Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg vocally spoke out against a judge who released without bail Lamont Pride, the 27-year-old charged with fatally shooting Officer Peter Figoski during a robbery early Monday morning. Today Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes and a spokesman for the New York courts lashed back at hizzoner for throwing the blame around. "It's not unusual," Hynes said. "Judges have complete discretion on how they assess bail." more ›

The Brooklyn DA today announced that it has charged four people, two men and two woman, in two separate but equally disturbing cases of sex trafficking involving young girls. "The defendants in these cases are the lowest of the low, forcing children to have sex for money," DA Charles Hynes said in a statement. And the charges against the four really are pretty grim. more ›

Following reports of a "turf war" between residents and roving bands of teenagers in Brower Park and the Park Slope Playground, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes is seeking to assuage fears that his office is out of touch with the issue. "We are definitely aware of the increase in gang activity in parks and playgrounds," Hynes's spokesperson Jerry Schmetterer told the Daily News. According to Schmetterer, the DA's Gang's Bureau is "monitoring their activity. And we are in touch with the community about it." more ›

Police are searching for a scam artist claiming to be a Brooklyn real estate agent. Cops say the man has struck at least eight times in Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, "showing" apartments in buildings under construction to prospective renters, making them sign a fake lease and taking their cash security deposit before disappearing (a familiar crime). But until they track him down, Brooklyn police will have their hands full with the 17 other people arrested and charged with various real estate crimes recently. more ›

Jabbar Collins, the man who spent 15 years in prison before his 1995 murder conviction was overturned earlier this year, is suing the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office and one of its top prosecutors in a $150 million lawsuit, charging that the agency deliberately withheld evidence and was consistently engaged in misconduct during the trial. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg has largely scoffed at accusations that the Sanitation Department engaged in a purposeful "slowdown" during the Blizzaggedon, as retaliation for budget cuts in the department. But after one of the blizzard blame hearings in Manhattan Beach on Wednesday, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes ripped into Bloomberg for "blowing off" the public hearing. more ›

In a series of increasingly brazen attacks, the bedbugs have laid siege to our libraries, our lingere, and our most precious sources for preppy clothes. And now they've made a move on our judicial system, infiltrating the offices of Brooklyn D.A. Charles J. Hynes. According to one tipster, the D.A.'s office is currently "infested," and, alarmingly, we were unable to reach the District Attorney, who has presumably been carried off to the bedbugs' underground blood-harvesting work farm. However, Hynes's stalwart press liaison, Jerry Schmetterer, has refused to abandoned headquarters, and we got through to him by phone just moments ago. more ›

The life of the toiling zit-scarred intern has its fair share of ups and downs: your boss may ask you to drink illegally, may whisk you to Africa, or might just engage you in tickle fights, and you'll have to go along with it. But one Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney must have taken tickle fights a step too far, since she has allegedly been suspended for two weeks for verbally abusing interns. more ›

Brooklyn residents Ariel and Joyce Soudry were found to be among 32 welfare cheaters in a recent crackdown, allegedly claiming benefits while holding up to $2 million in seven different bank accounts. The couple was arraigned yesterday on charges of welfare fraud and grand larceny, and appeared remorseless on their way into court—according to the Daily News, Ariel Soudry barked at the paparazzi: "Lowlifes—get a real job!" more ›

Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes announced yesterday that 125,000 tons of seized knockoff goods would be donated to earthquake victims as a part of Operation Help Haiti. The confiscated goods, worth over $10 million, were taken from a Park Slope storage facility in 2009, and bear such names as Ralph Lauren, Diesel and Ed Hardy. "I feel wonderful. It's a celebration—certainly not a traditional prosecution," said Hynes. more ›

A judge found Councilman Charles Barron guilty of disorderly conduct for sitting in the middle of Tillary Street to protest the Sean Bell verdict. Unsurprisingly, the East New York Councilman — a one-time candidate for Brooklyn Borough President who is considering running for Council Speaker against Christine Quinn — had a message for the man responsible for his prosecution. "[Brooklyn District Attorney] Charles Hynes should be ashamed of himself," said Barron, who was sentenced to time-served, which was about six hours according to the Post. "He should not be allowed to come into any black church this Jan. 21 and celebrate Martin Luther King Day." more ›

Today's Post reveals for the first time that there was a third man in the SUV with the Keith Phoenix and Hakim Scott the night of the attack on the late Jose Sucuzhanay and his brother Romel last December in Bushwick. The paper says that the unnamed man did not participate in the attack and is now under police protection since he will testify against his friends. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes has unsealed the indictments against the two men charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault—all as hate crimes. Hynes said, "The acts which we charge this morning are no less despicable because the victims Jose and Romel Sucuzhañay were not gay.” The DA says that Romel was putting a jacket around his brother on the cold December night when they were spotted by the pair of Bronx men who then allegedly beat Jose with a bottle and a bat. Both Scott and Phoenix are expected to plead not guilty to the crimes that could land them 78 years to life in prison—the maximum sentence. more ›

The NYPD is stepping into a long-running feud between two rival Orthodox Jewish patrol groups in Crown Heights in order to unite them into a single police-supervised unit. Shmira and Shomrim are two bitterly-divided private crime-patrol organizations that split in the late '90s. (Here's one explanation of their complicated rivalry.) In an exclusive titled, "Jew Guys Need to Talk," the Post reports that Shmira has agreed to the merger, but Shomrim refuses to sit down with Shmira, who they accuse of slashing patrol-car tires, making prank emergency calls and falsely informing on Shomrim to the police. Yossi Stern, director of Shmira, denies the allegations: "It's all a bunch of rhetoric. Show me a police report. We're not out to harass anybody. We're out to do a service for the community." You'll recall that members of Shmira were suspected of beating a 20-year-old black man, Andrew Charles, in Crown Heights last April. more ›

The police have increased their presence in Crown Heights after two incidents that have upset the black and Jewish communities and caused unrest between them. And many are recalling the summer of 1991, when the Crown Heights riots shook the city. more ›

In case you missed it, here's our list of ways to celebrate Cinco de Mayo around town; if you aren't in the mood for margs tonight, here are some alternatives: more ›

In an extremely embarrassing incident for the Brooklyn DA's office, an audio technician taped over a statement made by a cop killer while in custody. The DA's office will now have to rely on a detective's notes taken during that statement and the videotape recorded during a follow-up interview with suspect Robert Ellis. more ›

After a public scrutiny over police procedure when dozens of youths were arrested on their way to a gang members' wake, the Brooklyn DA's office has decided to drop the charges of 22 of the arrestees. Ten others will face charges. more ›

An ongoing investigation of corruption and illegal practices in the Brooklyn South Narcotics Unit could jeopardize dozens, if not hundreds, of successful prosecutions of drug dealers. The possibility has arisen days after a sergeant and a detective were arrested for paying an informant with drugs and cash that they themselves had robbed from the addict. Another sergeant in the unit was also arrested for using NYPD resources to investigate the vehicle IDs of a drug dealer's suspected rivals. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A steam leak at 39th Street and Lexington in Manhattan, a car vs. building on Hoyt Avenue in Staten Island and an oil slick on Park Lane and 85th Road in Queens
• An unorthodox robbery in Brooklyn: a burly Hasidic Jewish man brandished a knife and threatened a woman in South Williamsburg.
• Defense lawyers for the men charged with shooting police officer Russel Timoshenko are wondering why Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes described their clients as "scum" in an interview
• Freak-out in brownstone Brooklyn: Someone is painting a brownstone white!
• Does Rudy hate video sharing? Former mayor Giuliani is skipping the YouTube debate
• Yet another reason to slow down when you're driving around in Douglaston: There have been deer spottings.
• The police officer indicted for reckless endangerment in the Sean Bell shooting is asking for his own trial. Earlier this week, Bell's fiancee filed a wrongful death suit against the city, NYPD and five officers involved; her lawyer says the lawsuit will be pursued after the trial.
• And the State Legislature finally voted to approve a commission to study congestion pricing.

Yesterday, the three men charged with first-degree murder of police officer Russel Timoshenko all pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn court. However, Dexter Bostick, Robert Ellis, and Lee Woods, who were also charged with a number of other crimes related to the July 9 traffic stop shooting, did not ask for bail. The Post and Daily News had the varying statements the men gave investigators:

Woods, 29, told detectives "I ain't going to jail for something I didn't do. I didn't shoot no cops, I was only driving. Fat boy [Bostic] was in the passenger seat and that faggot Roger [Ellis] was behind me." more ›

After the tragic murder of Natasha Ramen last week, questions were raised about the conduct of the Brooklyn DA's office. Last Friday, Ramen's throat was slashed, allegedly by Hemant Megnath in an attempt to prevent her from testifying that he had raped her. Megnath had previously harassed and threatened Ramen and her family to the point that they told the police in Queens. more ›

In less than a year and a half, former Brooklyn Assemblyman and Democratic party boss Clarence Norman was found guilty on corruption charges. This time, a jury found Norman guilty of five counts of coercion, grand larceny by extortion, and attempted grand larceny by extortion related to, as the Daily News put it, "shaking down court candidate Karen Yellen for $10,000" back in 2002. Norman's threat was that she would lose his support if she didn't use certain campaign consultants. Norman was acquitted of five other similar charges related to extorting another candidate, Marcia Sikowitz. more ›

A year ago, the big news out of the Brooklyn DA's office was that an eight month old cat had helped sting a fake vet. And the DA Charles Hynes was able to parlay good will over the adorable Fred (the Detective) until Fred's death in August. more ›

The Village Voice's Wayne Barrett has the scoop on a big case Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes is working on: How disgraced former Brooklyn Democratic party boss Clarence Norman managed to buy a State Supreme Court judgeship for $56,000. Fifty thousand in cash and then $6,000 in stamps ("$3,000 wheels of stamps on sprockets that could be purchased at a General Post Office"). Barrett writes, "When the disturbing details become fully known, Hynes's stunning prosecution may at last force the state legislature to junk the peculiar way New York State nominates the 14-year-term, $136,700-a-year judges who preside at all felony and major civil trials, as a federal court has already concluded we should." more ›

Some of Gothamist's favorite stories in the city were about the animals of New York City. Here's how animals ruled the Big Apple in 2006: more ›

A pair of homeless man have been arrested for starting the fire that caused the NYC's biggest blaze (this side of the World Trade Center). Leszek Kuczera, a 59 year old Polish immigrant, and another as-yet unapprehended homeless man were attempting to burn the insulation off copper wire by setting eight tires on fire, but the fire got out of control. Kuczera was arrested and charged with arson, buglary, reckless endangerment and petty larceny; he told fire marshals he did not mean for the fire to burn down the warehouse. more ›

If you wondered how much you should emphasize cats over humans, let's take a look at what Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes did. He honored a bunch of people at his "16TH ANNUAL LAW ENFORCEMENT APPRECIATION AWARDS," but the one honoree who got the most attention was Fred the crimefighting cat. Now, Gothamist LOVES Detective Fred, the kitty who helped bring down a phony vet, but compared to the various court officers, police officers, fire marshals - even the actual undercover detective who worked with Fred, Fred just acted like a cat. We supposed DA Hynes knows that when you get a cat involved in anything, more people are interested. more ›

Everybody is getting screwed this year during March Madness! If you thought your brackets getting screwed left and right was bad, how bad would it suck to be one of the people busted Saturday by the NYPD at the height of gambling season. The NYPD raided a $45 million gambling ring with several locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens according to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes. The raids led to the arrests of 10 people and the seizure of $300,000. The DA said a location in Chinatown was responsible for $14 million a year alone. The gambling ring was allegedly run by a Fukenese gang as a front for the Gambino crime family. Is it not time for the Chinese to step it up and run their own gambling rings? One of the Chinese men scoffed at the classification that they were Fukenese, insisting that he was Cantonese. more ›

The tragic story of Romona Moore finally saw some justice yesterday as the two men who kidnapped, raped, tortured, sodomized and eventually killed the 21-year-old Hunter College student were both found guilty. Troy Hendrix, 22, and Kayson Pearson, 24, now face maximum penalities of life in prison without parole. more ›

As expected Darryl Littlejohn has been indicted for first-degree murder in the killing of Imette St. Guillen. more ›