During the nighttime raid of Zuccotti Park, the NYPD, with the help of the Department of Sanitation, confiscated the items that the Occupy Wall Street protesters had used to make the area home. Demonstrators were told that they could pick up their property, which was just moved so the NYPD could do some mopping, at a Sanitation building on West 57th street. However, there was no mention of what condition the items would be in, and Motherboard reports that computers taken in the raid were broken and dented, appearing to have been "smashed with bats." more ›

Yesterday's FBI raid on Anonymous was bigger than it initially appeared. In addition to busting into the homes of, but not arresting, six alleged hackers in Brooklyn (including one in the McKibbin lofts) and Long Island, the feds charged 14 people yesterday with taking part in cyber attacks on PayPal's servers after the site stopped accepting money for WikiLeaks. They also made two additional related arrests. more ›

The Feds are zeroing in on Anonymous. Or trying to. Fox News (in need of a distraction perhaps) is reporting that early this morning the FBI raided the homes of three suspected members of the computer collective. Not that the group of loosely affiliated activist hackers seem too worried. more ›

The dark and funky hipster bar and music venue Coco 66 on Greenpoint Avenue was the scene of a dramatic raid last weekend, according to reports on New York Shitty and Paper. It seems owner David Kelleran has been operating without a liquor license, and local police tell New York Shitty that the precinct "did a joint operation Saturday with the State Liquor Authority... The owner was arrested and all the liquor was order destroyed by the SLA." According to one observer, $20,000 worth of precious, life-sustaining liquor was poured down the drain! more ›

It's day two of Osama bin Laden's death dominating newspaper front pages. Yesterday, it was the "Rot In Hell"/"He's Dead"/"Justice is Done" headlines. Today, the main focus is on the U.S. Special Forces operation to take out the Al Qaeda leader: The Daily News says, "How We Nailed Him" while the Post blares, "How We Did It!" The NY Times and Washington Post offer diagrams of Bin Laden's compound. Newsday focuses on the time for the raid, while the Star-Ledger reflects on "Pride and Pain." more ›

How many people are interested in attending the "Largest Paint Party on Earth" at Webster Hall? Surprisingly, a lot! The party was held this weekend at the venue, and got so big that the FDNY and the NYPD (and their horses) shut it down before any paint even got on attendees' white clothes (we assume that is what happens at these things?). The mass exodus from the venue was described to EV Grieve as a "Douche Parade." Here's a look at the scene on the inside when the presence of the police was announced to attendees: more ›

Last month Governor Paterson signed legislation that required illegally converted loft buildings (think 475 Kent) to get up to code. According to the Brooklyn Paper, it was "designed to protect tenants in illegally occupied manufacturing buildings from landlord harassment and rental hikes, but would not prevent evictions if the building itself has significant safety violations"—it's known as the Loft Law. more ›

A six-ship convoy carrying aid to Palestinians in Gaza was attacked by Israeli commandoes, leaving at least nine dead and earning condemnations from around the world. The Washington Post reports, "The European Union called for an inquiry into the deaths. And the United Nations Security Council planned to meet Monday afternoon for an emergency session. The United States expressed regret at the loss of the life and said it was 'working to understand the circumstances of the tragedy.'" Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it "state terrorism." more ›

Move over Richard Perle, there's a new heir to the throne of darkness! During an interview on Good Day New York this morning, embattled State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, Jr. came out swinging at Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who filed a civil lawsuit against Espada accusing him and 14 others of "looting" at least $14 million from the taxpayer-funded health clinic Soundview. Today Espada angrily dismissed the growing scandal as "a politically-motivated witch hunt from the Prince of Darkness himself." And of course, he didn't stop there: more ›

In the wake of this morning's raid on the Bronx non-profit controlled by State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., it's being reported that investigators were looking for evidence to support charges of money laundering, mail fraud and tax fraud. A team of agents from the FBI, IRS and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office spent eight hours at Espada's Soundview Healthcare Network, and "used bolt cutters to open an 8-foot-tall, 25-foot-long storage container behind the building and removed Espada campaign posters and other items," the AP reports. Agents were seen unloading boxes marked "payroll" and "timesheets" from the trailer. more ›

WABC 7 reports, "Investigators executed a search warrant at Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, Jr.'s non profit this morning, searching for evidence in several ongoing investigations into the Bronx Democrat. Eyewitness News is told law enforcement officials descended on the Soundview Health Center on White Plains Road at 7 a.m. Investigators from multiple agencies  including the FBI, IRS, and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office -- immediately began bringing out boxes of evidence." Investigators are apparently looking for signs of wire and mail fraud. Yesterday, Cuomo filed a suit against Espada, accusing him of siphoning $14 million from Soundview for himself and his family. We expect an outraged comment from Espada shortly. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] It turns out that routine violations of the Smoke Free Air act weren't the only problem at M2 UltraLounge. The police were granted their request to shut down both M2 and Chelsea's Pink New York after describing them as the "Wild West of drug dealing" to the State Supreme Court. The Times reports that investigators found unlicensed security guards, saw fights that guards failed to control, and were able to buy a plethora of illegal drugs—cocaine, ketamine, Vicodin, Ecstasy and marijuana—nine times... in more than two years. That's what's counting as the "Wild West" these days? more ›

[UPDATED BELOW] Yesterday the NYPD raided 13 Thames, a Bushwick-based art and performance space, arresting at least two residents/members of the Independent Anarchist Media (I AM) Collective, according to Free Williamsburg. The NYC Anarchist Film Festival is just days away, and that group has been holding up at 13 Thames organizing the event. Those involved posted the below video and statement:

Two plainclothes detectives entered first, followed quickly by a Lieutenant and vans full of blue shirt officers. After corralling everyone present in the back room, they searched the space and detained two members of the collective. The I AM collective was preparing for the NYC Anarchist Film Festival, a showcase of resistance movements and insurrectionary events from around the world presented from an anarchist and anti-authoritarian perspective.

Cops raided at least six stores on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn this afternoon, arresting eight and seizing a firearm and two pounds of marijuana. For two months the "open drug bazaar," between Atlantic Avenue and Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights has been under investigation, during which time undercovers purchased pot and cocaine more than fifty times. (According to NBC, a pound of weed went for $1,100.) Many of the shops targeted for their over-counter drug sales were bodegas, reports ABC, though a jerk chicken place and a little CD store were also raided. A tipster tells us that around 1:30 p.m. there were "About 100 cops everywhere, chopper still circling, SWAT guys... I looked in and they were pushing up the ceiling tiles with a machete." more ›

Rickety stairs, shaking floors, bathroom doors that never shut, impossible to avoid smoking rooms, sound delays, teenagers, getting screamed at for being within 50 feet of the front door... there have been plenty of times we secretly wished Market Hotel (run by Todd P) would get raided when we were inside. But in reality, news of an actual raid which seems to have shut it down over the weekend isn't good news at all. Before getting down to the dirty details, here's what John Norris told us this afternoon regarding the importance of DIY venues like this: more ›

With lots of loft space and a young population, Williamsburg seems like it would be a perfect place for a youth hostel, and has enjoyed a boom of hostel development in the past few years. (Much to NY Shitty's chagrin.) However, an investigation last week showed nearly a dozen hostels in the area that were operating without a certificate of occupancy. One raid exposed two hostels located in a N. Sixth Street building, closing "Loftstel" but letting Zip112 remain open after the owner argued that a ladder served as a fire exit, according to the Brooklyn Paper. more ›

Just months after signing a revolutionary medical marijuana bill into law, NJ authorities have seized more than $10 million worth of illegal marijuana and plants, the most in the state’s history. After sniffing a skunky odor coming from a suburban chimney, cops collected more than 115 pounds of harvested marijuana in addition to 3,370 live plants. So far, three have been arrested in connection with the massive operation. “We have not seen anything to match the volume of production of this criminal enterprise,” said Attorney General Paula T. Dow. more ›

On Monday, the Allegheny County District Attorney dropped all charges against two Jackson Heights-based anarchists accused of listening to police scanners and sharing riot cops' movements with demonstrators on Twitter during the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. Elliot Madison and Michael Wallschlaeger were arrested on September 24th in a Pittsburgh hotel room, where they were found sitting in front of personal computers listening to both police and EMS scanners. On Monday, lawyers for the men were poised to argue for the unsealing of a secret 18-page affidavit authorizing the raid, but then the prosecution unexpectedly withdrew all charges. A spokesman for the district attorney offered this explanation:

After an extensive review of the facts and circumstances underlying those two arrests... there appears to be sufficient evidence to suggest that certain acts that occurred during the G-20 summit were not isolated incidents confined to Allegheny County but instead may have been related to more expansive activities that went beyond the Pittsburgh G-20 in both time and substance. That being the case, a determination was made that until further investigative activities by law enforcement agencies can be completed, it would be more prudent to have the current charges withdrawn rather than prosecuted at this time.

That's right, a Twitter crackdown. A lawyer for Jackson Heights social worker Elliot Madison, 41, says that the feds searched his client's house for 16 hours on Thursday after Madison was arrested on September 24th at a Pittsburgh hotel room with another man. What were they up to? Sitting at laptops sending Twitter messages advising G20 demonstrators about riot police activity in the streets. And yet real Twitter threats like Lindsay Lohan and Courtney Love remain at large. more ›

President Obama's been in office just eight months, and already the government is moving in to disarm the citizenry. Why, just the other day they raided Anthony Cortese's house over in Midland Beach, Staten Island, confiscating his weapons and dragging him off in handcuffs, all because he hadn't registered some of his firearms with Obama's thought police! Cortese says he's a big game hunter (he owns property up in the Catskills) and tells the Staten Island Advance, "I think it's absolutely horrible that in America, they would take away a man's hunting rifles. I have to fight to get them back." more ›

After raiding three homes in Flushing, Queens early Monday morning, the FBI is apparently set for more! The Daily News provides the tip-off: "Fearful of a Madrid-style subway train bombing, authorities are poised to make more raids to seize bomb-making materials at locations in Queens, sources said Wednesday... Another source said an earlier raid uncovered nine backpacks and cell phones, raising memories of the March 2004 bombings in Madrid." more ›

48-year-old Calixta Guerrero was in her underwear in her Washington Heights apartment around 6 a.m. yesterday when police started pounding on the door. She told them she needed a moment to cover up, but cops shouted, "Open the f-----g door, right now!" So Guerrero complied, and was promptly forced to the floor and handcuffed. Good morning! more ›

An interesting police strategy is described in this otherwise "non-story" on Free Williamsburg, which overall delves into a rumor that someone is out to bring down the Market Hotel, a Todd P venue in Brooklyn. The promoter has now addressed the rumors that were in the original story, which focused on a "raid" that took place last Friday and included baseless accusations that he was "being brought up on a slew of charges including weed and underage alcohol distribution." more ›

Yesterday, FBI agents raided the Lexington Avenue office of William Parente. Parente killed himself after killing his wife and two daughters in a Maryland hotel room last week—the Long Island family had been visiting the eldest daughter at college. Based on some papers left in the room, it's believed Parente was in financial trouble. Newsday reports, "Investors have said Parente used the money to make high-interest commercial bridge loans" (with high returns) and that the FBI has spoken to many individuals who invested $20 million with Parente over the past two decades. Some investors had demanded their money back, but Parente stalled on giving them the money and when he did, the checks bounced. One person said, "No one questioned him, because everyone knew him. I don't understand where the money could have gone." The FBI left the office with dozens of file boxes and a hard drive. more ›

While no arrests have been made yet, more details have emerged on the Inspector General's Wednesday raid on the State Liquor Authority's Harlem office, where some two dozen employees control 65 percent of the state’s operating licenses and permits for bars, restaurants and liquor stores in NYC, Long Island and Westchester County. Police sources say employees would not only accept cash bribes in exchange for expedited license processing, but also bottles of booze, and gift cards for meals and clothes—some payoffs even included Applebee's gift cards. Stay classy, SLA. more ›

We may have mentioned that the occupation of NYU's student center ended with a whimper, but after watching this 9:22 minute video of NYU security daring to enter the barricaded cafeteria occupied by student protesters last week, we're worried our faces are now permanently frozen in deep cringe. According to NYU Local, the footage was recorded not by an NYU student but by a strident young man from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA., who seems truly appalled that officials have violated their inner sanctum, "making everyone very upset," while also deliberately ignoring his orders: "You may not detain us, you are on camera!" more ›

The feds say that Long Island investment broker Nicholas Cosmo ran a $370 million Ponzi scheme from his offices in Hauppauge and Queens. And what's more, he "lost $80 million of his clients' money playing the commodities market and paid an additional $55 million in commissions to associates," not to mention personal things ("jewelry, hotel rooms, limousines, payments to his wife and a private baseball league") and the feds say they could only locate $800,000 of the $370 million, according to Newsday. In Cosmo's scam, 1010 WINS explains he told investors they'd "make returns as high as 80 percent a year from interest collected on short-term loans to businesses" but the "returns" they received was "actually money provided by subsequent investors." Yup, that's a Ponzi scheme! Newsday also reports that today, "Worried Agape World investors turned up at the company's offices in Hauppauge and Jackson Heights Monday but found empty offices and a federal raid in progress." more ›

Yesterday, the Westbury, Long Island office of the Railroad Retirement Board was was raided by federal agents who are investigating possible fraud in disability payments to Long Island Rail Road retirees. While the NY Times recently detailed how 90-97% of LIRR employees were applying for--and receiving--disability benefits upon retirement since 2000, it turns out the feds had been investigating the situation for the past six months. more ›