18-year-old Westchester resident Jesse Wasserman, better known as the "Boarding School Bandit" after his tenure at the tony Vermont Academy, was sentenced to 16 months in prison yesterday for his role in a string of Central Park armed robberies last summer. "I am very sorry for what happened to these innocent victims," Wasserman said, "I was not in my right mind." DNAinfo reports that the judge gave Wasserman youthful offender status, meaning that his records will be sealed after he serves his time. Wasserman's accomplice, Alex Greene, who allegedly brandished the firearm during the robberies, has yet to be sentenced. more ›

On New Year's Eve, video caught two "Hasidic" men breaking into a Diamond District jewelry shop and cleaning out the safe—just like in Snatch! The men, Mahaveer Kankariya and Atul Shah were actually hired by the owners to fake the robbery for insurance money, but until this point had been allowed to go free pending sentencing. That is, until Kankariya allegedly asked his bail bondsman, "Is there any way I can bribe the judge?" This is exactly what they warn you about in the very first chapter of Bribery for Dummies. more ›

When claiming bankruptcy, it's probably best that your story be at least somewhat based in reality. The FBI has announced that Diamond District jeweler Shalamu Nisimov has been charged with bankruptcy fraud after claiming a customer failed to pay for $5.6 million in merchandise. That customer didn't actually exist though. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement, “Shalamu Nisimov allegedly tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the bankruptcy court and his creditors by creating, out of whole cloth, a fictional customer and non-existent goods. It appears this was all just a cover for Nisimov’s own fraudulent scheme." But what a deal he'd get you! more ›

Yesterday afternoon, two men dressed in all black from head to toe—the Post says they were "ninja-like"—robbed a Diamond District store of $60,000 in cash and jewelry. They also tied up the store's owner and son. While the police say that the store's surveillance cameras were disabled by the robbers, there are other video cameras on the street. A businessman told the Post that he's been considering upgrading his security, "It takes something like this to make you want to get up and do something." One of suspects was also described as "stout" while the other was "skinny." more ›

Two men were arrested for allegedly stealing four packages—which contained over $6,000 in diamonds—from a UPS truck in the Diamond District last week. According to the Post, Pedro Montanez and Juan Rivera had "swiped nearly $20,000 worth of diamond charms and rings from two UPS trucks and a Rockefeller Center office tower" on May 10 and 19. But then last week, a cop noticed them casing the UPS truck at West 48th and 6th Avenue for 45 minutes. "After Rivera stole the packages, the officer quickly moved in." The pair were charged with grand larceny. An oldie-but-goodie: A UPS deliveryman's scheme to "steal" cellphones bought with stolen credit card numbers. more ›

Cops are looking for two jewel thieves who posed as buyers, then bound and tied the employees at a Diamond District gem store, before committing a robbery at gunpoint. "One of the hawkers on the street who grab people brought the guys up," a security guard on the scene yesterday told the Post. They ascended to the second floor of the building, at 55 West 47th Street, then one man pulled a gun; using zip ties they immobilized three workers and a customer at Royal Gems. It’s unclear how much cash and jewelry they took, reports the Post, but as they were fleeing the man who’d ushered them inside collapsed to the ground, leading onlookers to fear the worst. more ›

After 65 years in business, the classic Diamond District Kosher luncheonette Diamond Dairy has bought the farm. The cause of death, naturally, was a rent dispute. "My lease had expired, and I tried very hard to renegotiate, but it just didn't work," Shmuel Strauss, who had run the business for the past 18 years, told the Post. "It was very disappointing. It really was a little piece of New York." Reviewing the joint in 2006, Midtown Lunch found the latkes "delicious" and the semi-hidden location "amazing." more ›

Have really fake-looking beard, will rob: Surveillance footage has emerged of two men who disguised themselves as Hasidic Jews to rob a Diamond District jewelry importer on New Year's Eve afternoon. more ›

There's nothing like using a sledgehammer to break into the window of a Diamond District jewelry store. And that's what a group of robbers did at the Diamond Exchange on 47th Street and Sixth Avenue. A guard told the Daily News, "They hit the window where all the big pieces are." more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a stabbing at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, another stabbing at 131st St. and 9th Ave. in Queens, and a third stabbing on West 167th St. in the Bronx.
• Three men sprayed mace in the face of a Diamond District jeweler at 1 p.m. last Wednesday in the Rockefeller Center subway station and grabbed his bag containing three spools of gold wire worth $115,000.
• Subwayblogger.com looks at MSNBC's list of the ten easiest airports to get to in the country and notices that according to the network, the AirTrain to JFK is free of charge to passengers. It's actually $5.
• NY1 looks at the progress being made on the new South Ferry Terminal being built for the 1 line. Riders will be able to transfer to the R/W lines at the new station, which will be cooled during the summer.
• The Bush administration declined to let New York expand its children's health insurance program to include an additional 70,000 kids, or families of four making up to $82,600.
• The Gowanus Lounge receives a picture and description of a rolling greenhouse in Park Slope.
• For the adventurous digital photographer, here's a short tutorial on the relatively simple process of how to do time-lapse photography.
• A cop's two pistols disappeared from a locker at Williamsburg's 90th Precinct house. Experiencing some problems at home, the officer had elected to have them vouchered at work to avoid any accusations of threatening someone with a firearm.

Did you see CBS 2 Investigates: Too Good For Gridlock? The too-good-for-gridlock offender is Isaac Heschel, a diamond dealer who is also a rabbi and volunteers time as a chaplain to the MTA and Port Authority Police. Heschel frequently uses sirens and lights in his Crown Victoria, but neither agency gave him sirens or lights, meaning that Heschel pimped the car out for emergency fun himself. more ›

Gothamist friend and occasional Opinionist Andrew Bast has recently pulled off a nice relaunch of his site, The New York Inquirer ("We don't break the news; we put it back together") and in the process put back together some interesting stuff worth checking out. This week, for instance, has focused pretty much exclusively on the diamond trade including a five-part series on the darker side of 47th Street, one of the many hearts of the diamond trade. more ›

- And tomorrow is a big day: There's the Mermaid Parade tomorrow afternoon and the Gothamist-A Hamburger Today Burger Party at Water Taxi Beach in the evening! more ›

Yesterday Gawker had some amusing pictures of people scrounging around for little gold pellets that had been dropped on 5th Avenue near 47th Street. The pellets were about the size of BBs, and it looked like they had been dropped in a big dirty puddle just off the sidewalk. Sadly, it turns out that in New York, the streets are not paved in gold balls. The Post picks up the story: more ›