Have you ever wondered how much it might cost you to pay off a guard to help you escape prison? Well, we can now tell you one going rate: $90,000 worth of cocaine. That's how much one prisoner allegedly paid off a guard to help him escape Rikers Island. more ›

When does graffiti not go well with a ten dollar bill? When the tenner is used to bribe a cop. According to the Post's NYPD Blotter: "Arnaldo Eusebio, 19, was caught by officers with graffiti gear on Sheridan Avenue near 164th Street at 3 a.m. Thursday, cops said. 'I heard that if you give a cop money, they will let you go. All I have is 10 bucks. I just want to see if you'll let me go,' he allegedly told police before pulling a $10 bill from his left shoe." In fact, they did not let him go. more ›

How low our judiciary has sunk! Back in the day, you had to ply judges with hookers and hot tubs to win in court; now they settle for cheap snack food: one judge's inability to say resist his favorite variety of popcorn has cost him $2,500 and his job. Alan Rubin, an administrative law judge assigned to the Parking Violations Bureau, has admitted that after dismissing a delivery driver's parking tickets, he accepted some popcorn from the guy as a thank-you present. Apparently, that's frowned upon. more ›

Now that the greedy doorman scandal has been busted wide open, the City Council is preparing legislation that would make it illegal for anyone to demand kickbacks for setting up cab fares. Under the scheme, doormen at hotels around the city would demand payments of $5 to $15 for shuttling guests to the airports, and would turn away drivers who refused to pay. City Council member James Vacca said, "It's unfair...Those who abuse that are wrong." more ›

Besides trying to get the public excited about this whole cab share thing, the Taxi and Limousine Commission is investigating claims that hotel doormen are making taxi drivers give them tips for the privilege of taking hotel guests to the airport. According to the Post, some doormen ask for up to $15, "It’s a way for doormen to double their tips, as the tourist they’re hailing a cab for will also toss them some green." more ›

A data entry clerk at the Department of Finance repeatedly offered to make drivers' parking tickets "go away" in exchange for cash, usually half the amount of the ticket, the Manhattan DA alleges. Karen Frazier, 42, is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail after pleading not guilty yesterday to fraud, bribe receiving, tampering with records, and other charges related to her ticket-fixing scheme. Frazier allegedly ran the scam from October 2008 to August 2009, and given her astonishingly stupid methodology, it's amazing she got away with it for that long. more ›

Indicted Councilman Larry Seabrook won't quit. The Bronx Democrat accused by federal prosecutors of taking part in real estate scams, soliciting a $50,000 bribe, and doctoring a $7 receipt for a bagel and a drink so he was reimbursed $177, says he won't resign. When asked by the Post if he took a bribe in exchange for getting a boiler company a gig at Yankee Stadium, Seabrook reportedly said "absolutely not" four times and laughed. He vowed to fight the charges, and claimed a close reading of the 66-page indictment against him reveals he's innocent. "I think if you read it, you'll see for yourself from that," he said. more ›

A former Queens Assemblyman who resigned after being indicted for accepting bribes in the form of "consulting" fees was sentenced to six years in prison. Anthony Seminerio, 74, pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud after investigators alleged that he had taken up to $2 million in bribes, established a shell company to handle the "consulting" money, and was caught on tape accepting $25,000 from an FBI agent posing as a real estate developer. more ›

Investigators have previously said that "everyone's hand was out" for bribes at SLA, and now two women have been caught planning to bribe liquor authority officials to help speed up a booze license approval. A court ordered wiretap allegedly found that Annie Guerrero, the owner of El Nido Del Aguila, in Inwood, and Maria Elena Nunez, the owner of an expediting company that represents businesses applying for liquor licenses, colluded to bribe an SLA official with $5,000, in hopes of avoiding a full SLA review. more ›

If you hate waiting for a cab at the airport, then imagine how the cab drivers feel, waiting hours at a time in a holding pen before being allowed to pick up passengers at a terminal. Surely there is some way to match up the waiting passenger with the waiting taxi. No? Anyway, the Daily News reports that some drivers were paying their way to the front of the line. All whilst passengers just stood there like suckers, not bribing a soul in their own line. more ›

The Post reports that at least six Department of Buildings employees "will be arrested later this month, along with about two dozen Luchese crime-family captains, soldiers and associates." Ooh, another mob sweep. Apparently the Buildings inspectors, two of whom are "full-blown Luchese associates," "were videotaped taking bribes at construction sites, and some were seen dealing cocaine and prescription pills while on duty" and "lined their pockets by ignoring violations or expediting construction and building work permits." And the revelations emerged from a 2007 case in NJ, where some members of the Luchese crime family "ran a staggering $2 billion-a-year gambling operation and supplied drugs and cellphones to Bloods gang members in state prisons." Guess the DOB's new code of conduct is coming in handy. more ›

What can't an iPod Nano get you these days? First the device was used barter-style for cab fare (albeit this was a forced barter), and now the BellTel Lofts in Brooklyn are using the $140 gadgets as bribes. The NY Times reports that Ilan Bracha of the Bracha Group at Prudential Douglas Elliman have set a goal to lure at least 300 top-producing Manhattan brokers over to the property with a "BellTel Lofts-branded iPod Nano in a custom-made and branded leather-bound portfolio containing video footage, images and updates” on the project. All they have to do to claim their prize made the trip over the bridge for a private tour of the building's units; so far there have been 180 takers, and 20 have been from Brooklyn. That's right, even in-borough brokers can take one home if "they bring in five groups of buyers" with to BellTel with them. If Apples aren't the new currency, they're certainly the new dangling carrots. more ›

Marilyn Dorato, president of the Greenwich Village Block Association and next-door neighbor of Waverly Inn, used to be a vocal critic of the celebrity haunt because of all the idling limos, paparazzi and all-around obstreperousness erupting from the exclusive restaurant. But some locals who still hate the place say she changed her tune once co-owner Graydon Carter hooked her up with a regular table and put her photo in his magazine, a little publication called Vanity Fair. Of course, Dorato insists it isn't the star treatment that won her over, but the security firm hired by Carter to control the limo traffic, and the new late morning garbage pick-up time. She tells the Post, "I'm treated very well, but I don't think it's a payoff." Obviously not! Note to Graydon: We too want to destroy the Waverly Inn, and have no dinner plans tonight. more ›

It wouldn't be Fashion Week without a little bit of scandal, and this week a state government employee nearly made runway roadkill out of designer Marc Jacobs. more ›