Police are looking for a man who allegedly tried to rape an elderly woman while she was at work in Bedford-Stuyvesant yesterday, and they've released a video of the man lingering outside of the building. more ›

Do you have a good relationship with your mother-in-law? A wise man once said that you're not really part of your wife's family until you truly bond with your mother-in-law. Some people help with garage sales, others take an interest in their crocheting. But Long Islander David Flores is setting the bar pretty high: Flores, who suffers from kidney disease and requires regular dialysis, defended his mother-in-law Flora Dacek from a robber with a long rap sheet in the East Village this week. more ›

Police are searching for three suspects who robbed an 84-year-old woman near Gramercy Park in Manhattan. The frail 84-year-old, who asked that her name not be released, says she was hit in the back and knocked down as the muggers took her purse: "I was easy prey. I was walking all alone, and looking very vulnerable. I guess someone saw it as easy money," she told the News. more ›

This is just another reminder that just because somebody is wearing a uniform doesn't mean they are trustworthy. Police are on the lookout for a pair of men who robbed five households since December, gaining access to their apartment buildings by posing as workers (the Daily News says the water department, NY1 says Con Ed). One 80-year-old victim said, "When [my landlord] opened up the door, he let them right in—he didn't ask for ID or anything. Afterwards he said 'What just happened?'" more ›

Yesterday, the feds accused the city of committing Medicaid fraud, by improperly approving 24-hour home care for thousands of poor, elderly and disabled patients, often without the approval of doctors. They were tipped off to the alleged fraud by whistleblower Dr. Gabriel Feldman, a 49-year-old Upper West Sider, who was contracted by the city to make patient treatment recommendations. And depending on the outcome of the case, Feldman stands to make millions from the settlement. more ›

After Japanese authorities recently learned that the country's "oldest man" had actually been dead and mummified for 30 years, the Times double checked that some of the city's oldest were still around. It turns out some of them are more active than ever, and blogging about it! more ›

Police are searching for a suspect who allegedly beat and raped a 79-year-old woman in her apartment building in the Bronx earlier this morning. The suspect, described as a man in his 20s, allegedly pulled the victim out of her elevator around 2 a.m. He then punched her in the face, raped her, and fled. One neighbor told WCBS, "It's sad, somebody that old, an elderly woman like that who doesn't do anything to anyone." Police are examining surveillance footage and also canvassing a nearby subway station to see if the suspect used the train to get away. more ›

Watch out, whippersnappers: the city might have it in for you and your fast walking, dangerous ways. In order to make New York friendlier to the elderly (and their wallets), the city has been implementing "age-friendly" projects like giving pedestrians more time at crosswalks and using school buses to shuttle the elderly to grocery stores. And now they're planning to create two "aging-improvement districts," presumably where the damn kids will finally stay off their lawns. more ›

Police have released a surveillance video which shows the man knocking down the elderly woman "as she [swings] her cane in self-defense" during a June 5 mugging in East Harlem on 121st Street. (Video after the jump.) The Daily News reports, "The mugger, described as a Latino in his 30s, accosted the woman and snatched the wallet from her purse. She hit her head as she fell and sustained injuries, cops said. The mugger then yanked her up from the sidewalk. Tipsters can make a confidential call to the NYPD's Crime Stoppers tipline at (800) 577-TIPS." Last year, a man who was convicted of beating up and mugging old women—including a 101-year-old using a walker—was sentenced to 75 years in prison. more ›

The Queens DA's office charged two women with attempted grand larceny as a hate crime after they allegedly targeted elderly men. In one instance, they claimed they were a mother and daughter who needed money to buy the daughter a black market kidney. A 79-year-old victim said, "They stole my money - $800. I let them in here. They went into my drawers... They asked me to help them out with something. They gave me false names. They took money from me. I forgot what they asked for," and the Daily News reports, "The duo were tripped up when Queens Savings Bank recently notified an 84-year-old victim it had received his letter asking the bank to close out his account and send more than $50,000. He went to cops." more ›

Yesterday, the federal authorities raided an alleged Garment District boiler room operation and arrested a suspected member of the Bonnano crime family and six others. According to the Wall Street Journal, Anthony Guarino, an alleged Bonanno foot soldier, "was accused of masterminding an alleged 10-year investment scam that hoodwinked mostly elderly investors out of more than $12 million." And another man arrested was "formerly employed by the Securities and Exchange Commission." more ›

Did you know that pedestrian accidents are the second leading cause of death of people over the age of 45? (It's true, we saw it on NY1.) It's a hazardous world out there once you start getting on in years, and in NYC the Grim Reaper is poised to harvest elderly souls at countless intersections. But one group of seniors is fighting back, and for the next week AARP volunteers are setting up camp to survey some 70 dangerous intersections in all five boroughs. They will be observing, reporting, and, one assumes, angrily shaking a cane or two. more ›

A fancy Upper East Side girls’ school is mad a two grandmas, who it says are standing in the way of its expansion to a neighboring building. Both older women live in cheap rent-controlled apartments in 28 E. 92nd Street, and have for forty years. Nightingale-Bamford wants them out, and the women’s lawyer says it’s using mean girl tactics. "They are harassing two elderly women and trying to drive them out of their homes," said David Rozenholc. "I really believe they're heartless. They knew these elderly people lived there when they bought the building. I think it's terrible." more ›

There are plenty of downsides to being a lifer for the MTA—like spending your youth vole-like in the city’s subterranean passages—but unlimited cards for life have always been a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe not for much longer though, since Mayor Bloomberg said recently that if free student cards go, so should MetroCards for agency retirees. more ›

Last month the MTA announced plans to cut service to the handicapped and elderly by $40 million this year, and yesterday officials explained in part how they'll do it. They say they'll reduce eligibility and service for the disabled and the elderly and crack down on those riders who are abusing the system (and not just by getting rides to casinos). For one, the agency wants to enforce regulations for a certain class of handicapped and elderly riders that is supposed to get rides only in extremely cold or hot weather, but under the current system, gets them when it pleases. more ›

The 78-year-old ex-con who's been arrested some 37 times over the past three decades is in trouble again, this time for missing her final court date two weeks ago. You may recall that Katherine Kelly was famously busted in October 2008, after a pickpocket sting at the Upper West Side Fairway turned up a wallet in her bra. (An NYPD source called her a "pickpocket terrorist.") Earlier this month, Supreme Court Justice Ronald Zweibel signed an arrest warrant for Kelly, despite being informed she was stuck in a car outside court. more ›

According to police, a man has been mugging elderly people in broad daylight. WABC 7 reports that all muggings took place in Manhattan: "In each incident the suspect grabs the victims and forcefully removes their wallets. The suspect then flees the location on foot. Minor injuries have been sustained in each of the incidents." The first was on May 25, when a 77-year-old man was attacked in the lobby of 447 East 14th. Four days later, a 91-year-old man was mugged at 1:40 p.m. in the elevator at 247 West 12th Street. And this past sunday, a 62-year-old was robbed in the lobby of 440 East 23rd Street at 3:10 p.m. WABC 7 says, "The suspect is described as a man in his 40s, bald, 5'5"-5'8" tall, and 200 pounds." Police are asking anyone with information to call CrimeStoppers 800-577-TIPS, to visit the CrimeStoppers website or to text info to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577. more ›

An elderly bartender who spent 27 seasons behind the bar at the Yankees' Stadium Club says he was rejected for a job at the team's new home because he's just too old. 73-year-old John Vendikos—who has served legends like Joe DiMaggio—says that when the Yankees' food service company began hiring for the new stadium, he was instructed to re-interview for his old job. He tells the Post, in an article headlined Boo-ze for the Yanks, "I had to wait in line for three hours, and when I got in, the guy said to me, 'Why should I hire you? You're an old man.' At first, I was sure he was being a wisenheimer. But then I realized he was dead serious." Vendikos is filing a complaint against the Yankees with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and says, "This never would have happened before Mr. [George] Steinbrenner became sick." more ›

A 71-year-old Queens grandmother say's she'll file a civil-rights lawsuit against the city after an altercation inside the 107th Precinct Wednesday night left her with a broken hip. Elizabeth Gorden (pictured) had gone there with other family members to find out why cops hadn't arrested a man who allegedly slapped her granddaughter at a bus station. What happened next is heavily disputed—police say the family became unruly and were asked to leave. And when a captain intervened, they say Gorden took a swing at him, missed and fell to the floor, breaking her hip. She had to have surgery this week. more ›

First the disabled, now the elderly—Hizzoner's really on a roll this month. When Margaret Ionescu, an 82-year-old Romanian immigrant, returned to her Astoria apartment after a recent hospital stay, she was dismayed to find that the ceiling was water-damaged, a faulty front door wouldn't close properly, and the bathroom mirror was damaged. When her superintendent failed to make the repairs, she knew where to turn for help: The 311 non-emergency hotline created by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. more ›

A 70-year-old man and his 35-year-old, uh, roommate have been arrested for threatening their landlord's agent with gruesome torture. Elderly architect Ekkehart Schwarz and his younger roommate, Vassileios Giamagas, allegedly threatened "death and torture," against an unnamed man sent by the landlord to collect $265,000 in back rent. Prosecutor James Meadows says the two stopped paying rent on a restaurant space at 68 West Third Street because the landlord would not make necessary repairs. According to the Daily News, when the landlord's representative came to collect, Giamagas and another man forced him at gunpoint to sign a document stating that $50,000 had been paid, and threatened to sodomize him if he didn't comply. Later, after threatening the agent with torture via "a hammer and pliers," they allegedly forced him to sign blank checks for them, one of which they cashed for $25,000. As for Schwarz's roommate situation, a neighbor tells the News, "It was very mysterious." more ›

According to her driver's license, the 76-year-old woman who was recently busted for stealing a wallet from a Fairway shopping cart is named Charlotte Petrovas. She's been arrested 73 times over the years under dozens of different aliases, and the assistant DA says they've had trouble verifying her identity because she "virtually burned off the fingers on both hands, which makes fingerprinting virtually impossible." In an interview with the Post, she explained that "my father died when I was young, so I had to go to work. I was a model in the Fashion District. I did that for years, but then I had an accident and broke three bones in my back and went on disability." She says she's not a "career criminal" but stole "just to get the things I need." more ›

It turns out that senior citizen who was deemed a "pickpocket terrorist" by an unidentified cop after her wallet-snatching arrest at Fairway is pretty hardcore. The Post reports that the 76-year-old ex-con cannot be fingerprinted because she burned all her fingertips. Experts (or anyone who's seen Se7en) say that to permanently remove fingerprints one would have to use corrosive acid, burn them, or get plastic surgery. It's not known how the woman got rid of hers, and because of her penchant for aliases, even her lawyer can't figure out her real identity: "She keeps bouncing addresses. She moves here and there every few months. To be honest, I don't even know her real name." This is getting creepy! Maybe tomorrow we'll find out she has no DNA? more ›

A 76-year-old ex-con who's been arrested some 37 times over the past three decades is behind bars again after being caught in a sting operation at the Upper West Side Fairway on Broadway. Responding to complaints about pickpockets working the aisles, undercover cops left a wallet in a shopping cart and arrested the woman after she allegedly stuffed it into her bra, sources tell the Post. The suspect, who goes by many aliases—the most current being Katherine Kelly—most recently did a year at Rikers after being caught thieving while on parole. more ›

Man's best friend was saluted as one Bay Ridge's resident savior, as Lexi the bichon frise was honored at St. Patrick's Church yesterday. Last month, when Linda Deutsch was taking the 5-year-old dog for a walk, Lexi refused to go to the elevator and instead dragged Deutsche down the hall. It turned out that Lexi heard the cries of neighbor James Postler--an 85-year-old deacon at the church--who had fallen hours earlier and managed to crawled towards his apartment door to call for help, but only the dog heard him. After the rescue, Deutsch had said, "I was mad at her the day before because I caught her drinking my coffee I left by the sofa," but now, "She makes me so proud. She is a hero." more ›

The police released a sketch of a man claiming to be a Department of Environmental Protection inspector as he shakes down elderly people in Brooklyn. The suspect has apparently struck six times since August, telling victims that he will shut off their water if they do not pay. He is described by NY1 as a "dark-skinned man in his 40s or 50s," 5'6"-6' tall who wears a button-down shirt, tie, dress pants and a black baseball cap; he also shows a DEP badge. The DEP says their employees always wear a uniform and never ask for cash; it also says residents should ask for a number to call to make sure a visit is planned. Anyone with information should call CrimeStoppers at 800-577-TIPS or text 274637 and then enter TIP577. more ›

An 80-year-old woman was rescued Thursday by a former neighbor whose concerns were aroused when she spotted newspapers piling up outside the Woodside, Queens woman's front door. Kim Russo used to live next door to Rose Schwing and was stopping by her old neighborhood to visit her mother. When the 47-year-old Russo saw the papers and mail accumulating in front of Schwing's house, she peaked inside one of Schwing's windows and heard her cries for help. more ›

Some time ago the New Yorker ran an amusing “Talk of the Town” feature on nightlife crusader Roy Den Hollander, who, unlike most nightclub scolds, isn’t fighting against excessive noise and loose morals – he’s out to put a stop to the scourge that is Ladies’ Night. And not because he disdains the ladies or the night, but because Den Hollander, attorney at law and self-styled pick-up artist, sees it as yet another way The Man tries to keep down the, er, man. more ›

After drivers of Access-a-Ride vehicles went on strike yesterday, a federal mediator will step in and attempt to help negotiations along. The drivers have been unhappy with a tentative contract that put more of the burden of health care on them, which then makes a pay raise less substantial. The strike affects about 40% of the Access-a-Ride drivers; there are about 20,500 people who use the service. MTA, which uses Access-A-Ride but is not part... more ›

Anthony Marshall, the son of the late Brooke Astor, might have chosen a different lawyer if he suspected that he'd be eventually accused of looting his mother's estate. Or perhaps Francis X. Morrissey was the perfect man for the job. Papers are reporting today that Marshall's lawyer has a long history of profiting from soon-to-be-deceased clients. He was in court yesterday, arriving handcuffed, but leaving free on bail.It would seem to be the darkest moment... more ›