JTA Reports: Michael Applebaum, the interim mayor of Montreal, resigned amid corruption allegations. Applebaum, 50, announced Tuesday that he was stepping down after being charged with 14 counts of fraud, breach of trust and corruption.
“I maintain my innocence,” Applebaum said at City Hall in his first comments since the arrest. “I have every intention of continuing to fight like I always have, and I want to be clear: I have never taken a penny from anybody.” Read more »
2 officials who plead guilty
Olvis Eguez the coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Prosecution confirmed that two of the corrupt officials involved in the Ostreicher Corruption and extortion network, agreed to waive their right to a trial and plead guilty. This opens the way for a case with 39 people involved, of which 14 are being detained, including officials of the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of the Presidency, the Prosecutor and the Management of Seized Property. Read more »
The Body of Yvonne Geffner was found badly decomposed after she was stabbed to death by her boyfriend. The New York Post has obtained an Exclusive Audio of the NYPD Dispatcher laughing about the 911 call that reported on the possible stabbing of Mrs. Geffner and then passing wrong information to the responding officers.
Brooklyn, NY – Sources tell JP Updates that the person of interest in the Midwood Stabbing of a 57 year old woman, is currently hospitalized at Kings County Medical Center after a failed attempt to commit suicide by jumping in front of a train, after the murder took place.
Additionally sources say that the vehicle of the person of interest was located down the block of the apartment where the victim was found stabbed to death, the vehicle had two alternate side parking tickets on it, one was dated Wed. May 22nd, the other was dated Wed. May 29th.
In his response to a question on why crime is down in New York City, Mayoral Candidate John Catsimatidis credited the drop to the NYPD’s Stop & Frisk policy, and pledges to keep the policy in place if he gets elected mayor, he also suggested that the crime stats are probably tampered with, “none of us are fools, I’m sure they’re cooking the books” he said. Watch the Video Here Read more »
LoHud.Com: FBI agents and investigators from the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office raided Ramapo Town Hall on Wednesday, seizing documents and computer hardware from several departments.
FBI agents were at the building for hours after the raid began at 3:30 p.m. but did not say what information was being sought or what the focus of their investigation might be. Several Rockland officials familiar with the investigation told The Journal News one focus of the probe was the sale of bonds for town projects, which involved wire transfers. Read more »
CNN: In a CNN exclusive, Ariel Castro’s brother says he was lied to about the identity of Amanda Berry’s daughter. See Video Read more »
The WSJ reports: The number of stop-and-frisk reports filed by New York City police fell 51% in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year.
From Jan. 1 through March 31, officers conducted 99,788 stop and frisks, compared with 203,500 during the same period in 2012, according to New York Police Department data. It wasn’t clear how many of those encounters resulted in a subject being frisked after a stop. Read more »
Politicker reports: Councilman Dan Halloran, who has been charged for helping quarterback a bribery scheme to rig the mayoral race, will not seek another term in office, he announced this afternoon.
“Regrettably, I must now focus my attention on clearing my name and restoring my reputation, while I continue to discharge my sworn duties as a member of the New York City Council,” he said. “After much thought, I have concluded that it is impossible for me to properly do these things and take on the enormous demands of a political campaign, so I will not to pursue another term in the Council.” Read more »
A Brooklyn man locked up for more than 20 years for a murder he didn’t commit plans to sue the city. The New York Post says David Ranta will file a notice of claim for a $150 million lawsuit. Ranta was released from prison in March after a judge vacated his conviction in the 1990 murder of prominent Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger. The Post says Ranta is suing for malicious prosecution and wrongful imprisonment. – NY1
Politicker reports: Mayor Michael Bloomberg has always been critical of media outlets and politicians pushing policies that he argues will weaken the New York City’s police department, but he took his case to thenext level this afternoon when he blasted both the City Council and the press writ-large for undermining the city’s security.
He used the recent murder of a Bronx teenager to make his most forceful plea for proactive safety strategies. Read more »
Fox News reports: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed at a press conference reports that the Tsarnaev brothers discussed planting and detonating explosives in the heavily trafficked Times Square. They said they decided it spontaneously.
“New York was next on their list of targets,” Bloomberg said of brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Bloomberg said he received confirmation of the chilling second phase of their plot from the FBI. “The fact is, New York City remains a prime target for those who hate America and want to kill Americans.”
Journal News Reports: Rockland County is cracking down on more social services fraud with the arrests of 14 people on felony charges of ripping off $229,000 in subsidized child care tax credit funds, authorities said Thursday.
Those arrested — who range in age from 25 to 42 — are accused of falsifying applications with the Rockland Department of Social Services between 2007 and 2011, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said. Read more »
The chairwoman of a troubled New York state ethics board created just over a year ago is being replaced by a lawyer who represented Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff (MAY’-dawf). Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo (KWOH’-moh) says former Manhattan assistant district attorney Daniel Horwitz will head the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Cuomo says Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore (dee-fee-OR’-ee) is being replaced as chairwoman because she’s running for re-election as Westchester’s top prosecutor. – AP Via ABC News
Jpost reports: Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley commended Israel’s way of dealing with terrorist attacks as he addressed 30 visiting business and academic leaders in Jerusalem on Sunday night.
O’Malley, who is mentioned as a likely future Democratic candidate for US president, noted that the United States had improved in its efforts to tackle terror, due in part to what the country had learned from Israel, making reference to last week’s terrorist attack in Boston.
At a dinner at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel he launched the Maryland-Israel Advisory Board to promote trade.
Barak Ravid reports in Haaretz: Ron Dermer, a diplomatic advisor consultant to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and candidate for the post of Israeli ambassador to Washington, told a closed meeting of U.S. Jewish leaders in New York last week that the Boston marathon bombings would increase American support for Israel – just as that support increased following the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Dermer made his remarks last Wednesday, two days after explosions rocked the Boston Marathon, killing three people and wounding nearly 200 more. Dermer, considered one of Netanyahu’s closest associates, is currently on vacation, after having finished his stint as a senior adviser at the Prime Minister’s Bureau.
AP Via Breitbart: Key measures of New York’s tough new gun law kicked in Monday, with owners of firearms now reclassified as assault weapons required to start registering the firearms and new limits on the number of bullets allowed in magazines.
As the new provisions took effect, New York’s affiliate of the National Rifle Association planned to file a court request for a federal injunction to immediate halt to the magazine limit. Read more »
Colin Campbell Reports: U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office announced yet another New York State elected official, Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, has been arrested and accused of taking bribes. Earlier this week, New York’s political world was rocked when corruption charges were leveled against State Senator Malcolm Smith and Councilman Dan Halloran. Mr. Stevenson’s charges will be formally unsealed at noon today. Read more »
Nanuet Patch Report Via YWN: When Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe revealed in February that an investigation uncovered numerous cases of homeowners illegally filing for the STAR property tax break program, he originally planned for his investigators to start making arrests this week.
Since Zugibe instituted an amnesty program allowing homeowners to come forward without facing criminal prosecution, he said that many of the offenders targeted by his office have come forward voluntarily to resolve their problems. As a result, Zugibe said today he is extending the STAR program amnesty. Read more »
Over the past six years, state senators are more likely to have been arrested than to have faced defeat at the polls. Since 2007, 11 senators have been charged with crimes compared with just nine lawmakers who lost a re-election bid. – NY Post
