Today, a judge sentenced Robert Williams to life in prison for the brutal rape and torture of a Columbia graduate student. Williams was convicted last month, with a jury finding him guilty of 44 counts, including attempted murder, kidnapping, arson, burglary, robbery, assault, rape and sodomy. The attack occurred in April 2007, after Williams had gained access to the victim's Hamilton Heights apartment building, followed her to her floor and forced his way into her......

The Fire Department says Tuesday night's two-alarm fire that left a man and a 6-year-old child dead and others injured was caused by someone using rubbing alcohol near a candle--the candle ignited the alcohol's fumes. Here are the FDNY's fire safety tips, which also include some tips for the summer.......

A two-alarm fire broke out at a 6-floor apartment building on West 148th Street and Riverside Drive around 8:40 p.m., and a man and a 5- or 6-year-old boy died after jumping from the sixth floor. The man, believed to be the boy's godfather, was pronounced dead at the scene while the boy apparently went into cardiac arrest and died at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief John Scudnik said they couldn't get to the......

Yesterday, a jury of eight men and four women found Robert Williams guilty of 44 counts, including, per the Post, "attempted murder, kidnapping, arson, burglary, robbery, 10 assault charges, five separate rapes and 11 incidents of sodomy," related to his 19-hour rape and torture of a Columbia University graduate student in her Hamilton Heights apartment a year ago. According to his lawyer, Williams, who has rarely been in court during the trial, responded to the......

A 24-year-old woman took the stand and began to relive a terrifying ordeal as she described how she was raped, tortured, and held captive in her own Hamilton Heights apartment in April 2007. The victim, now 24, was a month away from graduating from Columbia Journalism School and had stayed late at campus to work on her resume (a job fair was the next day). At 9:30 p.m. on April 13, a Friday, she took......

In April 2007, a Columbia graduate student was raped and tortured for 19 hours in her Hamilton Terrace apartment. More than a year later, her suspected rapist is now in court, facing 71 criminal charges including attempted murder, arson, rape and sodomy. Assistant District Attorney Ann Prunty describe the harrowing ordeal in her opening statement. From the NY Times:Over many torturous hours, [the victim] had been repeatedly raped, sodomized and forced to perform oral sex,......

Last night, a fire broke out in an occupied building at 560 West 144th Street around 8 p.m. Fire officials said the fire started in the six-floor building's fifth floor--which is under renovation--and the fire spread to the 6th floor, by way of a dumbwaiter shaft, with flames "going through the roof." According to ABC 7, there were "large chunks of flaming debris falling onto the street." The FDNY does not think the fire is......

The defense lawyer for Robert Williams used a sartorial defense in court yesterday. Williams, accused of raping and torturing a Columbia graduate student last April, appeared wearing his "jeans and polo shirt inside out," prompting his lawyer to say, "This is symptomatic of mental illness...The best I can do right now, given my relationship with my client, is that I’d like the court to observe my client’s shirt and jeans are both inside out." However,......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: brush fires in Jamaica caused delays and suspensions on the LIRR west of Jamaica Station (it's okay, just booze up) - there may still be some delays; a water main break on 3rd Ave at 86th Street; and found DOA on the Belt Parkway. Being the head of a crime family isn't easy these days. Danny "The Lion" Leo, the reputed head of the Genovese crime family was arrested......

The man suspected of raping a 23-year-old woman last weekend was aware people were looking for him. Robert Williams, who was arrested after trying to rob a Queens apartment, was charged with rape, attempted murder, kidnapping and more in connection to the violent 19-hour rape and torture of Columbia graduate student in her Hamilton Heights apartment at West 141st and Hamilton Terrace (building pictured). Today, the Daily News reports that Williams tore down wanted posters......

While boldly trying to rob an apartment in Hollis, Queens on Thursday, Robert Williams was arrested after a scuffle with residents. And when police brought him to the station, a sergeant realized he was the prime suspect in the Hamilton Heights rape case, where a 23-year-old Columbia graduate student was raped and tortured for 19 hours last weekend. Williams was charged with kidnapping, arson, attempted murder, rape, robbery and sex abuse. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired early this evening on Blake Ave. in Brooklyn, a homicide/suicide on 225th St. in Queens this afternoon, and a sexual assault early this morning on West 120th St. in Manhattan. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn wants black activist Sonny Carson stricken from the list of nominees for proposed street names because she thinks he was divisive and anti-white. Former Black Panther and current Brooklyn Council Member Charles......

Yesterday, the NYPD released video of the man who raped and tortured a Columbia graduate student in her Hamilton Heights apartment for hours on Friday and Saturday. The assailant used her ATM card at a bodega on 141st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue. A worker there told the News, "He's not human." The police also released a sketch of the attacker, who is described as a black man, around 180 pounds and 6'1", bald with......

The police are looking for a man who raped, beat, and burned a 23-year-old woman in her Hamilton Heights apartment Friday night. The attacker followed the woman into her apartment building around 9:30PM and terrorized her for 19 hours, repeatedly raping and beating her. He left only after throwing a chemical on her and setting her apartment on fire. The woman managed to escape, and the Post reports that the police got there Saturday afternoon:......

This must a be a new one: A drug dealer kidnapped beacuse her clients "wanted to teach her a lesson" was rescued by the police tracing her cell phone. Apparently Erica Rodriguez's drugs weren't good enough for three men who ended up kidnapping her from her Hamilton Heights home to East Flatbush. Two of the men got away, but the one that was arrested allegedly has a criminal justice degree (his landlord, who works for......

- New Yorkers have more diseased hearts than we should. Is it the stress, dirty water dogs, and sloth-like existence or are doctors misattributing the problem. - The police chased a car all the way from Hamilton Heights to the Lower East Side, where the suspected carjacker was stopped by crashing into a cab. Too bad the traffic copters couldn't follow this during its journey. - The loss of the Hard Rock Cafe on West......

Family, friends, and fan turned out for Ol' Dirty Bastard's wake in Hamilton Heights yesterday. The wake was open casket, with ODB in a white suit and red shirt, and mourners remembered his generosity and times when he was not crazy, like the day before his death, when he ate clams and red sauce in Coney Island with a friend. And the NY Times has gotten into the spirit of printing "Ol' Dirty Bastard" (unlike......