After two days on life support, the 56-year-old bodega owner, who was shot in the face during a robbery attempt, died yesterday morning and police continued their search for the group suspected of robbing a number of bodegas over the past four months. Police Commissioner Kelly said the robbers are "certainly" considered "dangerous," but Cruz's family wonders why the police didn't tell the community about the robberies. One of Cruz's eight children, Karina Cruz, asked,......

While 11-year-old Xochil Garcia is still being praised for her quick thinking and bravery after escaping and helping nab a man who tried to abduct her, some adults are upset at the law. Her parents, as well as City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., are angry that the suspected kidnapper, Bernard Mutterperl, was set free on $25,000 bail. According to court documents, 19-year-old Borough Park resident Mutterperl told the police "when he sees young girls, he......

With the Grand Theft Auto IV trailer circulating a good six months before the game's release, NYC officials are giving the thumbs down. The Daily News has comments:"It's despicable to glamorize violence in games like these, regardless of how far-fetched the setting may be," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "The mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers," said Jason Post, a spokesman for Mayor......

The City Council's Public Safety Committee is discussing a number of new proposals to crack down on nightlife problems. The NY Sun reports that one of them would allow the city to shut down businesses like shops and bar "if more than one person is killed within a year." Another would allow the city to shut down fake ID businesses - including their legal fronts. Assistant Police Commissioner Robert Messner says that public nuisance laws......

You've probably have thought that blacks are stopped many times more than whites, but now there are the numbers to back that up. The Police Department delivered four volumes of statistics to the City Council's Public Safety Committee that revealed some interesting statistics about police "stop-and-frisk" searches. five times more people were stopped in 2006 than in 2002. (Last year, 508,540 were stopped; in 2002, the police stopped a little under 100,000.) And of......

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that allows people between 18 and 21 years to buy spray paint and broad-tipped markers. Yes, the city has been trying to block the sale of things that might lead to graffiti for over the year, but the law was so nutty that District Judge George Daniels stopped the city's ban until the issue could be further looked into. Well, the 2nd Circuit wrote that......