DOS police lieutenant John Fitzgerald is a 24-year vet who's better known as the guy who ended up carrying Naomi Campbell's bag when she reported for day two of her community service last year. And now he's stepping out of the model's shadow. The NY Post reports that the sanitation cop must have caught the criminal bug from the model, as he was busted in Queens yesterday for allegedly forging a gun permit. If convicted,......

Alycia Lane, the Philadelphia newswoman who punched a female NYPD police officer, was relieved after appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court today. The Manhattan DA's office basically dismissed her case, for an "adjournment in contemplation of dismissal." Prosecutors said the female cop's injuries "were not serious enough" to support the felony assault charge, so charges were reduced to obstruction of governmental administration and harassment. Lane, who allegedly called the cop a "dyke bitch" during a run-in......

Before the first model walked down the runway, Naomi Campbell spoke out about the lack of minorities at this year's Fashion Week. The Daily News follows up on her initial accusation as the tents emptied out this weekend, saying that "a campaign to promote diversity on the runways during New York's Fashion Week appears to have failed miserably." According the paper, out of 1,584 model slots, 94 (6%) went to black models, 17 (1%) to......

Rev up your Manolos (or, whatever), Fashion Week starts tomorrow! A little history: "Fashion Week originally began as 'Press Week' when a well-known fashion publicist named Eleanor Lambert organized the event in 1943. During the 1970s and '80s, designers began to show their collections in lofts, restaurants and clubs across New York City. It wasn't until Fern Mallis, vice president of IMG, the company that produces Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, searched for a venue where all......

In exchange for guilty pleas on a number of charges including assault of a fan, assault of his chauffer, driving with a suspended license and DUI, rap star Busta Rhymes avoided jail time and was sentenced yesterday to 10 days of community service. Sadly, we’ll be denied the publicity circus that swirled around Boy George and Naomi Campbell during their very public community services; Rhymes will have the privilege of choosing his own method......

Clippers Cuisine in Lefrak City has all the things one associates with a great Jamaican restaurant: killer oxtail, patties and coco bread, such traditional breakfasts as ackee and salt cod and the requisite easygoing dancehall reggae soundtrack. It also has one another claim to fame. The menu cites it as Naomi Campbell's favorite Jamaican restaurant. At first we were skeptical about that claim, but a quick check of W Magazine proved its veracity. The other......

We doubt that Naomi Campbell eats a lot of doughnuts, but the supermodel is appearing in a television commercial for the Dunkin' Donuts chain. The commercial, that we first noticed at celebrity site IDontLikeYouInThatWay, plays up Campbell's reputation as a woman with a hair-trigger temper and a violent streak. Zach Braff directed the spot.......

It's a tabloid Saturday jackpot as a Los Angeles County judge sentenced "celebrity" Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail. Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer agreed with prosecutors who felt that Hilton's driving with a suspended license (she was busted for DUI on September 7, 2006, ordered to go to alcohol education this past February, and then was pulled over yet again in late February) deserved jail and sentenced the infamous sometimes New Yorker......

Naomi Campbell left her community service stint at the Department of Sanitation warehouse on South Street wearing an $8,000 Dolce & Gabbana gown. No, the other community service folks and DOS didn't throw her a party - she apparently had to run off to a photo shoot right after finishing the final day of her 5-day community service sentence after throwing her bejeweled cellphone at a housekeeper. Much to the delight of the paparazzi......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: three missing children in Brooklyn, a large fight in Queens, and a bank robbery on the Upper East Side. From the Brooklyn Papers, official word that the Park Slope One-Way plan is dead. After seeing Jacob's Ladder, we think Tim Robbins is remarkably brave to consider living in Brooklyn Heights. You know? What, no one else saw that movie? Paul Cortez was sentenced today-- he got 25 years in......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: unusual fire at JFK, and more bank robberies in Brooklyn Heights and Carroll Gardens. The first proposals for connections between Brooklyn Heights and the new Brooklyn Bridge Park are in-- and they are ugly. Steven Johnson, the lunatic who tried to torch Bar Veloce back in 2002, drew 240 years from a judge at his sentencing today. Has it really come to this? The Hamptons Jitney will begin servicing......

For some reason, Naomi Campbell can only carry one bag at a time. The Post breathlessly reports that on the supermodel's second day of community service at the Department of Sanitation warehouse on South Street, Campbell's bodyguard tried to get a DOS employee to carry her tote for her. But the employee refused, and a DOS police lieutenant John Fitzgerald, a 24-year vet, got stuck carrying it! The DOS explained to the Post, "Our policy......

Aha! Supermodel Naomi Campbell did bring workboots with her to perform community service at a Department of Sanitation warehouse on South Street yesterday - they were just slung against her back. We didn't notice them before because we were trying to figure out her overall get-up. The Daily News reveals that while Campbell was wearing $1,000 Christian Louboutin boots and a $1,500 Azzedine Alaia coat, DOS employees only get a $900 uniform allowance each......

This morning, supermodel and temper-tantrum-prone supermodel Naomi Campbell arrived at the South Street Department of Sanitation facility where she'll be doing such chores as mopping floors. Campbell was sentenced to five days of community service, along with anger management (which she's already started), in a plea agreement after hitting her housekeeper with a bejeweled cellphone. Albert Durrell, who works at the South Street warehouse, told the Daily News, "Hopefully, she'll know not to come......

After being sentenced to a week of community service mopping floors at a Department of Sanitation warehouse on the Lower East Side, Naomi Campbell has embarked on the other part of her reformation. As part of her plea deal for striking her housekeeper with a rhinestone-encrusted cellphone, Campbell must also complete two anger management classes. And it seems she completed the first one yesterday. The Post finds out that the supermodel spent five hours at......

Let this be a lesson to all of you aspiring bad-tempered models! Before you try to throw a bedazzled cellphone at your hired help, realize that you might be sentenced to hard labor by a NYC judge! And by hard labor, we mean, "hard" for a bratty supermodel. Naomi Campbell, who pleaded guilty to lesser charges in the cellphone assault of her housekeeper, will mopping the floors at a Department of Sanitation warehouse on the......

Zen koan for the day: if a gas smell blankets Staten Island, does anyone notice? Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: propane tanker derails in Queens, a truck vs. building in Bed Stuy, and person struck by the A train at 50th Street. Does anyone else think it's unfair that Miss New Jersey has to step down from her post because she got knocked up during her reign? Gowanus Lounge has some more details on......

Naomi Campbell may be pleading down to a lesser charge in one of her assault cases. In the case of the March incident where Campbell allegedly beat her housekeeper with a cellphone, Campbell and the Manhattan DA's officer are looking into a plea deal that will satisfy both sides. Her lawyer hopes she'll get community service at an Upper East Side hospital, versus street cleaning in the Lower East Side, a la Boy George. Attorney......

Lawsuits and Naomi Campbell are magical together! Gaby Gibson, the former maid who got beatdown by Campbell after she couldn't find her Stella McCartney jeans in January, filed a second lawsuit against Campbell. The first lawsuit mentioned "employment discrimination, civil assault and civil battery" and now the second adds more defendants (Campbell's publicist, for one), and charges of defamation and "repeated discriminatory assaults based on her national origin." Campbell allegedly told Gibson: being told......

Brother. Russell Crowe complains about the fallout from his June 2005 phone throwing incident at the Mercer Hotel. Crowe pleaded guilty to third degree assault, paid a $160 fine, and had to settle with the hotel employee, Nestor Estrada. (And it wasn't just a phone handset or cordless phone thrown at Estrada - apparently Crowe had taken the whole phone out of the wall and thrown it at him, causing minor injuries to Estrada's face.)......

You have just a couple more days to decide whether you'll be dressed up or dressed down next Tuesday for Halloween. New York magazine has a How to Dress Like... Halloween Guide for anyone who want to dress up like Naomi Campbell, Borat, Kim Jong Il, Flava Flav or Baby Suri Cruise; there are even some high-concept ideas like tainted spinach! Our favorite is Dog the Bounty Hunter, because Cartman really inspired us. And......

-- Public Storage has been forced to remove their "Finally, a good reason to leave Manhattan" campaign from the subways. Apparently it offended people in the outer boroughs. Startling! -- Apparently loads of buff-associate professors are roaming the tunnels under Columbia! -- A short list of things Naomi Campbell does not enjoy: uppity assistants, non-violent expressions of anger, and showing up for court dates. -- Bad news for streetart fans: 11 Spring Street is......

There's a wonderful article in the NY Times about the county clerk, Norman Goodman, who is in charge of jury summons for Manhattan courts. Not only has the 82 year old Goodman been there for almost 40 years (it's also a "lifetime" post), he gets to read all the excuses people give for not rising to their civic duty. Here are some of the "excuses": - A cat threw up on the jury summons -......

Two huge, gigantic developments in the Naomi Campbell maid-assault case. First, the Daily News has a much more detailed account of the incident, and reveals that the weapon was not in fact a cellphone: Smiling for the cameras, Naomi Campbell glided along a sidewalk shortly after allegedly bashing a crystal-encrusted BlackBerry against the head of her housekeeper. "You f------ b----!" the cantankerous catwalker shrieked yesterday inside her Park Ave. penthouse apartment, accusing her maid,......

- Charlie Rose had heart surgery in Paris-- get better, Charlie! - Surprise, surprise: another problem with the WTC Memorial-- this one's about the order of names, oh, and they want to charge admission to get in. - StayFree interviews Jonah Peretti from Chelsea's Eyebeam Atelier. - Naomi Campbell goes craaaaazy Russell Crowe style: assault with a deadly cellphone! - W00t! Rent-stabilization extended for three more years! - Here's a video of the Ramones......

Set your TiVo's, kids. "Celebrity Cooking Showdown" is scheduled for the week of April 17th on NBC. This week-long competition pits various "celebrities" against each other in a culinary smackdown of sorts, judged by food critic Gael Greene and high-end event planner Colin Cowie. The motley crew of celebs includes Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez, Ja Rule, Tom Arnold, Gabrielle Reece, Days of Our Lives' Allison Sweeney, supermodel Naomi Campbell, reigning Miss USA......

In a city full of struggling artists, the last thing we need to hear is Julia Roberts doing an AOL voiceover that could have paid for our dinner. It just isn't fair when too much is never enough for some people. The ubiquitous celebrity author would be another example of this phenomena. Why, WHY?! Fortunately the Lit Lite Lousy Literature Reading Series exists. The series continues its celebration of the worst books ever written this......

You know it's the Oscars when P. Diddy busts out the velvet suit! Gothamist loves the Oscars, and we're going to attempt to do a little liveblogging. We might need to order a vat of caffeine and an EMT team at the ready; not because Chris Rock will be boring, but because we think that Gil Cates might kill us with his newfangled ideas and because we're meh about this year's nominees in the big......