Results tagged “fbi”

President Obama is in town today to meet with the FBI agents credited with stopping a terrorist plot to bomb NYC subways. But that pat on the back at FBI headquarters near City Hall is just the morning's agenda; in the evening it's all about the Benjamins. (Or, rather, the Grover Clevelands.) Tonight the President will speak at a $30,400-per-couple dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at Columbus Circle; the event is expected to raise $2 million to $3 million for the DNC. Want to see Barry but dating a deadbeat who can't float the 30 grand for the Mandarin? All is not lost.

When news broke that alleged Pan Am hijacker Luis Armando Peña Soltren—the FBI's longest wanted fugitive—had turned himself over to authorities yesterday, it seemed probable that Soltren had worked out a plea deal in exchange for surrendering after more than four decades in exile. But today Soltren pleaded not guilty to participating in the 1968 hijacking of a Pan Am flight from New York and rerouting it to Havana, where he has lived ever since.

With the federal authorities continuing their investigation of an alleged terror plot with roots in Denver and Queens, some New York City Muslims have accused the feds and NYPD of racial profiling. Queens Islamic activist Monami Maulik said over the weekend, "An entire community and people and religion should not be profiled and characterized as terrorists because of certain investigations."

From far-distant Appalachia, a story of a census worker in Clay County "found hanging on a tree and the word 'Fed' was written on his chest." In a startlingly apt bit of government idiocy, a spokesman for the FBI said they were still trying to determine "if there was foul play involved" or if his employment had something to do with his death.

Though the NYPD and federal agents say they've "successfully disrupted" an alleged terror plot targeting public transportation in NYC, officials are still uncertain whether more suspects remain to be captured. There's also the question of a bomb factory or an explosives stockpile, which would obviously have been an indispensable part of the plot. Four "anonymous government sources" tell Newsweek that more suspects (perhaps over a dozen) are being sought, and investigators are urgently searching for the explosives. Hopefully, the NYPD will be a tad more discreet from now on.

The NYPD inspector who showed photos of "persons of interest" to a Flushing imam has been transferred to another department, the Times reports today. The imam allegedly later informed the suspects that they were being watched.

As the authorities continue to investigate the alleged terror attack plans on "places of amusement, immorality, and sin" as well as "vital economic centers," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has been trying to assure New Yorkers that the NYPD is on top of things as always, saying, "There is no specific threat. In a post-9/11 world, we're concerned. We do more than any other city in the world," and "Our operating premise is that the city is the top of the terrorist target list. That there are always those people that want to come here and hurt us." We guess that's why more raids were conducted yesterday.

Now that Denver-area resident Najibullah Zazi may be admitting ties to Al Qaeda (apparently he met with some Al Qaeda operatives while in Pakistan) just a week after visiting Queens—prompting the FBI and NYPD to raid homes—the Daily News says apparently seven men attempted to "rent the biggest truck at a Queens U-Haul on Sept. 9."

[UPDATE]: Now Fox News says Zazi admits ties to Al Qaeda. More below. Najibullah Zazi, the former Queens resident whose return to the borough prompted FBI-NYPD raids of three homes in Queens, was questioned for over 8 hours by the feds in Colorado yesterday. Apparently CNN said that bomb-making diagrams were found on his laptop computer, but his lawyer Arthur Folsom said, "There's no diagram of a bomb. Do you really think the FBI would have allowed us to walk out of here?" and denied Zazi knows anyone from Al Qaeda,"He's simply somebody who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The NYPD confirmed that it raided Queens homes as part of a terrorism investigation—and the NYPD and FBI are briefing Congress right now. Apparently they were tracking a terror suspect; Congressman Peter King (R-Long Island) said, "He was being watched and concern grew as he met with a group of individuals in Queens over the weekend. The FBI went to court late last night for an emergency warrant to conduct the raids this morning." WCBS 2 reports that residents "say it was a blitzkrieg at about 2 a.m. at an address on 41st Avenue near 144th Street. The door to apartment 530 cannot be closed because agents had to ram it open. One of the men who lives in the apartment, who says he was not a target of the search, says he's a self-employed antique dealer." The man said, "They looking for some powder, some different things for making bombs and different things," adding he didn't know the roommates. And the Post's sources say, "The suspected terrorist, described as an ethnic Afghani resident of the Midwest in his 20s — who may have previously lived in Queens — had driven to New York City in recent days and visited multiple apartments in Queens over the weekend."

Just when it looked like The Man was standing up for photographer's rights, or at least understanding the law, things have gone sour again. Carlos Miller reports that 43-year-old professional photographer Randall Thomas "was jailed for six hours—and had his camera and memory card confiscated by a judge—after filming an FBI building from across the street in New York City Monday."

On Thursday night, the FBI raided six locations in Queens and on Long Island that the agency believes supplies drugs to street gangs on Long Island. Newsday reports, "The arrests were the first phase in a long-term operation aimed at breaking up gangs, such as the Bloods and the Crips, by eventually charging members with drug offenses that carry long-term prison sentences." An FBI agent explained that the suspects would use a code—which was originally developed by the Five-Percenters (the suspects were not Five-Percenters)—that substituted numbers with words: "In the code, the number three, for example, stood for the word 'understanding' and the number six for 'equality.' So when the suspects said 'understanding' and 'equality' together, they were saying a kilo of cocaine cost $36,000," according to the agent. Four people were arrested, all pleaded not guilty to drug distribution charges and all were held without bail.

The multi-agency—including the NYPD and FBI—terror drill that was conducted in Queens over the past few nights was deemed a success by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. He told the AP, "We plan for the worst with the best exercises possible. This one was realistic — at night, in the rain, with traffic. We put our personnel to the test and they performed well." The exercise involved hundreds of police officers and federal agents, who were on the hunt for a radiological device.

Drivers who might be taking the Clearview Expressway tonight, we received this alert about the Clearview/73rd Avenue exit: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York City Police Department, U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense will be conducting a routinely scheduled, joint interoperability full scale training exercise in the New York City area during June 9-11, 2009. Resources from a variety of federal, state and local agencies will be participating to test and determine compatibility and response proficiency. Please be advised that due to this full scale exercise, traffic delays are anticipated on the Clearview Expy. between the hours of 9 PM on Tuesday, June 9th and 4 AM. on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009." There will also be some exercises through Thursday (we're assuming Wednesday night through early Thursday morning.) About 300 cops and almost 400 FBI agents and analysts are participating and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the drill will "address the possibility of a nuclear or radioactive device coming into the city." (Yes, like a dirty bomb.)

NYC has kept its ranking as the metropolis with the lowest overall crime rate, as compared to 2008 stats from the 25 largest cities in America. The FBI’s Crime in the United States report asserts that violent crime decreased by four percent in NYC last year, outpacing a national decline. And according to NYPD Compstat data, crime was down an additional 12 percent citywide for the first five months of this year, compared to 2008 levels. Murders are down 21 percent, robberies are down 17 percent, and there have been 17 percent less rapes. But declines in felony assaults, while slightly down (1.6 percent) from 2008, have not kept pace with other reductions. Some downtown precincts, including those that police Greenwich Village, have reported a spike in assaults, and the NYPD has beefed up patrols in the area. Still, the report is great news for Mayor Bloomberg's third term hopes. In a statement, he praised the NYPD's "innovative policing strategies" and also attributed the decreased crime to his focus on getting guns off the streets.

Yesterday, the city honored the 110 members of teams from the NYPD, FBI and other agencies who helped foil the terror plot to bomb Bronx synagogues and attack the National Guard base in Newburgh, NY. Mayor Bloomberg said, "I feel safer today in this city than ever before. They have prevented what could have been a terrible loss of life." And Governor Paterson said, "The work was simply outstanding, and it demonstrates the increased sophistication that counterterrorist activity has had to undergo to keep up with the widespread threats. I can't thank all of them enough."

Yesterday, FBI agents raided the Lexington Avenue office of William Parente. Parente killed himself after killing his wife and two daughters in a Maryland hotel room last week—the Long Island family had been visiting the eldest daughter at college. Based on some papers left in the room, it's believed Parente was in financial trouble. Newsday reports, "Investors have said Parente used the money to make high-interest commercial bridge loans" (with high returns) and that the FBI has spoken to many individuals who invested $20 million with Parente over the past two decades. Some investors had demanded their money back, but Parente stalled on giving them the money and when he did, the checks bounced. One person said, "No one questioned him, because everyone knew him. I don't understand where the money could have gone." The FBI left the office with dozens of file boxes and a hard drive.

Hey, Gothamist readers: Given that 78% of you managed to make it to work on Monday through the snow storm, you can call yourself tougher than...an FBI agent! The Post reports that the FBI's NYC field office closed on Monday, citing the weather.

The feds say that Long Island investment broker Nicholas Cosmo ran a $370 million Ponzi scheme from his offices in Hauppauge and Queens. And what's more, he "lost $80 million of his clients' money playing the commodities market and paid an additional $55 million in commissions to associates," not to mention personal things ("jewelry, hotel rooms, limousines, payments to his wife and a private baseball league") and the feds say they could only locate $800,000 of the $370 million, according to Newsday. In Cosmo's scam, 1010 WINS explains he told investors they'd "make returns as high as 80 percent a year from interest collected on short-term loans to businesses" but the "returns" they received was "actually money provided by subsequent investors." Yup, that's a Ponzi scheme! Newsday also reports that today, "Worried Agape World investors turned up at the company's offices in Hauppauge and Jackson Heights Monday but found empty offices and a federal raid in progress."

Former State Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno was indicted on 8 counts yesterday for allegedly taking in $3.2 million in "consulting fees" that were actually payments from various parties who wanted the once powerful legislator's influence. Bruno, who spent 32 years in the State Senate, 13 of them as Majority Leader, said the FBI had conducted "a three-year fishing expedition that smells really, really bad and it really stinks," and vowed, "After being hounded for three years, I am being indicted on a prosecutor’s sleight of hand. I’ve been a fighter. And I don’t plan on changing now.”

Reports surfaced yesterday about a new terrorist plan to attack the New York City transit system using suicide bombers. The FBI called the plot "uncorroborated, but plausible" that was allegedly triggered by information obtained from a Pakistani citizen arrested overseas last week. Despite the unsubstantiated nature of the threat, it drew extra attention due to its involvement of top aides to Osama Bin Laden.

Want some possible terror plot with your turkey? The AP reports, "Federal authorities are warning law enforcement personnel of a possible terror plot against the New York City subway system during the holiday season." This is based on an internal memo the AP got a hold of:

The FBI has received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system.

Continue reading "Report: FBI Warns About Subway Terror Plot During Holiday Season"

A House Transportation Committee report stated, "Essentially, all of Lower Manhattan is a free parking lot for government vehicles," confirming what we all know: Government vehicles park illegally! But here's the icing: The biggest parking ticket scofflaws are the government. The NYPD ran up $193,000 in unpaid tickets, the FBI had $34,908, and State Department had $28,33 in unpaid violations. An FBI spokeswoman said, "Parking in New York City is a huge challenge. Parking facilities do not exist for the majority of F.B.I. vehicles assigned to the New York division.” Still, the report blames "lax fleet management practices" for allowing government employes to take advantage of the system and create unsafe conditions for others. For more on bad parking practices stemming from government-issued permits, check out Uncivil Servants.

A forensic dentist confirmed a body found at a Long Island site is that of William "Wild Bill" Cutolo, former Colombo crime family underboss. Newsday reports that Cutolo, who led the Local 400 and lived in Staten Island, "disappeared in 1999 and was believed to have been a victim in a war for control of the Colombo family...which resulted in more than a dozen murders." And the Staten Island Advance recounted a previous attempted hit on Cutolo: "the assassins dressed as Hasidic Jews, hoping to execute Cutolo as he sat in a restaurant in Borough Park." The FBI has been digging at the East Farmingdale site for a week--based on a mob informant's tip--and may recover two other bodies also believed to be buried there.

Since the middle of last week, the FBI has been digging at an East Farmindale industrial complex, reportedly looking for the remains of three victims of mob hits, including Colombo crime family underboss (and Staten Island resident) William "Wild Bill" Cutolo. But so far, the only bones they've found are non-human bones. Newsday reports that the NYC ME's office determined that the bones were canine, and the FBI is continuing its digs around the site. The two other victims suspected to be buried there are Pace University student, Charles Gargano Jr. (cousin of a Luchese crime family member) and Richard Greaves, suspected of becoming an informant.

Dozens of agents from the FBI's Colombo crime family squad were at a Farmingdale industrial complex yesterday, looking for human remains. There are "at least three victims of the bloody wars" over control of the crime family buried on the grounds, according to Newsday, based on a tip about bodies the squad received. The dig was called off in the evening but is resuming today. Apparently one of the bodies might be of William Cutolo, aka Wild Bill, whose body was previously thought to be dumped in the ocean. And the Daily News adds that the Colombo street boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioelli who carried out that hit lives "not far from the possible mob burial ground."

Last week, the FBI released its Crime in the United States 2007 statistics, showing that violent crime fell in 2007. However, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly pointed out that NYC was almost entirely responsible for that downward trend. Bloomberg said, "Without the 17 percent decline in murders in New York City, murder nationwide would have been flat, not down" (murders in NYC dropped from 596 in 2006 to 496 in 2007). Also, NYC's drop in robberies contributed to 75% of the nation decline in robberies. NYC is the safest major city, with 2,432.3 crimes per 100,000 people and, out 245 cities with populations over 100,000, NYC was 230th between Santa Clarita, CA and Rancho Cucamonga, CA (most dangerous are Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Phoenix and Philadelphia).

">accused by the feds of taking over $500,000 in bribes. Or, as Seminerio allegedly called it, "consulting" payments.

Don't leave a loaded gun sitting in your car when parking in Bed-Stuy. That's the lesson FBI Agent Robert Julian learned last month when his service weapon was stolen after he left it for just a few minutes inside a knapsack in his car parked on Nostrand Avenue. The knapsack contained his .40 caliber Glock, loaded with one magazine containing 13 rounds of ammunition as well as Julian's cell phone. The Smoking Gun reported the theft yesterday after obtaining US Attorney General's Office's request to obtain the cell phone records. The gun was retrieved four days later, but the phone remains missing.

            

There's an update on the intriguing story of William Milliken Vanderbilt Kingsland, "a threadbare eccentric and an amateur genealogist of the Upper East Side" who died in 2006, only to leave behind a world of confusion. To sum up this UES Man of Mystery, the NY Times explains upon his death "it was discovered that his birth name was Melvyn Kohn, that he resided not on Fifth Avenue but in a small apartment on East 72nd Street, and that he had not — counter to his claims — attended Groton or Harvard, nor had he once been married to a French royal." However, along with the confusion came hundreds of works of art and no will.