On Staten Island, serial domestic abusers are going to have start wearing GPS tracking units that will text their victims when they get too close. "To many domestic abusers, an order of protection is just a piece of paper," Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan said yesterday, announcing the plan. "It does not deter these relentless scofflaws from constantly terrorizing and attacking their victims. I refuse to stand by and continue to watch this happen time and again without trying to do something about it." more ›

The court proceedings for Eric Bellucci, the 30-year-old Staten Islander accused of killing both of his parents and fleeing to Israel, are going to take longer than expected. Yesterday the Stuyvesant and Williams graduate was to appear in court for an eight-count indictment but "refused to be fingerprinted and when transported to the Supreme Court for arraignment refused to leave the holding cells," Daniel Donovan, district attorney for Staten Island, told the News. His arraignment is now postponed until after a psychological evaluation and his next court date is scheduled for late January. more ›

Yesterday, Newsday reported that Nassau County DA and NY Attorney General candidate Kathleen Rice has only voted eight times since first registering to vote in 1984: "Rice, who faces four challengers in a Sept. 14 primary contest for the Democratic nomination, cast the first vote of her life in November 2002. All told through 2009, she voted in eight of the 26 years since she first registered to vote as a Republican in 1984." Rice explained, "It was my mistake. During that period of my life, I did not vote. Unfortunately, like a lot of young adults early in their professional lives, I failed to see the political significance of casting a ballot." more ›

If you can't beat them, publicly shame them. That's the strategy that Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan is using at the shoplifting-plagued Staten Island Mall, where for the second year in a row his office has created a commercial showing the mug shots of five repeat offenders convicted of petty larceny, according to the Advance. "Want to be famous? Shoplift in this mall and you could have your face right here," reads the 15-second ad, which will air every six minutes on 11 different screens in the New Springville shopping center, the Post reports. "Stealing from any merchant at the Staten Island Mall is a crime. You will be PROSECUTED." more ›

If the the tanking economy or decline in Santas and Christmas trees isn't enough to take the yuletide spirit out of your holiday shopping this year, a mall in Staten Island has found a new way to spruce itself up for the season: putting up mug shots of shoplifters. The Staten Island Mall is giving everyone a look at thieves who were caught stealing there by placing the crooks' photographs up on advertising boards throughout it. DA Daniel Donovan has developed a program that digitally mixes the images of shoplifters in with ads for shops within the mall. more ›

Brushing aside the Staten Island Borough President's repeated criticism and endorsement of his opponent, Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan won re-election in a landslide over Democratic challenger Michael Ryan. Donovan, whose 51st birthday was also yesterday, said during the celebration, "Tonight, you guys made me real happy." The SI DA's race became unexpectedly contentious when SI Borough President James Molinaro, who Donovan worked under as a Deputy Beep and considered a friend, attacked Donovan's... more ›

It's Election Day, which means it's time for people to go to the polls. City offices and public schools are closed, and alternate side of the street parking is suspended, as are garbage and recycling pick-up. It's an optional state holiday; federal offices are open and there is mail delivery. While there aren't many big races, there are a few notable ones, namely the Staten Island District Attorney's race which pits incumbent Daniel Donovan (R)... more ›

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro placed a full page ad in the Staten Island Advance blasting Staten Island D.A. Daniel Donovan. Molinaro called the trial and the sentencing of his 18-year-old grandson Steven to 5 years in jail a "miscarriage of justice." more ›

The Reverend Al Sharpton, speaking out against the beating a black man in Staten Island, announced that he will organize a protest march in the next few weeks. He said, "New York is becoming worse than Louisiana. We're going to Staten Island, Jena, Washington - and we're going to bring out numbers like you've never seen before." more ›

The Staten Island District Attorney's office has dropped hate crime charges against two young white men accused of beating a black man in Mariners Harbor. SI DA Daniel Donovan said, "At this point I believe the evidence provided to my office by the police is legally insufficient to support hate-crime charges." more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Airmail in Brooklyn, truck vs train overpass in 31st St & 20th Ave in Queens, an amputation at Grant St & St Pauls Ave in Staten Island and a bomb scare at Broadway and Mercer (NYU) in Manhattan.
• A former deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani is now an "ambassador" for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. But it's not that shocking, since Fran Reiter had lead the Liberal Party before joining the Giuliani administration...or is it?
• Who decides how subway posters are hung, because this is another example of great subway-poster-juxtaposition?
• A piece of the Willamette Meteorite, which is at the American Museum of Natural History, is being auctioned off. And, no, the museum is not selling it - the private meteorite collection who they traded the 28-pound piece (getting a piece of Mars in return) is behind the sale.
• One man has been arrested in the Labor Day weekend bias attack of Top Chef Season 2 contestant Josie Smith-Malave. The attack was outside a Sea Cliff, Long Island bar; Smith-Malave said that about 12 people punched and kicked her and two of her friends and that the bar's employees, who went outside to watch the attack, didn't do anything.
• The NYPD's new headquarters for the towing division are in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
• Staten Island DA Daniel Donovan is warning residents about the fake IRS "Customer Satisfaction Survey" scam because taxpayers aren't really customers anyway.
• Speaking of taxes, John Gotti Jr. may head to prison because he hasn't paid $220,00 in back taxes.
• The Eldridge Street Synagogue's rose window returns in time for Rosh Hashanah.

This is a harrowing crime that makes us question humanity. Twenty-one-year-old Joseph Wallace of Staten Island was charged with first-degree manslaughter, second-degree sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child in the May 21 death of his 2-month old son, Joseph Jr. Warning: Extremely disturbing details ahead. more ›

What happens when a Port Richmond High School student posts a video on YouTube asking someone to put a bullet in a teacher's neck? Why, the police arrest the 16-year-old! Matthew Pacelli was thrown in jail for a night after the authorities saw his April 8 video where he complains about his report card. more ›

A man brought in for questioning about the Wednesday incident where a 13-year-old was found practically nude and handcuffed to a tree in Staten Island was arrested. The Staten Island Advance reports that 26-year-old William Marcus is expected to be arraigned today - and that he was "arrested eight years to the day before last night's bust for a sexual abuse case." more ›