As Mayor Bloomberg and Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau continue to beef about the $83 million in settlements, fines and forfeitures that the DA's office has stored in 62 bank accounts, inside sources tell the tabloids that personal disagreements are the cause of the squabble.
Mayor Bloomberg is fighting with Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, and Morgenthau is hitting back with "barnyard" vulgarity, as the Times decorously puts it. Speaking to reporters yesterday, Morgenthau said, "If you all weren't newspapers of record, I'd say these were chickenshit comments." He was referring to the Bloomberg camp's supposed discovery of $80 million in settlement money that's being held by the DA's office in what one official described as the equivalent of "offshore accounts." The heated feud underscores long-standing tensions between the mayor and DA.
Cops and district attorneys have agreed on a new protocol allowing police to more quickly obtain warrants to draw blood from drivers who refuse to take breathalyzer tests. The new process should let police draw blood from suspected drunk drivers at least two hours faster than the current average of seven hours, the New York Times reports.
Bored, itinerant law interns are the latest side effect of the recession. The NY Times takes a look today inside the summer internship programs at Brooklyn's district attorney's office and finds packs of unpaid law students roaming the hallways, struggling to find desks, chairs, and jobs. As an anonymous intern tells the Times, "It’s much harder for them to find stuff for us to do...Definitely some people feel they haven’t done anything." At least they're getting a chance to brush up on their puzzle skills, though, as the Times notes "other interns pass the hours doing crossword puzzles or playing games on the computer." (To be fair, that happens with interns regardless of the economic climate.) What's causing this epidemic of lawyerly lassitude? The reduction in summer hires by private firms, which has shifted swarms of students into a public sector that can barely absorb them. As a result, competition increases for everything from assignments to eventual job offers to even intramurals—in the one of the few bright spots to a down economy, the Brooklyn DA office softball league now has plenty of intern talent to pick from.
Yesterday, longtime Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced that he would not seek re-election this fall. The 89-year-old, who was first elected to the position in 1975, told reporters, "Some people are slow to learn. It took me a long time to realize I was getting older... I recently realized I'm 25 years beyond normal retirement age. I decided I would not push my luck any further." Both the Daily News and Post report how his wife Lucinda Franks "repeated some questions for her hard-of-hearing husband." The Post adds that the press conference was "hastily scheduled" after it broke news of the retirement.
Would-be Empire State Building jumper, Jeb Corliss (pictured), isn't in the clear yet. Last year's decision from Supreme Court Justice Michael Ambrecht to dismiss the charges against him was overturned yesterday when The Supreme Court Appellate Division decided to bring the case back to life.
After the prison-yard murder of Larry Davis in upstate New York, most City papers noted his infamy and folk- or anti-hero status, but for the most part were content to portray him as a vicious thug, murderer, and all-around lowlife. Davis was shanked multiple times by another inmate at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster county New York.
Sixty-two men associated with the Gambino, Genovese and Bonanno crime families were arrested yesterday in a federal, state and local coordinated sweep in the New York region. A number of Gambino-related arrests were also made in Italy, and authorities have described this as the biggest mob bust in decades. Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell said, "Our goal is and always has been simple: to dismantle the Gambino organized-crime family in a coordinated and consistent fashion."
After almost a week of delays, jurors were back in court for the Nixzmary Brown murder case. A expert said that the malnourished 7-year-old's blood was found under the fingernails Brown's stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, as well as on his jeans. Rodriguez faces murder charges for the malnourished 7-year-old's 2006 death.
Some more details have emerged about the fatal hit-and-run that killed a Brooklyn resident in lower Manhattan Thursday night. Florence Cioffi was fatally struck by George Anderson's Mercedes SUV on Water Street and Old Slip. Anderson had originally fled the scene but later returned, where he was arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.
An ongoing investigation of corruption and illegal practices in the Brooklyn South Narcotics Unit could jeopardize dozens, if not hundreds, of successful prosecutions of drug dealers. The possibility has arisen days after a sergeant and a detective were arrested for paying an informant with drugs and cash that they themselves had robbed from the addict. Another sergeant in the unit was also arrested for using NYPD resources to investigate the vehicle IDs of a drug dealer's suspected rivals.
On the day that MySpace agreed to work with 49 states to stop sexual predators from using the social networking site to find young victims, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown was announcing a disturbing 56-charge criminal complaint against a couple accused of rape, sexual abuse, and forcing two young teens into performing sexual acts at a Manhattan strip club. Julio Rojas, a stripper, is being held on $500,000 bail while his wife, Sophie Soto, also a stripper, is being held on $250,000 bail.
The three police officers facing trial for the November 2006 shooting of an unarmed man are requesting to their trial moved from Queens. Lawyers for Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper claim they won't be able to get a fair trial in Queens, blaming media attention for "incurably poison[ing]" any potential jury pool.
Yesterday, the Suffolk District Attorney's office announced that Martin Tankleff would not face a new trial for the 1988 murder of his parents. Tankleff was found guilty of the murders in 1990 and served about 17 years in prison.
Law & Order is back for its eighteenth season and it is back in its traditional home of Wednesday at 10 p.m., although this week we get two hours starting at 9 p.m. and thanks to a stockpile of scripts written ahead of the writers strike, we can expect oodles of new episodes into the spring. Also thanks to the WGA strike, it will be the best thing on television for the for the foreseeable future.
Troopergate was initially about Gov. Spitzer or his aides using State Police to effectually spy on Spitzer's primary political foe in Albany, Joseph Bruno. (The two also don't appear to like each other on a personal level.) The Governor's communications director Darren Dopp was suspended in the course of the investigation and has since left state employ for a job with an Albany lobbying firm.
'Tis the season to...steal from your workplace? The NY Sun reports that the Manhattan district attorney's office is prosecuting a case against a Bloomingdale's employee who created bogus gift cards.
The complaint says Jennifer Ng, a 22-year-old Queens resident, cheated the East Side store out of $34,515 during the nearly month-long scam.Continue reading "Saleswoman's Shopping Spree at Bloomie's Ends in Arrest"
New York City is getting safer and safer. Well, at least Manhattan is. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told reporters yesterday that there have only been 65 murders in the borough this year, down 40% from last year. When Morgenthau took office in 1975, the borough had 648 murders, accounting for almost 40% of the city's total. The 65 homicides this year account for just 14% of the city total. The 88-year-old DA attributed the drop to "excellent work done by the police and prosecutors." Police stats project the entire city with 500 fewer murders this year, the lowest number since 1963.
Robert Morgenthau's stranglehold on the position of Manhattan District Attorney has lasted 33 years but today's Post tittered that he was mulling an "early exit." Page Six reported that a "well-connected legal source" said the 88-year-old DA was orchestrating a retirement to have Cyrus Vance Jr. installed for a few years. Apparently Morgenthau wants Vance Jr., once an assistant DA, in place to block his former protegee and 2005 Democratic primary opponent Leslie Crocker Snyder,...
November marks the 20th anniversary of the start of the Tawana Brawley affair--an incident that inflamed racial relations in New York and across the country after a teenage girl alleged that she had been sexually assaulted and abused by police. The ensuing media circus thrust Rev. Al Sharpton into the limelight and established his bona fides as a community spokesman. It also tarnished the reputations of the people she accused of raping her and, later...
Who knew thousands, if not millions, of New Yorkers would agree with presidential hopeful Fred Thompson on something? In this case, the former Senator and former Law & Order District Attorney was talking about Rudy Giuliani's reliance on touting his New York City credentials during a campaign stop in New Hampshire today. Thompson told a crowd at a gun store, Giuliani "relates everything to New York City. Well, New York City is not emblematic of...
Former Westchester County District Attorney - and one-time Attorney General candidate and potential Senate candidate - Jeanine Pirro and her husband Al Pirro have announced they are separating. Their statement to the press: "We have agreed to amicably separate. As always, our priority remains our two wonderful children. We ask that people respect our privacy. There will be no further comment." The couple has been married 32 years and have weathered through many years of...
The Manhattan District Attorney's office announced that the Reverend David Ajemian was arrested on charges of stalking and threatening Conan O'Brien. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston placed Ajemian, a 46-year-old priest in Stoneham, Massachusetts, on leave. The DA's office says that Ajemian had sent letters (some on parish letterhead!) to O'Brien's offices at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and home, contacted his parents, and tried to attend tapings of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He was...
Brushing aside the Staten Island Borough President's repeated criticism and endorsement of his opponent, Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan won re-election in a landslide over Democratic challenger Michael Ryan. Donovan, whose 51st birthday was also yesterday, said during the celebration, "Tonight, you guys made me real happy." The SI DA's race became unexpectedly contentious when SI Borough President James Molinaro, who Donovan worked under as a Deputy Beep and considered a friend, attacked Donovan's...
It's Election Day, which means it's time for people to go to the polls. City offices and public schools are closed, and alternate side of the street parking is suspended, as are garbage and recycling pick-up. It's an optional state holiday; federal offices are open and there is mail delivery. While there aren't many big races, there are a few notable ones, namely the Staten Island District Attorney's race which pits incumbent Daniel Donovan (R)...
Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro was not happy when DA and former aide Daniel M. Donovan Jr. recused himself from the trial of Molinaro's grandson Steven for violating his probation and intimidating a paperboy he'd previously assaulted. Last week, the borough president placed a full page ad in the Staten Island Advance newspaper expressing his displeasure with Donovan punting the case to the Manhattan DA, feeling that it improperly biased the eventual jurors in the case. Steven Molinaro wound up being convicted and a will be serving several years in prison.
Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro placed a full page ad in the Staten Island Advance blasting Staten Island D.A. Daniel Donovan. Molinaro called the trial and the sentencing of his 18-year-old grandson Steven to 5 years in jail a "miscarriage of justice."
The Staten Island District Attorney's office has dropped hate crime charges against two young white men accused of beating a black man in Mariners Harbor. SI DA Daniel Donovan said, "At this point I believe the evidence provided to my office by the police is legally insufficient to support hate-crime charges."
Former District Attorney Arthur Branch - a.k.a. former Senator Fred Thompson - came back to New York City to speak at a NY State Conservative Party event. He made clear he's really conservative, saying, "Some think the way to beat the Democrats next year is to be more like them. I could not disagree more. My friends, I suggest it's not time for psychological flexibilities in terms of our principles. That's the surefire way of making sure we don't win."
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