Newsday reports that NYPD Assistant Chief Bruce Smolka is retiring. While many officers Newsday spoke to love Smolka, he leaves behind an interesting legacy. Let's paraphrase Aaron Naparstek's 2005 piece about Smolka for the NY Press' 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers issue:

...Smolka was the commanding officer of the NYPD’s infamous Street Crimes Unit. It was his officers who, in February 1999, pumped 41 bullets into Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant guilty of nothing more than standing in the hallway of his own apartment building.... more ›

New York Press makes it's annual attempt at relevancy this week with it's list of the 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers. Sigh. more ›

, which recently lost its editor, Jeff Koyen, after a cover story entitled "The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope" unsurprisingly pissed a lot of people off, has come out with its annual hatefest issue: The 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers. Making the list this year were the usual targets (politicians, editors, celebrities, etc..), with Mayor Mike taking top honors as most loathsome for "bringing the Republican National Convention to town and the mini-police state inspired by it" (among other offenses). Mayoral hopefuls Gifford Miller and Anthony Weiner also made the cut. more ›