute between motorists. A gunman in a green Nissam Maxima fired at 38-year-old Ramon Blas, hitting the victim once in the side as he sat inside his car sometime after 2:30 pm. Wounded, Blas managed to drive his gray BMW SUV a few blocks before colliding with a parked car at the corner of Lorimer and Ten Eyck streets. He then "staggered into the driver's compartment of a slowly moving UPS van," the Post reports. The UPS driver ran into a nearby packaging store, shouting: "Someone just got shot inside my truck," according to the Daily News.

Police arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with two rapes in the Rockaways last month. The Daily News reports that DNA evidence linked Malcolm Johnson to the crimes. He was charged with "rape, sexual assault, robbery, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon."

A gunman in car shot and killed a 38-year-old driver on Lorimer Street between Ten Eyck and Maujer streets in a shockingly brazen slaying in Williamsburg this afternoon. The perp pulled up beside the victim — described by police as a Hispanic male — at around 2:30 pm and fired into the his car, hitting him in the side, according to police. The wounded driver crashed his car and exited the vehicle before being transported to Woodhull Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Yesterday around noon, a 16-year-old student at Bronx Regional High School was shot around 12:30 p.m. According to NY1, the teen told the police that the suspect was trying to rob him. And one student said, "They said the boy wanted his jacket and Paul said 'I'm not giving you my jacket.' And somebody said they was fighting at first, people was around watching and they didn't take it seriously. And they shot him."

Just after midnight, four people were shot at West 11th Street near 7th Avenue. At this point, all the police know is that none are likely to die. We'll check in later to see if there are any more details, but in the meantime, does anyone who was in the area know what happened? Update, 11/2: The NYPD had a couple more details this morning—the four victims were black males, shot in the legs and arms (no ages). No arrests have been made.

The Daily News follows up on the Muslim woman who slashed her husband's throat, apparently over his lack of devotion to Islam and his forcing her to eat pork, wear short skirts, and drink. Rabia Sarwar's handwritten confession stated, "I did not sleep. I started thinking to kill him," and then she went to the kitchen to get a knife.

It's not the Ninja burglar—it's the "Pattern 16" burglar! Police are tracking down a 27-year-old, male burglar responsible for hitting 16 homes across Staten Island in September, after recently nabbing his female partner in crime.

The owner of the Washington Heights restaurant where a bouncer was killed early yesterday told the media, "There was an argument between customers and the security guy who worked for us at the time tried to break up the argument and took the guys outside. When he took the guys outside, one of them probably had a knife and tried to stab the other guy, I don't know. But unfortunately the security guy got hurt," adding, "This never happens here. We feel sorry for the family of the worker." No arrests have been made.

At a vigil, the family of Malachi Cotton begged for the community's help in finding the 16-year-old's killer. The teen was shot multiple times at a bus stop outside Metropolitan Diploma Plus High in Brownsville, Brooklyn on Monday afternoon. City Councilman Charles Barron added, "If you see something, say something. And all those who don't want to snitch, tell me. I'll snitch. If you're afraid to snitch, I'll snitch. They say snitches get stitches, bring it. You tell me and I'll do the snitching."

Yesterday afternoon, a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot outside Metropolitan Diploma Plus High in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. Malachi Cotton was standing at a city bus stop by when, the Daily News reports, "Three men approached him around 3:15 p.m., police said. The armed trio, who were targeting Cotton, fired several shots at him and then fled."

Add this to the list of the ways drugs are smuggled into the JFK Airport: WABC 7 reports that earlier this month, "A Worcester, MA resident apparently tried to stroll past U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers at JFK airport with nearly 7 pounds of cocaine in his shoes."

The Daily News reports that when a rookie cop realized he'd been hit while patrolling a Bed-Stuy housing project, he and his partner decided to check out an apartment with an open window: "Inside the apartment, they found 15 people, a Crosman BB gun, an unloaded .358 Magnum, ammunition and crack cocaine...Elliot Allen, 22, admitted he fired the BB gun, claiming he wasn't aiming at anyone. Police said they believe Allen wanted to get back at the officer because he had arrested one of the men in the apartment, Tyrike Dario, earlier in the evening and gave him a summons for disorderly conduct."

The police announced that an 18-year-old was arrested in connection to the death of a 92-year-old woman in her Bronx home. Sadie Mitchell was apparently struck by a stray bullet on Tuesday evening, when a shot was fired during a fight between two groups of youths. Witnesses told cops that Jamal Blair, 18, was the shooter and he allegedly confessed. A source tells the Daily News, "He told cops he thought he was shooting up in the air. The lady was 15 feet [above ground] in her home when the bullet hit."

Family and friends of the 92-year-old who was fatally killed by a stray bullet in her Bronx home on Tuesday are still reeling from the tragedy. Sadie Mitchell's daughter Sharon van Rooij said, "When someone is in their 90s, it's inevitable that they're going to die, but not like this... Not at the hands of some punk. I hope [the killer] will fry. I don't care how old you are -- 18, 19, 30 or 12. I hope you fry."

A 17-year-old Staten Island resident is being held on $250,000 after allegedly stabbing her 14-year-old brother. The Advance describes, "According to a law enforcement source, the two fought nearly every day, and Sunday morning was no different -- Rodney had overslept, and Miss Tyler went to wake him up. That sparked an argument, the source said, which escalated into violence. Miss Tyler grabbed a butcher knife and a steak knife." Although their mother tried to intervene and Tyler dropped the butcher knife, she "held onto the steak knife, raised it over her head, and reached over her mother's shoulder," allegedly plunging it her brother's chest and then pulling it out.

After accusations that former Mayor Rudy Giuliani was race-baiting while touting Mayor Bloomberg for re-election , the incumbent candidate tried to address the issue. Bloomberg said, "I am phenomenally proud of our record of bringing people together from all neighborhoods and every community. And I think we’ve successfully resisted attempts to divide the city... For the past eight years, I’ve worked well with virtually everyone. I don’t point fingers. I try to lower the volume, the temperature, and not raise it. I’m not going to try to raise it now."

In Borough Park yesterday, it was Giuliani Time! Former mayor Rudy Giuliani campaigned on behalf of Mayor Bloomberg and struck an ominous note at the Jewish Community Council breakfast, "I worry daily that the city might be turned back to the way it was, to the way it was before 1993. And you know exactly what I’m talking about."

A man convicted of killing his girlfriend apparently decided that the best thing to wear at his sentencing was "a T-shirt with his victim's picture and the words 'R.I.P. Love You Forever.'" Naturally, Gregory Morency's move didn't go over well with victim Claribel Hernandez's family—her brother yelled, "How dare you come in here wearing my sister on your chest! You are a punk, you took my sister....Not even hell would be good enough for you." Morency's lawyer told the Daily News, "Well, what can I say, he still loves her." Morency was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

When they're not shooting themselves in the groin, threatening to kill the president, or trying to blow up Starbucks, the city's rebellious youngsters continue to commit the less sensational crime of burglary. Cops arrested two teenagers suspected of ransacking dozens of lower Manhattan apartments in separate burglary sprees.

Police are searching for clues in the Sunday evening murder of 18-year-old Brian Scott. Scott, known as a one of urban inline skating's "rising stars," was fatally shot at the Parkside Donut and Kennedy Fried Chicken on Flatbush Avenue, while two others were injured. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "We have no reason, at this time, to think that Brian Scott was anything but an innocent bystander. We are still, obviously, doing an aggressive investigation."

Last night around 8:30 p.m., a man walked into the Parkside Donut and Coffee Shop on Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn and opened fire. Three people were shot; one of them, 18-year-old Brian Scott, died from his injuries while the other two, a 20-year-old man and a 23-year-old man, are in stable condition.