Archives › Crime

Brooklyn D.A. accuses local man of clever extortion attempt

The Office of Charles Hynes, the Brooklyn  (Kings County) District Attorney has indicted Samuel Kellner with an accusation of a rather clever extortion scheme.  The Grand Jury has alleged the following: Mr. Kellner, aware that Rabbi Baruch Lebovits was facing charges prosecuted by the Kings County District Attorney, induced children to report additional, false allegations [...]

Firefighter Indicted for Hit-and-Run, “texting while driving,” killing pedestrian

From the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, press release dated December 21st: Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced the indictment of Pat Quagliarello, 39, for speeding and texting on his phone while driving, hitting and killing a pedestrian, Manuel Tzajguachiac. Quagliarello surrendered today before being arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court on charges [...]

NYPD Officer on trial for New Jersey armed robberies

Just learned about this case. If the allegations are true, not only was a NYPD officer committing armed robberies, he was violating the city’s residency rules by living in New Jersey. From NorthJersey.com: FBI used cellphone data to track suspect in Carlstadt perfume heist Thursday, December 9, 2010 Last updated: Thursday December 9, 2010, 5:59 [...]

The brittle nature of insufficient risk awareness: smash-and-grab on Caton Avenue

We’ve spent nearly a decade in the neighborhood. In that time, few indicators of petty crime. Last night, someone put a brick through our car window and took our GPS. We’d become complacent about leaving the GPS in view. It feels as though something has changed – but perhaps it’s only a matter of our [...]

NYPD innovates in statistical manipulation

In a disturbing – but, alas, unsurprising – report in the Times of February 6th, William K. Rashbaum reports that NYPD precincts, in order to revise downwards the value of items reported stolen (making, for instance, a grand larceny – a felony – into a petit or “petty” larceny – a misdemeanor) have resorted to [...]

Dispute about elliptical machine ends in murder at Church Avenue gym

From The Daily News, Thugs slay Brooklyn social worker Douglas Smith in fight over exercise equipment: A Brooklyn social worker described as “the picture of health” was slain at his neighborhood gym in a feud over exercise equipment. Douglas Smith, 50, was knifed and clobbered with a hammer by a pair of muscleheads who attacked [...]

Why do we outsource school bus services to the Mob?

Tom Robbins of the Village Voice reports in Back to School for Bus Hoods that a pair of brothers who served as top officials of the union representing city school bus drivers pleaded guilty today to extortion charges in Manhattan federal court.Nick and Paul Maddalone became, respectively, the fourth and fifth high-ranking executives of Local [...]

Armed robbery of Gulf Station at Caton and Coney Island Avenues

We understand that early this morning (or late last night) the Gulf Station (which includes the Dunkin’ Donuts) suffered an armed robbery. As of this morning, the entire station was blocked off with crime scene tape. It’s our understanding that no one was injured; we’ll try to provide further details as we acquire them.

Walsh Metal Works: beautiful custom gates

Made right here in Kings County by Sullivan Walsh: Walsh Metal Works. Yet another indication of the abundance of brilliant artists, artisans, inventors, and engineers in Brooklyn.

To protect and serve – buffet-style

From Kim Zetter on Wired – Thief Steals Sensitive Data from NYPD- and from a “secure building” which also housed backup servers for Google and Yahoo. Personal information on more than 80,000 current and retired New York police officers was stolen from a supposedly secure data warehouse that stored NYPD pension fund data. The stolen [...]

From the Office of Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes: Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced the indictment of Keith Phoenix, 28, and Hakim Scott, 25, in the murder of Ecuadorian immigrant José Sucuzhanay, whom the defendants believed was homosexual. District Attorney Hynes was joined in the announcement, by New York City [...]

Recent robbery attempt in parade ground

We have reliable intelligence that a neighbor was the subject of an attempted robbery in the Parade Ground on a recent evening – just outside the building which houses both the Parks and Police Departments. We’ve also been told – but not yet been able to confirm – that arrests have been made in the [...]

Shooting At Girls’ Yeshiva in Williamsburgh – Homeland Security News

According to National Terror Alert,  a shot was fired into a girls’ yeshiva in Williamsburgh on Monday; no injuries reported, no arrests. Link to “Shooting At Jewish School For Girls In Williamsburg Brooklyn”

Herbert questions NYPD arrests, Hynes prosecutions as meritless

Bob Herbert sometimes behaves like a very clever hunting dog, alternately flushing his prey and waiting quietly. Of late, he’s been hunting a canard – in this case, a riot which seems not to have occurred.  He makes a compelling case that the Kings County District Attorney’s office seems to be persisting in an unjustified [...]

New York City homicide rate “lowest toll in decades” – Al Baker, The New York Times

Al Baker reports in November 23rd editions of the Times that the city’s homicide rate is the lowest in years: New York City is on track to have fewer than 500 homicides this year, by far the lowest number in a 12-month period since reliable Police Department statistics became available in 1963. But within the [...]

UPDATED: Knifepoint robbery on/near Caton Avenue

We have a secondhand report that a knifepoint robbery occurred sometime earlier today, the victim someone who’s a regular visitor to our building – 1110 Caton Avenue (Stratford & Westminster). Unfortunately, this is a reasonable predictor of increased risk of additional robberies. We’ll try to obtain additional information and post it as soon as possible. [...]

Hynes announces guilty pleas in stock fraud case

According to a press release dated today, the Brooklyn D.A.’s office has obtained guilty pleas from two defrocked brokers in Clinton Hill. This is, of course, a good thing. Not clear if any of the complainants were local. My guess is none. (This is one of the great advantages of white-collar crime: you can rip [...]

Fatal shooting 22 August on Parkside Avenue

According to the Times, Thursday 30 August: A Brooklyn man was charged yesterday with fatally shooting another man near Prospect Park last week, the police said. The police said that the suspect, Tony Canales, 26, shot Antonio Bruce, 25, of Stanley Avenue about 11:20 p.m. on Aug. 22. Mr. Bruce was shot once in the [...]

Good Samaritan killed on Prospect Expressway

From the Times’ “Metro Briefing” on Thursday, page B4 of the print edition, link to online archived version here A man who stopped to help a driver in a disabled car on the Prospect Expressway early yesterday was killed when a drunken driver in a third car smashed into his car and the broken-down vehicle, [...]

Why we need a blog

Because many of us are having conversations about the same subjects – and this blog might help in aggregating those little conversations – to find consensus and a larger, clearer voice. Here are the issues that I find myself discussing, often, with neighbors:  traffic on Caton Avenue noise safety pollution Green energy issues – solar [...]


Bad Behavior has blocked 221 access attempts in the last 7 days.