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 ›

The family of actor David Carradine, whose bound body dead in a Bangkok hotel room last week, want the FBI to investigate the death and the Post reports, "attorney Mark Geragos suggested that Carradine may have been killed as he tried to uncover groups working in the martial-arts underworld." When the secret society angle was mentioned on Larry King Live (transcript), Geragos said, "There is a suspicion that if there was some foul play, that that may be the first area where they should look." Carradine's fourth wife Gail Jenson spoke to the Daily News, "David was pretty strange. He would tie himself up, and I would walk in and see him and say, 'Oh, my God, David, you've got to be kidding me.'" A previous wife, Marina Anderson, noted Carradine's "deviant sexual behavior" in a divorce filing, also claiming he was having an incestuous relationship with a close family member; Anderson said to the Post, "If he was involved in secret societies, it was a secret that even I didn't know about. But he did have some big secrets." Related: TMZ on why a second autopsy is important. more ›

As the police try to reconstruct the events of Thursday night's mugging attack, a little more information is offered about some of those involved. Subway conductor Maurice Parks was walking home when he was attacked by a group of muggers in Harlem, at West 139th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue late Thursday night. When stabbed, Parks took out his own knife to defend himself. By the end, the police arrested a wounded attacker and another teen attacker, and found that a man who died in the clash was actually a bystander. more ›

An NYPD officer was arrested early Thursday morning by Middletown, NY police after a young girl came forward and accused him of repeatedly raping her while she was a student at the karate school where he taught. Trent Young is a married 39-year-old who has been with the NYPD for nine years. Middletown Police said that prior to becoming a police officer, Young was a schoolteacher. He is accused of sexually abusing a female student beginning when she was 13 years old in December 2005. According to the victim, who is now 15, Young had her sign an oath of obedience as an ostensible part of a green belt ceremony before making her take off her clothes and sexually abusing her. more ›

Now, Gothamist frequently thinks we live in an overly litigious society...until we read about some lawsuit that is just awesome. A Midtown karate school is being sued for injuring a student. In 2003, student-instructor took over a class at Anderson's Martial Arts school and kicked Jonah Stevens, who was then a 17 year old, in the face - only to break Stevens' jaw during practice. Yikes! Stevens' lawyer says that his client required extensive dental work and is permanently injured. The Post couldn't get in touch with the dojo or the instructor for a comment, but what can they really say? They were sparring with a teenaged boy who probably seemed tough enough? We wonder if the dojo would try to use the "you're not supposed to walk into the kick" defense, but still - even though you're supposed to be humiliated at karate class, your instructors should have enough of a light touch to only take the wind out of you, not sock you silly. more ›

exhibition/walking tour. This caught our attention over at Gothamist for a number of reasons. Mainly the many ways you can go about participating in it. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. more ›