Results tagged “crack”

The woman who crashed a van full of foster children into oncoming traffic in Queens on Monday confessed to police that she smoked crack cocaine around 1 or 2 a.m., did heroin around 9 a.m., and drank one alcoholic beverage around noon that same day. Sheila Bethea, 45, also admitted to speeding, and told police she did not know 5-year-olds needed to be in car seats. (None of her passengers were even wearing seat belts.) Perhaps even more devastating is the revelation that the children were supposed to taken to their foster care appointment in a cab.

If you make it through the this 8 bazillion word profile in the New York Observer on a crack-smoking hipster, please let us know how it ends. What we learned from a quick scan of the first page is that it doubles as a tip sheet for amateur crackophiles, and also bodegas sell crack kits! The code word at Crack Hipster's bodgea is: "Casaban." And if you say it, "you’re handed a brown paper bag containing the glass tube with a tiny bunched-up ball of steel wool at one end, and a little lighter. It costs $2.50."

From Newsday: "With her 5-year-old and 4-month-old daughters nearby, an East Patchogue mother scuffled Saturday with a Suffolk police officer trying to seize crack pipes and hypodermic needles in her kitchen, Suffolk police said in announcing the woman's arrest on numerous criminal charges." Apparently she "jumped on his back and tried to deter him from taking possession."

It's not quite '80s Manhattan, but the Club Animals troupe are tapping in to the vibe of old, drug-laden New York by bringing a crack rock delivery service to your front door. Okay, so maybe furry animals delivering candy is aiming more towards the Disneyfication of the city. Here's what they have to say for themselves: "we are personally delivering a 100% sugar crack rock (multi-colored and multi-flavored with snow cone syrup) to your Brooklyn house on demand. Expect a 7-foot tall man in a plush, blue mascot head, white gloves and a tuxedo to come knocking soon after you call or text for delivery. You can purchase a few candy crack rocks for $1 a pop in a 1" x 1" crack bag." Seems innocent, if not a bit creepy (this is the same man who gives bouncy rides in the subway). But wait! The closing sentence declares: "Can't say too much here because y'know it's drugs." Follow the link if you wanna take your chances. See you on Dateline!

A New York Police sergeant admitted yesterday that he illegally used a city police computer to get registration information on two cars as a favor for a Long Island crack dealer. The cars were being used by DEA agents for surveillance on the dealer, Frank Wilson, who gave sergeant Roosevelt Green a pair of sneakers worth $20 and a discount on several other pairs in exchange for the information. Green, an 11-year police veteran, confessed to the misconduct and lying to DEA investigators when they questioned him about his relationship with Wilson. But Green's lawyer insists his client was unaware that Wilson was a drug dealer, telling Newsday that Wilson said he wanted the car ownership information because he suspected robbers were following him. Fortunately, the ownership information was false, to prevent the cars from being traced back to law enforcement. Green faces up to 5 years in prison and has agreed to quit the city police force. It's unclear if he gets to keep the sneakers.

The Post rounds out more facets of the Saturday afternoon murder of a 63-year-old man in his West 71st Street apartment. While Walter Walker's roommate Frederick Zappulla confessed, the Post reports that the violence was precipitated when Walker "confronted him about smoking crack in the apartment...The two roommates argued in the kitchen, where Zappulla smashed Walker over the head with a frying pan and then reached for a knife and repeatedly stabbed him." Zappulla called his brother to say he killed Walker and then left for the Yonkers Raceway, where "he began blathering to an EMS technician who eventually persuaded him to talk to Yonkers police." Walker, who operated a cleaning service, had rented out the room to Zappulla in February; a former roommate told the Post that Walker suffered from Parkinson's Disease, "I warned Walter [Zappulla] was no good. I thought he would stiff Walter for the rent." Update: The West Side Spirit reports, "Zappulla was Walker’s romantic partner, according to interviews with residents of the West 71st Street building. The two had lived in Walker’s one-bedroom apartment for more than a year."

Following her Sunday night arrest, Tatum O'Neal held her head high yesterday upon her release from the 7th Precinct, where she spent the night. The actress was busted buying crack and cocaine on Clinton Street, not far from her apartment in The Forward building, around 7:30 p.m. Not even a full 24-hours later she quickly came clean to The NY Post, thanked the cops for saving her, and is even trying to help the guy who sold her the drugs, Alan Garcia.

Actress Tatum O'Neal hasn't kept her battles with addiction a secret, but just when things in her life seem to be on the straight and narrow, the NY Post is reporting she got busted buying crack and cocaine on the Lower East Side. Seems the neighborhood still has its drug roots, the addicts just have Oscars on their mantles now.

In a decision that sets a new standard for what constitutes a legal search by police, as well as serving to remind why doing crack is a terrible idea, The New York Court of Appeals ruled that "reasonableness" should remain the touchstone for searches in order to not violate the 4th Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. Defining reasonableness was the basis of the case in question, which involved the searches of body cavities. The NY Times summarizes:

The case before the court involved Azim Hall of New York, who was arrested on Feb. 8, 2005, on charges that he sold two pieces of crack cocaine outside a grocery store. After his conviction, Mr. Hall filed an appeal, arguing that the police had conducted an illegal search by pulling a string, attached to a plastic bag containing crack cocaine, that was dangling from his rectum. A State Supreme Court judge dismissed the indictment, but the Appellate Division reversed that.

Approximately 85 undocumented workers are being fired from the high-end grocery delivery company Fresh Direct on the on the eve of the holiday season because their status as U.S. residents is disputed. Dozens of workers filed out of the company's Queens warehouse. Fresh Direct blamed a federal probe for the axing of almost a hundred workers. According to the Daily News, "management insisted it carried out the purge under pressure from federal authorities to crack...

Mayor Bloomberg, our very own billionaire mayor, is asking state lawmakers to keep the sales tax at 8.375%. Apparently the sales tax, per "Rules dating back to the city's fiscal crisis of the 1970s" (thanks for the history lesson, NY Sun!), would have dropped 1 percentage point to 7.375% on July 1, 2008, but Bloomberg wants to keep it at its current level. That extra 1 percent tax means about $1 billion in revenue for...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired on 166th St. and the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, a pedestrian struck at Berry St. and Division Ave. in Brooklyn, and a found body on Richmond Valley and Arthur Kill on Staten Island.
• Still searching for the Staten Island ninja burglar, police questioned New York Post photographer Ron Romano because of his ninja-like ability to tightrope walk.
• A huge hole in the middle of Brooklyn's Pacific Street provides rude awakenings for drivers who don't see it.
• Mark it. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says he has no intention of running for Mayor.
• The City of New York was found liable for the 2004 mauling of a toddler in the Bronx, because a police officer gave a pit bull to a mother who had never handled the dog before.
• The loudest neighborhoods in NYC, based on the number of noise complaints. The Bronx is blasting.
• With two weeks to go before Christmas, customers are lining up day and night to get a hand on a Nintendo Wii game system.
• Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes describes the sub-premium mortgage meltdown as equivalent to the crack epidemic of the 1980s.
• And w00t is Merriam-Webster's word of the year.

The New York Post profiles a West Village man who's taken to vandalizing cars with incessant anti-theft alarms. Harry Schroder is a retired art director who likes to spend his afternoons practicing the piano in his home on Charlton St. Occasionally, however, he is interrupted by a car alarm. If it goes on long enough, Schroder leaves the car's owner a note in black magic market on an 18-inch by 24-inch posterboard which he sticks...

The Hershey candy company is under fire for producing a breath mint candy that police say is hard to distinguish from an illegal drug. Philadelphia cops are complaining that a new iteration of Hershey's Ice Breakers product looks a lot like crack cocaine. When we initially read a quote from a local Philadelphia news station––"Even veteran narcotics officers acknowledged that they could not tell the difference between a package of crack cocaine and the breath...

Paramore Arrives One of our favorite albums of the year is by these girl-fronted teenage pop-punkers, and they were in town this week to headline their largest local show yet at Roseland Ballroom. It was the last show of a massive national tour, but you wouldn't know it seeing front woman Hayley Williams running around stage with the rest of her band. Paramore may not win any originality contests, but they've got more fire and...

The young woman accused of killing real estate broker to the stars Linda Stein pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday. Natavia Lowery was denied bail, and her new defense lawyer, Ron Kuby, made a few points:First, he said Lowery's confession was coerced by the police detectives because, having been interrogated for hours on end without access to a phone or her lawyer "She had to make something up to get out of that...

An NYPD detective was arrested in the breaking up of a Bronx drug ring this week. The bust was comprehensive and prosecutors are alleging that officer James Calderon used his inside knowledge of police activities to enable crack and heroin dealers to operate with relative impunity. James Calderon was a 13-year veteran of the force, but is now being accused of acting as an agent for Jorge and Luis Mendoza, Bronx drug dealers who allegedly...

City officials are warning drivers that they should expect to spend more time sitting in traffic than waiting in line while holiday shopping. Today is the first of nine designated holiday gridlock days, when the city tries to head off street-clogging traffic that can frustrate even a seasoned city driver. NY1 quotes some professional drivers and visitors on how bad traffic can be around Thanksgiving and the holidays in New York. “Oh man, traffic is...

Rangers 4, Devils 2: Given New Jersey's recent dominance over its cross-river rivals, Martin Brodeur's picking up his 500th win against Rangers would have seemed appropriate. Jaromir Jagr and Henrik Lunqvist had other ideas. Lundqvist stopped 22 shots and Jagr added a goal and an assist as the Rangers on the Prudential Center ice. Even defenseman Marc Staal got into the act. Jamie Langenbrunner had two goals for the home team, whose fans eagerly booed...

An engineering firm hired by the victims of Midtown steam pipe explosion say that there was a "crack-like flaw" in the pipe. Exponent Engineering's Robert Caligiuri wrote, "The observed crack-like flaw appears to be old and is large enough that, in my opinion, Con Ed should have detected it prior to the rupture. Once detected, good and accepted practices would have required that this pipe section be immediately replaced."

Robert Chambers, whose privileged Upper East upbringing earned the tabloid nickname "The Preppy Killer" when he killed a woman in 1986, was charged with 14 counts of selling and possessing drugs. Since two of the counts are for first-degree sale, which the Daily News reports carries 15-30 years, Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau said, "I would expect he would spend the rest of his life in jail."

Time Out NY has a list of PETA's most wanted in the city. The organization has 25,000 of its 1.6 million members based right here, and while we wish they'd have a crack team of those members targeting folks like Brooklyn's Cruella DeVil, here are some of the big offenders.

The string of pleasant, if not all that meteorologically interesting, weather continues today with another sunny, mild day. More of the same is expected tomorrow, though the mercury may crack the 80 degree mark. The Weather Service has finally come to their senses and backed off their earlier prediction of highs around 90 on Friday and Saturday. They are currently calling for highs around 86, which is more in line with weather.com's predictions of the lower-80s. The next chance of rain is Sunday at the earliest.

Some more details about the latest person-in-custody- who-escaped: 46-year-old Gregory Pollock who had escaped police custody while at Long Island Hospital in Brooklyn yesterday morning was found a few hours later. It turns out that Pollock, who had been arrested for, per the Sun, "allegedly drinking a beer in public and possessing a crack pipe," escaped by crashing through a plate glass window around 1:40AM. Eek.

The Post and Daily News have a number of editorials and columns about the Deutsche Bank building fire response and fallout. The Post continues to demand FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta's resignation and faulted Mayor Bloomberg for standing by Scoppetta. The Daily News' Juan Gonzalez wonders why Bloomberg and Scoppetta have gone into "virtual hiding" and blasts Bloomberg for sending lobbyists to kill "legislation that would force tougher enforcement of safety laws by the city Buildings Department." The News also has an editorial saying that Spitzer must take charge (he "has the muscle to crack heads among the contractors and federal, state and city agencies that have made a perilous hash of the job").

The Dept. of Sanitation has proposed doubling the fines for those who fail to pick up after their defecating dogs from $100 to $200. The Daily News reports that Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said that since the introduction of the pooper scooper law in 1978, the city has been issuing about 1,000 fines annually. If only New Yorkers could be deputized to issue fines!

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a DOA/Fall Victim at 1 Hogan Place in Manhattan (that's the Manhattan DA's office), a double stabbing on East 171st St. in the Bronx, and an overturned ambulance at Broadway and Delafield Ave. on Staten Island.
• Opening day sales for tickets to The Metropolitan Opera set a record this Sunday after increasing 25% year over year, to $2.08 million. Online sales to performances were 50% higher than 2006's opening.
• New York apple growers are concerned despite what is shaping up to be an excellent harvest this year. Recent moves to crack down on illegal immigration means that orchard owners may not be able to fill the demand for seasonal agricultural workers to pick all of the apples.
• Cops arrested the surgical scrubs-wearing bank robber who darted into a hospital where he blended with facility personnel to evade capture. 50-year-old Robert Britt actually works at the VA hospital near the bank he robbed and already served seven years in prison during the 1980s for another bank robbery.
• An unauthorized biography of Katie Couric paints an unflattering portrait of the CBS News anchor, including allegations that the only reason she didn't file for divorce from her cancer-stricken husband was a fear of bad publicity.
• Bobby's Happy House, a Harlem music store opened in 1946, is being asked to leave its present location by new building owners, and 90-year-old owner Bobby Robinson is unsure if he will be able to find a new space to open.
• Curbed looks at the mysterious "Pine Tree Building" on 2nd Place between Hoyt and Boyd Sts. in Carroll Gardens.
• A class action suit has been filed on behalf of the approximately 100 men and women who hand out copies of AMNewYork newspapers in front of subway stations. The suit against the Tribune Co. alleges that the $20 a day workers are paid to distribute the papers is below New York's minimum wage when one takes into account how long employees work.

If you've ever tossed your junk mail into a sidewalk trash can, you better think again. The City Council is expected to approve a bill doubling fines for "illegal dumping" - and sanitation officials will be allowed to fine people if "identifying information" is found.

New York's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is reporting that there has been an alarming resurgence in the reported number of cases of syphilis in the city. The New York Times writes that after spiking in the late 1980s during a wave of unsafe sex fueled by an epidemic of crack cocaine use, cases of syphilis dropped steadily. By the late 1990s, incidences of the disease became so rare that public health officials at that time were planning on describing it as eradicated by 2005. Unfortunately, cases of syphilis are on the rise and the number of reported patients with the disease is projected to reach its highest level in 2007 in over a decade.

Back before the turn of the century, and concurrent with the spread of air conditioning in Off-Off Broadway theaters, theater buffs John Clancy and Elena K. Holy seized a golden opportunity to exploit the only brief lull in New York’s raging theater scene – when conventional wisdom held that no slob stuck in town during mid-August would want to get stickier in a stuffy theater up two flights of stairs. And so The New York International Fringe Festival slouched toward downtown to be born. Now in its 11th year, and with smash hits like Urinetown under its belt, FringeNYC has swelled to Category 4 proportions – featuring 188 productions in some 20 theaters, it’s expected to make landfall as early as tomorrow! [Disclosure: We participated in the festival in ‘02 and ’04.]