A Bronx woman is suing Jacobi Medical Center and the New York Organ Donor Network for $5 million, claiming they never asked her consent before harvesting her mother's organs after she died of a heart attack last year. Jo Drever says she found that doctors took her mother's organs after receiving a thank you call from the New York Organ Donor Network. But the Network says they didn't even get Margaret Lanza's organs. more ›

Two different fires in Brooklyn and the Bronx yesterday killed four people and injured three more. Both fires occurred relatively early Saturday morning. The first was reported about 7 a.m. and was on the second floor of a two-story house in Bensonhurst. The occupants were all immigrants from Guatemala. It took firefighters almost 40 minutes to bring the blaze under control, at which point three of the residents had succumbed to smoke inhalation. Another was transported to the burn unit at Staten Island Hospital. A fifth man survived the fire by jumping through a window, landing on the sidewalk among broken glass. more ›

a good idea, no matter what side of the law you're on. A 14-year-old boy was throwing eggs at cars in Staten Island when two police officers decided to teach him a lesson. Police sources S.tell the Daily News that Officers Thomas Elliassen and Michael Danese picked up Rayshawn Moreno around 8:30PM, drove him to "a swampy area of the 122nd Precinct" and then "dropped him off wearing only boxer shorts and socks and left." Moreno had to walk to a Burlington Coat Factory, where a security guard called his parents. more ›

A city employee moonlighting as a bouncer at The Bronx Cocktail was killed by a man angry that it was past last call. Raymond Barnett, 38, was killed when the man fired a gun into the bar around 5AM yesterday. more ›

Let's paraphrase what we wrote yesterday: How is it again, with Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan riding their bikes, that NYC remains a bike-unfriendly city? Yesterday, two bicyclists died in separate incidents in Brooklyn and the Bronx. At 9AM, 18-year-old Luis Ramos was biking to his job at George's Spanish and American Restaurant when a woman opened her car door in his path on Flushing Avenue near Beaver Street. The Post describes that "Ramos slammed into the door, flew over his handlebars and fell into traffic, where a school bus ran over him." Ramos' brother Lucas had been biking about two blocks behind him and saw the police at the scene. He said, "I ran over to him to hug him. But the cops told me not to touch him." Ramos was pronounced dead at Woodhull Hospital and the police did not issue any summons. more ›

A fight at a Bronx tavern left an Ecuadoran construction worker dead and his brother injured. Jose Tenemasa was stabbed to death at Le Taverna De Izucar on 172nd Street in the Bronx on Friday night. His brother Carlos said that another group of bar patrons asked them to buy a round of beers, which they did. But when they refused to buy another round, the men got angry. From the Daily News:

A fight broke out about 12:20 a.m., and Carlos Tenemasa said he was cornered as his brother sat at the bar. Tenemasa said he snapped a pool stick in two and prepared to fend off his attackers when one cracked him over the head with a beer bottle. He ran from the building with blood pouring down his face, he said. more ›

Mother of five Nabila Nazli was able to throw four of her children to safety during a vicious apartment fire. Nazli did not jump, as she stayed with a five year old daughter who had been scared to jump stayed on the second floor, and the two were overcome with smoke. Nazli and her daughter are in serious condition at Jacobi Medical Center, whereas the four other children, ages one month to 10 years old, are in stable condition at at Coney Island Hospital. more ›