Two Rikers Island guards have pled guilty to felony assault charges for running a violent "Fight Club" like enforcement system that pitted gang members against inmates and resulted in the death of one 18-year-old prisoner. 33-year-old Michael McKie is expected to receive a two year sentence in January, while 37-year-old Khalid Nelson will receive one year. Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Hearn said in a release that the two guards "fittingly…face prison sentences themselves. As inmates, they will appreciate the importance of Corrections Officers' maintaining integrity and safety in the City jails." more ›

Teacher Joseph Gullotta and assistant Abraham Fox were accused of starting an impromptu "Fight Club" at PS 65 in Ozone Park earlier this year. They are facing child endangerment charges for the fighting, but according to new reports, the father of one of the boys involved is now making accusations that Gullotta groped his son on five occasions in 2009. more ›

When Kyle Shaw was 17, he really loved the movie Fight Club and he also set off a crude improvised explosive device outside an Upper East Side Starbucks. Now he's 19 and he's pleaded guilty to the incident in a plea deal with the Manhattan DA's office. The Daily News reports he'll go "to prison for 3-1/2 years. He faced a minimum of 15 years and a max of 25 years if convicted of a top arson count by a jury. Assistant District Attorney Christopher Ryan said his office took Shaw's age into account when offering the shorter prison term. Defense lawyer Adam Perlmutter noted that his client, who graduated from high school around the time of the incident, has no criminal history." more ›

Everyone's favorite Fight Club-loving, Starbucks-bombing teen, Kyle Shaw, is considering a plea deal. The Daily News reports that the 18-year-old was given an option of "3-1/2 years in prison." A prosector told the judge, "The offer is being made after careful consideration of the factors, including his age." Plus, that bomb he set off outside the Upper East Side java joint was crude and his trying to start his own Project Mayhem is so cute! The Post says, besides "That's a latte prison time," that Shaw must decide by September 7 or a trial will set. Last we heard from Shaw, he was getting into fights at Rikers. more ›

An increasing number of guys who work in finance are coping with the turbulent markets by pummeling each other in mixed martial arts duels, à la Fight Club. "It’s a recession; some days, fighting is the only thing holding them together," says Max McGarr, who runs a midtown gym that specializes in nightly combat. "We get a lot of finance guys," McGarr tells Bloomberg News. "It’s a good release from their job. If you lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, it’s good to come here and get it out." You know, these guys could probably make a little money back if they let some of the non-Wall Street rabble throw punches (for a small fee). more ›

Thursday's incident wasn't the first time a fourth grade teacher at PS 65 in Ozone Park allegedly turned his classroom into an impromptu fight club. In the wake of yesterday's publicity, another student's parent has come forward, claiming that last year Joseph Gullotta told his class that if 10-year-old Jovan Ortiz got up from his seat, the others were, in Jovan's words, "allowed to punch me in my face." His mother, Wajana Vallechillo, tells the Daily News she filed a complaint after classmates punched Jovan in the stomach twice, and says that during a meeting with Gullota, he cried and said he was just trying to "toughen up" Jovan. more ›

A fourth grade teacher and a teacher's aide at PS 65 in Ozone Park allegedly turned their classroom into an impromptu fight club on Thursday. Instructor Joseph Gullotta, 29, from Long Island, was simply trying to teach his students how to settle their differences—through brute force on random victims—but apparently that macho approach is frowned upon by the DOE. The incident reportedly started when 10-year-old Tomas Rivera got into an argument with a classmate, and Gullotta suggested that instead of taking out his anger on his adversary, Rivera should wrestle a younger classmate, 9-year-old Justin Stokel. Makes perfect sense. more ›

Kyle Shaw, the 17-year-old suspected of setting off a crude explosive outside an Upper East Side Starbucks in May, made bail yesterday. The AP reports that the teen Fight Club enthusiast "was released on $300,000 bail last week after being arrested on charges of arson, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal mischief... Defense lawyer Adam Perlmutter suggested the electronic bracelet, and the judge said OK. Perlmutter said the monitoring device would be affixed before Shaw left the courthouse Monday." Shaw's peers have been discussing his future on Facebook, especially after Shaw appeared in court with a black eye, apparently courtesy a fellow Rikers inmate. Runnin' Scared noticed reactions like "omg this makes me so sad, i feel bad for him" and "You guys are worrying too much, knowing Kyle he's probably loving this." more ›

Kyle Shaw, the 17-year-old who was apparently so inspired by Fight Club that he allegedly bombed a Starbucks in May, appeared at his bail hearing today—with a bruise near his left eye! The Post reports, "Shaw got the shiner while at Rikers Island this week after another inmate punched him," and the Daily News explains, "Before he socked him, the jailbird asked if [Shaw] was part of the lockup's own fight club - brawls organized by correction officers under the rubric 'The Program,' a source said." We wonder if Shaw's affection for the film (and book) is fading. Prosecutor Chris Ryan asked that Shaw remained in custody, because he was taped saying he wanted to plant another bomb before he headed off to Outward Bound this summer—"I'm going to ... camp. I think I need to do one more before I go." However, the judge allowed Shaw to head home for the weekend before he makes a decision on Monday. Ryan complained to the News, "I can't imagine that any New Yorker believes that someone who sets off a bomb ought to go anywhere but jail." more ›

Little alleged anarchist Kyle Shaw, who was arrested yesterday for bombing an Upper East SIde Starbucks in May, is being held on $100,000 cash bail or $300,000 bond. According to the Daily News, the 17-year-old's father "said the high bail was just a way to keep his son in jail" but prosecutors point out someone could have been injured by the crude bomb, though no one was. Shaw's friends tipped off the cops, worried that he would strike again. A teen neighbor of Shaw's told the News that Shaw pulled a hunting knife on him and claimed responsibility for the bomb, "I didn't believe him. He was always bragging," and added that Shaw bought sunglasses similar to the ones Brad Pitt wore as Tyler Durden in Fight Club off eBay. Another friend and former classmate told the Times, "I would never paint him in that way, as a domestic terrorist or anything. He never gave an inkling that he was into that. He is very funny. Very outgoing. Friendly with mostly everybody," but admitted that Shaw really loved Fight Club: "He saw the movie and he read the book. He wanted to watch the movie in our English class in the 11th grade. We were discussing existentialism in class, and he suggested we watch the movie as an example. We ended up watching ‘I Heart Huckabees.'" more ›

Updated: Police have arrested 17-year-old Kyle Shaw in the May 25 incident where a crude bomb was set off in front of the Starbucks at Third Avenue and 92nd Street. And what's more, it turns out that Shaw was trying to emulate the film Fight Club—in particular, Tyler Durden. This is so not What Would Tyler Durden Do but it is what Gothamist commenter Rocknrope guessed on May 25 with his comment: "Project Mayhem." more ›

What is it about Union Square that brings out the belligerence in people? (Anyone who’s tried to get through the Greenmarket in a hurry can probably answer that.) If it’s not thugs fighting with guns and knives, it’s hipsters fighting with pillows, activists fighting to stop a restaurant, and now this: organized combat in the spirit of Fight Club. Blogger And I Am Not Lying has a breathlessly detailed account of last week’s smackdown. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on Woodward Ave. and Cornelia St. in Queens, a burn victim on West 52nd St. in Manhattan, and a carjacking on 141st St. and Riverside Drive in Manhattan.
• Chaka Khan joins the cast of the Broadway musical The Color Purple. I feel for you, ticket holders.
• Tomorrow is your last chance to register for voting in New York's February 5th primary.

Brooklyn Ink tells us that the first rule of Punk Rock Pillow Fight is you do not talk about Punk Rock Pillow Fight. This is also the second rule, so you have most likely never heard of this underground feathered fight.The anonymous arena for this event is like Fight Club for hipsters. We exaggerate (slightly) but were forewarned not to give away too much about the pillow fight’s underground location in Bushwick. Two rows of... more ›

Food bloggers from around the world are offering delicious prizes as part of Menu for Hope 4. Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising event hosted by Chez Pim. Last year, Menu for Hope raised an incredible $62,925 to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry. Want more details? Well, here’s the FAQ. From December 10-21, you can buy raffle tickets to bid on any on the food-related prizes being offered. Tickets cost... more ›

In Ryan Seacrest is Famous, his debut collection of pop-culture enthused short stories, Dave Housley makes you think, makes you laugh, and, if you're a writer, inspires you to run to your computer and get started on that premise you've been putting off. Whether it comes in the form of an alcoholic clown, people obsessed with Fight Club, or a DJ hiring a prostitute in an attempt to win back his old flame, Housley's stories... more ›

EVENT: GRBG is helping in the celebration of the “Gangs of New York” Fall ’07 collection. Enjoy a photo exhibit of the fall look book shot in Coney Island, a screening of The Warriors and free Rum! more ›

Did you happen to read the NY Times City Section essay, Under the Scaffold, a No-Fight Club? The author Allan Ripp writes about a confrontation between some youngsters hanging out under the scaffolding of a building near Columbus Circle. Apparently the teens have been loitering around there regularly during the day, and one day, one of the kids gets shoved into Ripp's way while he's walking. Ripp decides to say something:

“You guys are always here, standing around, bumping into people and fooling around,” I scolded. “It’s not the place, and someone’s going to get hurt.” I’m certain I cursed as well. more ›

THEATER: The Ohio Theater is the site of two of summer's best play festivals, and the first, Clubbed Thumb's eleventh Summerworks, started yesterday with Anne Washburn's I Have Loved Strangers, "in which true prophets, false prophets, and non-prophets battle for the salvation of ancient New York." On the company's website http://www.clubbedthumb.org/ you can do some "research" before going, via various eyebrow-raising links; or you can just rely on the winning trifecta of excellent track records: of the Ohio, of Clubbed Thumb, and of Washburn herself, whose play Apparition recently showed to well-deserved acclaim. Over the next weeks, two other plays will be in the festival -- Erin Courtney's Alice the Magnet, and Rachel Hoeffel's Quail -- but each is showing for only a few days, so get under the thumb while you can. - Mallory Jensen more ›

," as part of the acclaimed 33 1/3 series. The book takes a look at the 1989 release of the Pixies sonic masterpiece of the same name, gaining insight from the band themselves. more ›