The two boys who nearly killed real estate broker and avid volunteer Marion Salmon Hedges last year by tossing a shopping cart from a fourth story walkway just before Halloween may get off without a stop in jail. Surely helping their fate is forgiveness on the part of Hedges. more ›

Last October, there was shock and outraged after two 12-year-old boys tossed a shopping cart from a fourth story walkway and hit a woman, who was left in critical condition and a medically-induced coma. The victim, Marion Salmon Hedges, a real estate broker and active volunteer at numerous organizations, had come to the East Harlem shopping complex to buy Halloween candy for needy children. Now, the Post reports that Hedges "bears no ill will" towards the boys. more ›

Some of the more, shall we say, refined residents of the Mount Morris Park Historic District in East Central Harlem were recently mortified when a new wine shop opened up with bulletproof glass and garish neon signage that would make the Whore of Babylon blush. This kind of thing may fly over in Northeast Central Harlem, but this is the MMPHD, people! As the president of the local community improvement association, Syderia Chresfield, told DNAinfo at the time, "It brings down everything we are trying to build up. I don't like to use the word ghetto, but that's what it is." And so, after a lot of hassle, the owner has transformed the ghetto into fabulous. But is he a sitting duck? more ›

A 17-year-old cyclist was struck and killed by a truck in Harlem yesterday. According to a NYPD spokesperson, both the cyclist—who was only identified as a Hispanic male—and the truck were traveling westbound on 125th Street near Fifth Avenue when the truck struck the teenager. "I heard a crack," a witness told DNAinfo, noting that it sounded like "air coming out of him." more ›

Last we checked, the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park was uprooted on November 15, and with it went the massive police presence that had been blamed for ballooning budgets and an increase in shootings. But when parents in East Harlem called an emergency meeting with police officials on Thursday after a series of daytime shootings, they were told by the head of the 23rd Precinct, Deputy Inspector William Pla, that Occupy Wall Street was keeping officers off their beat in El Barrio. One parent present told the Post, “I was really annoyed that police would tell me that they are busy patrolling a peaceful protest instead of a gunshot-ridden area. That to me is shocking." more ›

A second boy has admitted to throwing a shopping cart, hitting a woman who has been in a medically induced coma since the incident. The boy had been at an East Harlem shopping center when he and a friend lifted the cart over the railing; in Family Court, he said, “Me and [the other boy] threw a shopping cart off the fourth floor of the mall." more ›

City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito was driving her mother to the airport at 10:30 p.m. last month when the two heard a "thud" against their Volkswagon Golf as they traveled down Third Avenue. That "thud" happened to be a 9mm bullet fired by a 16-year-old boy, who indiscriminately shot 14 bullets at a rival gang member stopped at a red light. "If I would have been driving any slower. If I would have been, whatever…It just puts things in perspective," Mark-Viverito tells the Daily News. The boy has been arrested on reckless endangerment and weapons charges, but the law seems lacking in a proper statute for nearly killing someone for no reason. more ›

The two 12-year-old boys charged with pushing a Target shopping cart from a fourth-floor walkway onto 47-year-old Upper West Side mother Marion Salmon Hedges this weekend returned to family court today with lots of questions, according to their lawyer. If convicted, the boys each face 18 months in a juvenile detention center. Meanwhile it has come out that the walkway the boys are said to have thrown the cart from would have been illegal if it had only been built by the city. more ›

Surveillance video of two 12-year-olds throwing a Target shopping cart over a ledge in East Harlem has surfaced, the Daily News reports, and it seems at least one teen tried to stop the boys—going so far as to take away the first shopping cart the tweens tried to toss. Unfortunately the boys just grabbed another cart, which they successfully got over the edge—sending 47-year-old UWS mom Marion Salmon Hedges to Harlem Hospital in critical condition. more ›

The Manhattan DA's office today successfully argued that 35-year-old Gregory Velez be held without bail while he awaits trial for the brutal murder of 73-year-old East Harlem woman Juila Hernandez—a woman who just happens to be the great-grandmother of the accused's 10-year-old daughter. Along the way we learned more details about the awful crime, including the fact that 12 of Hernandez's ribs were broken while she tried to escape her attacker. more ›

Police are currently questioning, but have not yet charged, 35-year-old Gregory Velez in regards to the Tuesday killing of 73-year-old grandmother Julia Hernandez. One of Hernandez's daughters found the much-loved matriarch Tuesday evening in her East Harlem apartment bound up and suffocated with a plastic bag. Her family believes she was murdered for a 46-inch flat-screen TV, a cell phone and some jewelry which was missing from her apartment. more ›

[Update Below] A 73-year-old East Harlem granny was found dead in her apartment yesterday, tied up and suffocated with plastic. Though police are still investigating, it appears Julia Hernandez was murdered for a flat screen TV, some jewelry and some cash. "Whoever killed her, you’re going to get it and we’re going to find you," one of Hernandez's daughters, Elaine, told reporters last night. more ›

Yesterday, a man was stabbed on East 103rd Street—and it was caught on a witness's iPhone. According to the Daily News, a "man wielding a knife and wearing a bloody eye patch repeatedly stabbed a homeless man" while horrified passers-by and cops (with their guns drawn) watched. The witness said, "He just literally pulls out a pocket knife and starts stabbing the man in the neck like a couple of times." more ›

While just last week we reported that Manhattan's Chinatown was losing its Chinese edge to Chinatowns in Flushing and Sunset Park, it turns out that we were forgetting one other nouveau Chinese hotspot...Harlem. more ›

As investigators await the autopsy results of the 48-year-old developmentally disabled man found dead in a hot van in East Harlem on Tuesday, his family is criticizing the the nonprofit group responsible for his care. Alonzo Eason's body was found slumped over in the back of the van approximately six hours after his fellow passengers were dropped off at the East Harlem day center. It's still unclear how he was left behind, and what exactly caused his death, but his caretakers could face criminal charges. more ›

After a 15 month investigation, police announced today that they had busted a $1 million cocaine ring which sold predominately on the Upper East Side and East Harlem. Police said the ring was run by Ceferino (Papo) Perez and his wife, Elsie Detres-Perez, out of their Bronx apartment, although maybe it wasn't quite the equal, Jeffersons-esque relationship that may imply. Perez was heard on a wiretap saying, "My wife needs the money so she's willing to do it. You bag up and she seals." Only a truly caring husband would help his wife make ends meet by hiring her to package drugs for him. more ›

After 24 hours of questioning, investigators released the woman who was found in bed with a young Harlem man while his dead grandmother was hidden in the bedroom closet under a pile of clothes. Nakeema Craig swears she had no idea the corpse of Larry Davis's grandmother was stashed there, despite being holed up in apartment with Davis for two days. She tells the Daily News it wasn't until concerned relatives come looking for 76-year-old Cora Davis that she learned that there was a corpse in the closet. Which makes us wonder how long this could have gone on? And doesn't a dead body start to stink after 48 hours? Or have we just seen too many movies? more ›

The Coalition High School For Social Change in East Harlem was put on lockdown yesterday after two suspected gunmen ran into the building. The 16-year-olds were seen running into the school, where they both attend classes, after a 14-year-old boy was shot in the arm outside the Wagner Houses Friday morning. This isn't exactly the goal when people encourage kids to go to school. more ›

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the undercover officers who shot down a pistol-packing teen in East Harlem Sunday morning may well have prevented further violence. Plainclothes cops with a Manhattan anti-crime unit say they spotted 18-year-old Matthew Melendez on a street corner around 3:15 a.m. Sunday making "a furtive move to his waistband." You'll recall that "furtive movement" is the number one vague reason cited by cops in stop-and-frisk reports—and in this case Kelly says the officers' suspicion proved correct: Melendez had a gun, and took off running. more ›

Around 3:15 a.m. Sunday morning, plainclothes officers from the Manhattan North anti-crime unit spotted Matthew Melendez, 18, adjusting his waistband in a manner that suggested he was packing a handgun. Witnesses tell the Daily News they yelled, "Police! Stop!" as they confronted Melendez, who allegedly ran from the corner of East 119th Street and Lexington Avenue, turning to fire at the officers near the corner of Third Avenue. Two sergeants and one officer fired back as they chased him, and Melendez was shot down on Third Avenue near 120th Street. more ›

Ex-con Hassan Malik—who previously confessed to killing Betty Williams with an electrical cord and a frying pan and stuffing her body in a suitcase, which he left on a corner in East Harlem—has now pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. He claims he paid Williams for sex in his Pleasant Avenue apartment, but the two got into a fight after he allegedly caught her stealing his money. He also said she attacked him first, and he just used the improvised weapons on her in self-defense. However, Williams's sister insists she was not a hooker: "How those two met, we don't know and we'll never know." more ›

We know the world is supposed to end in 2012 or whatever, but the city seems to be getting a jump start on the mass destruction. On New Year's day one man was witness to a "15' tower of flames" erupting from a manhole (video below) on Bleecker Street and Leroy Street. Thankfully instead of running for his life, he had the presence of mind to film the event for the benefit of the Internet: more ›

Yesterday, Hassan Malik confessed to the brutal killing of 28-year-old Betty Williams, after which he stuffed her body in a suitcase and left it on East 114th Street in East Harlem. But according to his police confession, she totally started it! After lying and saying that he just found Williams dead in his apartment, he then said that Williams was the one who came at him with a frying pan, hitting him twice on the shoulder. He then claims that in self defense he wrestled the frying pan from her hands and cracked her on the back of the head. The struggle continued, resulting in Malik strangling Williams to death. more ›

Last week, a woman's body was found stuffed into a suitcase on East 114th Street in Harlem. Now, police have charged a 55-year-old East Harlem man with murder. And the Daily News reports that sources say Hassan Malik confessed to killing 28-year-old Betty Williams. more ›

Police are currently investigating a Harlem neighborhood after a passerby found a dead woman stuffed into a suitcase near Thomas Jefferson Park in East Harlem. Around 12:15 a.m. the witness saw a leg sticking out of the bag, and police said she looks to be black and in her 20s or 30s. She was also found to have head trauma, but a medical examiner will determine the official cause of death. Police have yet to release the woman's identity. more ›

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito is outraged at the high percentage of arrests resulting from stop 'n' frisks in East Harlem, telling the Daily News, "The majority of the [arrests] are for low-level summons. It's an unnecessary infringement on people's rights." Oh sure, you say that now, but what about when Bad Old Days return? NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said, "Critics want it both ways: Criticize cops if there are 'too few' summonses and arrests associated with stops and criticize cops if there are 'too many.'" When the summons level is just right, we'll move on to criticizing your porridge. more ›

According to police records, if you get stopped 'n' frisked in East Harlem, you're more likely to get arrested or hit with a summons than in any other neighborhood. Nearly half of the people stopped in the 23rd Precinct ended up facing some sort of criminal charge, while the citywide average is 15%. But Police Commish Ray Kelly says not to worry, the numbers are inflated because cops filled out stop 'n' frisk forms when they didn't have to! One former precinct commander said, "If you are hitting 50%, and most of that is summonses, then your cops are stopping people for the wrong reasons and giving out summonses." Or they just thought they were working for the TSA. more ›