Six Ton Support Caused Crane To Drop

The spectacular collapse of a towering crane on the East Side began when a massive piece of steel designed to secure it to a new high-rise building came loose and pancaked on top of a second support nine stories below, shearing it free and creating a fatal imbalance that sent the 22-story crane toppling across a two-block swath of Turtle Bay, officials said on Sunday.

Four construction workers — a crane operator and three riggers who were helping to “jump” the crane, or increase its height — were killed. Three people were missing. On Sunday, as hope dwindled, firefighters, including a unit that specializes in building collapses, continued to search for signs of life. “We’re still calling it a search operation, though with each passing hour, things are getting more grim,” said Nicholas Scoppetta, the fire commissioner.

Veteran Judge To Preside Over "Sean Bell" Case

Justice Arthur J. Cooperman will preside over the trial of three detectives charged in the 2006 shooting death of an unarmed bridegroom, Sean Bell, outside a strip club in Jamaica, Queens.

The trial will bring more immediate attention to the 74-year-old judge than most criminal trials, because the defendants have waived their rights to a jury, leaving the verdict solely in Justice Cooperman’s hands. The trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 25.

Confidentiality Hinders Police Investigation

As part of an expansive effort to catch a knife-wielding attacker, police officials confronted a thorny legal hurdle on Friday as they sought the medical records of an Upper East Side therapist who was slain and those of a colleague who was wounded rushing to her aid.

Three days after the attack, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the police and the Manhattan district attorney’s office were trying to get a court order that would allow investigators to go through the patient files — up to 1,000 of them — of the slain therapist, Kathryn Faughey, and the wounded man, Dr. Kent D. Shinbach, in the hope that one could provide evidence leading to the killer.

Long Island Hospital Under Investigation

When we enter a hospital, we expect the hospital to take care of us. The following case, however, illustrates that some hospitals can be a dangerous place:

The investigation of Mercy Medical Center was prompted by the complaints of one of its doctors, Anthony Colantonio, who said a physician’s assistant had improperly inserted catheters, chest tubes and pacemakers into patients. Three such patients died, the doctor said: a 65-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman last summer, and a 19-year-old woman in October. The Health Department would not confirm whether the assistant was a focus of its investigation.

I am glad the doctor came forward. Sometimes this sort of thing is covered up.

New York Area Unions and the Mafia

Can Labor Unions ever escape the influence of organized crime? Recent indictments show that two labor unions were plagued by mafia influence:

A trucking company owner, Joseph Spinnato, together with unnamed others, repeatedly embezzled money from Local 282’s health and pension funds. The charges detailed an enduring practice in which construction and trucking companies contribute less money to union benefit funds than is required, usually by underreporting the hours that employees work. While the scheme often operates with the complicity of union stewards, officials with Local 282 and its benefits funds were not accused of wrongdoing.

Louis Mosca, the business manager of Laborers’ Local 325 in Jersey City, was charged with taking a $2,000 bribe to give someone a union card, a move often done to help someone qualify for a construction job or union benefits. Michael King, a shop steward of Laborers’ Local 731 in Queens, was also accused of selling a membership.

Prosecutors say the unions that deliver cement and other building supplies have long been a magnet for Mafia involvement because mob officials know that if they delay deliveries, construction companies can lose large amounts of money. Those union locals thus become an ideal pressure point for extortion.

Gambino Crime Family Indicted

Bad boys, bad boys, what are you going to do, what are you going to do when they come for you was the last song mob members thought they would hear. The Gambino Crime Family had to think about that song:

Scores of crimes were outlined in state and federal indictments unsealed on Thursday that charged 87 people and represented a government move against the upper echelon of the Gambino crime family.

Beginning with early morning knocks on doors around the New York City area, the case formed the basis for a roundup that authorities called the biggest such sweep in memory, one that was coordinated with arrests by Italian authorities in Sicily.

The charges took aim at not only the family’s leadership but at a cadre of middle managers and lower level figures in the Gambino clan and others in the Bonanno and Genovese families. Also charged were several union and construction officials.

Will they beat the charges? I guess they think it will take the feds some time to convict them if this becomes a repeat of the late John Gotti "Teflon Don" episode.

New York Bankrolls Presidential Campaign

If you want to know where the largest presidential campaign contributors reside; well look no further, they are right here in New York:

Through the end of last year, the metropolitan region contributed more than $80 million to presidential aspirants. New York’s singers, actors, literary lights and plutocrats wrote checks across party lines, in some cases covering their bets by running the table of candidates.

These New Yorkers have deep pockets and they don't mind spreading the wealth.

Immigration Reform: Who Are You Hiring?

Are your employees legal? If you don't know the answer to that question, it may be time you find out:

In the latest move on eastern Long Island to crack down on illegal immigrants, Brian Beedenbender, a freshman Suffolk County legislator proposed a bill on Thursday that would require the estimated 15,000 licensed contractors there to verify their workers’ legal status.

Under Mr. Beedenbender’s proposal, the county’s estimated 15,000 contractors — including electricians, plumbers, home contractors, roofers and asphalt pavers — would be required to verify employees’ legal working status. Violators would face punishment ranging from losing their licenses to being fined or jailed up to four years. Currently, Suffolk County gets 100 to 200 license applications a month and renews about 500. Several public hearings will be held before the proposal is voted on by the County Legislature.

It seems that the legislator is placing a heavy burden on these employers. What do you think?

13 Year Old Girl Kept As Prostitute

When I first read this story, I had to do a double take. It reminded me a little about convicted felon, Stan "Pampy" Barre, III, who bragged to an informant that he had a prostitute working for him. It was later revealed that Stan "Pampy" Barre, III was the one who was servicing the prostitute. According to the source and the prostitute, Mr. Barre performed the oral sex acts on the prostitute for free. The following news story, from the NY-Times, makes Stan "Pampy" Barre, III tale of prostitution seem like child's play:

A police detective and his female companion kidnapped a 13-year-old runaway girl and forced her into prostitution with 20 men at private parties.The detective, Wayne Taylor, 35, and his companion, Zalika Brown, 29, of 173-37 Vaswani Avenue in Jamaica, were charged with kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child and promoting prostitution. They were arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Wednesday night and pleaded not guilty.

The girl left her home in Brooklyn on Jan. 10 and encountered someone identified only as Drama who offered to find her a job dancing at parties and introduced her to Ms. Brown. Ms. Brown told the girl that she had been “purchased” for $500 for use as a prostitute and introduced Detective Taylor as her husband, the police said, although they described the couple as boyfriend and girlfriend.

Detective Taylor, a 14-year-member of the Police Department assigned to the Housing Bureau, who was suspended without pay upon his arrest, set prices of $40 for oral sex and $80 for intercourse and instructed the girl to give her age as 19, investigators said.

The girl was taken to a party in a barbershop, where she was forced to have sex for money that was then turned over to the suspects, the police said. That routine was repeated in the following days as the couple drove her and other prostitutes to other parties in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn, investigators said.

At one point, the suspects complained that the girl was not earning enough money, the police said, and Ms. Brown slammed the girl’s head to the floor and other prostitutes hit her. Detective Taylor threatened the girl that if she did not earn more, he would force her into streetwalking, the police said.

The girl escaped from the couple a few days ago and went to a police station, investigators said. She was able to provide the address where she said she was held, they added. She has since returned to her family, they said.


Maybe if Stan "Pampy" Barre, III had charged the prostitute for oral sex instead of performing oral sex on the prostitute for free, he would not have become the laughing stock of New Orleans, Louisiana and Federal Way, Washington.

An Apology For Slavery

The institution of slavery invokes painful memories and has caused some to wonder how could anyone have thought that slavery was an acceptable practice. It appears that the state of New York has recognized and want to show how they now feel regarding the issue of slavery:

For the second straight year, the Assembly has passed a bill that would make New York one of the few states to formally apologize for slavery, which was legal here until 1827. The bill stalled in the Senate last year, but Assemblyman Keith L. T. Wright, a Democrat from Harlem and the bill’s sponsor, said he had been assured by the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, that this time it would be passed in the Senate.

New York was the biggest importer of slavery in the United States of America except for South Carolina.

Let's hope other states follow suit in order to somewhat heal the wounds from slavery.

Family Wins Case For 9/11 Rescuer's Benefits

Everyone has heard stories about disabled individuals who have had to battle the Social Security Administration for disability benefits. One would imagine that a family would not, however, have to battle the government for benefits after losing a family member in the 9/11 rescue. That is exactly what happened to a New York family:

After a five-year battle, the United States government has dropped its effort to prevent a volunteer firefighter killed at the World Trade Center from receiving a death benefit for public safety officers who die on the job.

The firefighter, Glenn J. Winuk, was a longtime member of the Jericho Volunteer Fire Department who rushed to the burning towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

Mr. Winuk, 40, died when the skyscrapers collapsed, but for years, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance declined to award his family a $250,000 payment.

The agency contended that the benefit was intended for active-duty public safety officers, and Mr. Winuk had not been on regular duty since 1998.

Let's hope they show more consideration to other families in the future.