Another twist in the murder case of Queens dentist Daniel Malakov: The sister of his ex-wife - who remains in jail for plotting to kill Malakov - was arrested for threatening Malakov's brother. Natella Natanova was arrested yesterday after apparently approaching Gavriel Malakov in Queens and saying, "You do know if you talk, you will be the next to go," on Monday morning. The brother is a potential prosecution witness and Queens DA Richard Brown......

A former math teacher at MS 190 in Forest Hills was arrested for child endangerment after allegedly sending former and present male students lewd instant messages. Bradley Dieffenbacher, 33, of Long Island, had worked at MS 190 since 2000 until his resignation on February 14, when investigators confronted him. According to the Queens DA's office, between April 1, 2007 and February 20, 2008, Dieffenbacher instant messaged eight boys, ages 12-13, who were either current or......

According to new NYPD statistics, graffiti complaints in Brooklyn rose 96% last year, with arrests in the borough increasing by 33%. Citywide, complaints almost doubled from 4,886 in 2006 to 8,866 in 2007, and total arrests rose from 2,962 to 3,786. Williamsburg leads the tagging trend with a total of 186 complaints. “It's so expensive here, yet it looks like a dump,” long-time Williamsburg resident Mel Costello, 63, declared to the Daily News. “It's......

The Queens DA's office and NYPD revealed new details about the killing of a Queens dentist. and why his estranged wife was arrested for murder and conspiracy. Daniel Malakov, who had been fighting with wife Dr. Mazultov Borukhova over custody of their young daughter, was gunned down at a playground last October when taking the 4-year-old to his wife for visitation. Borukhova was arrested Thursday night, months after her uncle by marriage, Mikahil Mallayev, was......

Three and a half months after Queens orthodontist Daniel Malakov was gunned down at a Queens playground in front of his young daughter, his estranged wife was arrested for his murder. Dr. Mazoltuv Borukhova was charged with murder and conspiracy and taken to a precinct house from her Forest Hills home. Malakov's mother told the Daily News, "They're dirty...her whole family, mother, sisters, all of them are animals. They committed such a dirty act, and......

Queens DA Richard Brown announced an off-duty NYPD detective and his girlfriend were charged with promoting the prostitution of a 13-year-old Brooklyn runaway. Brown said, “This case is every parent and every child’s worst nightmare – made even more frightening by the fact that one of the defendants is a police officer who swore to uphold the law and protect the community he serves.” Detective Wayne Taylor and a woman he claims is his wife,......

Queens City Councilman Dennis Gallagher, whose office was raided last July after rape allegations and was indicted by a grand jury in August, is smiling - for now. A judge dismissed the indictment, believing the defense's claim that the "grand jury process was compromised." The jurors had complained the prosecutors were trying to make Gallagher look "foolish." Gallagher, who is married, admitted he had an affair with the 52-year-old accuser but said it was consensual;......

On the day that MySpace agreed to work with 49 states to stop sexual predators from using the social networking site to find young victims, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown was announcing a disturbing 56-charge criminal complaint against a couple accused of rape, sexual abuse, and forcing two young teens into performing sexual acts at a Manhattan strip club. Julio Rojas, a stripper, is being held on $500,000 bail while his wife, Sophie Soto, also......

The three police officers facing trial for the November 2006 shooting of an unarmed man are requesting to their trial moved from Queens. Lawyers for Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper claim they won't be able to get a fair trial in Queens, blaming media attention for "incurably poison[ing]" any potential jury pool. On November 25, 2006, Sean Bell was having a bachelor party with friends on the eve of his wedding. When he......

If lawyers for the detectives involved in the Sean Bell case get their way, the venue for a trial may be moved out of Queens. The attorneys for Detectives Mike Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper met with Judge Arthur Cooperman and prosecutors yesterday to notify them of their intent to move the case out of Queens. Oliver and Isnora are charged with manslaughter while Cooper is facing reckless endangerment in the shooting death......

Last weekend, a young woman was celebrating her 19th birthday when two men crashed her party and later raped her. The police arrested one of the suspects yesterday and are still looking for the second. Saturday night, James Moye and Daquan Williamson apparently tried to join the party in a Queens Village home. One even "whipped out a black handgun" but they left the house after a fight. However, they stayed in a van outside......

Prosecutors having intimate relationships with defense lawyers happens on TV shows all the time, but a real life drama is playing out in Brooklyn. Former prosecutor Sandra Fernandez, accused of using her position in the Brooklyn DA's office to give information to her defense lawyer fiance, was arraigned on 12 counts of criminal charges. Fernandez allegedly ran criminal history and motor vehicle checks on three prosecution witnesses in cases handled by fiance - and now......

A bookkeeper for a Manhattan printing company pleaded not guilty to killing his 13-month-old daughter. Peter O'Keffe was arrested on Sunday after his wife returned to their Queens home after running errands on Saturday, to find their child unresponsive on the floor and her husband missing. Prosecutors say that O'Keeffe hit the baby in order to make her stop crying. From the Queens DA's office:According to statements made to police following his arrest, O’Keeffe admitted......

The Queens DA's office is allegedly split over how to handle a Halloween night fight in Howard Beach. A fight erupted on the Cross Bay Boulevard between a group of white youths and a group of black and Hispanic youths. The white youths, after feeling intimidated by a black or Hispanic youth, threw eggs at him, and then a melee broke out when 30-40 others, some with sticks, fought the white youths. Five black and......

Queens prosecutors announced yesterday that a teenager acting as a drug mule was arrested at JFK airport on Tuesday. Anthony Cruz, 16, was stopped by customs officials as he arrived on an American Airlines flight from Santiago in the Dominican Republic. X-rays of his body revealed 80 balloons of heroin with a total weight of 988 grams (nearly 1 kilo and more than 2 pounds). According to officials, the heroin was worth $500,000. Richard Brown,......

The 22-year-old St. John's University student who brought a loaded .50 caliber rifle to the Queens campus on Wednesday was arraigned in his hospital room at Bellevue yesterday. Communicating via a video link to the Queens Criminal Court, Omesh Hiraman appeared "frail in his blue pajamas" (NY Times), while he "hands shook and he "rocked back and forth" (Daily News), but seemed lucid during the proceedings. Judge Deborah Stevens Modica ordered that he be given......

Omesh Hiraman, the 22-year-old St. John's University student who caused panic when he brought a .50 cailber rifle on campus, will be arraigned today in his hospital room at Bellevue. Queens DA Richard Brown said that Hiraman was being "held on two counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon (with intent to use said weapon unlawfully against another and possession of a rifle in a building or grounds used for educational purposes) and several......

In May of 2000, five employees of a Wendy's in Flushing were killed in the basement, while two others were injured. John Taylor and Craig Godineaux were arrested and charged with the murders. While Godineaux pleaded guilty to the crimes and is serving a life sentence without parole, Taylor, a former Wendy's employee, was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2002. In the years since Taylor's sentence, the NY State Court of Appeals ruled,......

The NYPD revealed that they have arrested four members of the Crips gang who robbed four bodegas in Queens in just three hours on Sunday. Queens DA Richard Brown says that the four, Gregory Burrowes, Jeremy Edwards, Keon Gill, and Ryan Carter would target mom-and-pop stores, with only bandannas covering their faces. They "walked down the street robbing one bodega only minutes after having robbed another." Employees whose stores were robbed provided clues that led......

Jack Rhodes, the man suspected of robbing and beating elderly woman in Queens, was indicted yesterday on 35 charges of burglary, assault, robbery, and, yes, hate crimes. The NY State Hate Crimes Act has a provision that allows hate crime charges to be filed if the defendant has selected a victim because they are old. Queens DA Richard Brown said, “In just over nine weeks, the defendant is alleged to have beaten and robbed three......

It took a jury four hours to convict Khemwhatie Bedessie of raping a 4-year-old child under her care at a Queens day care center in 2006. Bedessie's lawyer Stephen Turano had argued she had been coerced into falsely confessing, after a detective said she would released if she confessed. On Monday, Bedessie testified, "I tell [the detective], yes, I will do anything he want so he will send me home. He promised that I'm going......

Queens DA Richard Brown announced that Joseph Burrell of Jamaica, Queens has been arrested and arraigned for a particularly vicious attack. Apparently, Burrell lured an acquaintance to his home for a barbecue then assaulted her for hours in his garage. Burrell allegedly invited the woman to his home last Wednesday evening and took her into the garage, which had been converted into a furnished room. The Queens DA's statement (PDF) explains that he allegedly threatened......

The police officer accused of killing his ex-girlfriend during an argument on a Queens street was arraigned yesterday. Harry Rupnarine, 38, who joined the NYPD 2 years ago and worked on the transit task force, was charged with second degree murder. Though his lawyer said Rupnarine had family members willing to put up their life savings for bail, Rupnarine was held without bail. Queens DA Richard Brown said, "This is a tragic case from any......

Queens DA Richard Brown revealed that two men had plotted to kill a police officer. Andrew Spencer, held in Rikers on gun possession charges, asked his friend, ex-con Kiyee Kye, for help in shooting the cop, who had arrested Spencer last summer and was scheduled to testify against him. The police learned of the plot from another inmate and sent in an undercover posing as a hit man. Spencer offered a Lexus, a Jeep and......

Middle College High School in Queens decided not to leave things to chance when a senior wrote a note saying, "So you think Virginia Tech was bad? Just wait for the MCHS Prom! Unlike VTech there won't be any injured, I'll get the job done." The student, 17-year-old Michael DiGiovanni, was found out because the note and fliers made from it were found in the school computer lab on Monday. And the city wants us......

Welcome to the dumb fan hall of fame, Frank Martinez! Martinez was arrested on Friday after he shined a high-powered flashlight onto Shea Stadium's field during the Mets-Braves game. Martinez used a Streamline flashlight to bother Braves pitcher Tim Hudson and shortstop Edgar Renteria, and second base umpire Paul Emmel had to call a timeout because he was "visually impaired." Martinez, an exterminator, was ejected from the game and a former neighbor told the......

When David Clarke of Queens received information from a bank about a $180,000 second mortgage on his Rosedale house - a mortgage he never applied for - he decided to contact the police. And Queens authorities found a Brooklyn couple who had been using Clarke's identity to buy a home in Long Island. Yesterday, the Queens D.A.'s office charged Emerick and Donna Martin with identity theft, second-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to defraud and much......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A Large Sink Hole at 187th Pl. and Jamaica Ave. in Queens, a Serious Multi-Vehicle Accident on 125th and Lenox Ave. in Manhattan, and Bank Robbery at 178th St. and Hillside Ave. in Queens. Podpeople are invading the city! 800 podcasters to descend upon Manhattan for PodCampNYC. Queens DA Richard Brown is leading the charge to bring the death penalty back to New York State. The Federal Reserve Bank......

The NY Post reveals what many people were wondering in the Sean Bell shooting: Who fired the shots that actually killed Bell and hit his friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield. It turns out Detective Michael Oliver fired the shots. Oliver fired the most shots, 31, of the detectives and was charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter last week. The other detective charged with manslaughter, Gescard Isnora, fired 11 times, but didn't hit anything. However,......

The Queens DA's office has charged a man in the murder of 20-year-old Natasha Ramen. And it turns out that Hemant Megnath had raped Ramen in 2005; police believe the Megnath slashed Ramen's throat last Thursday to keep her from testifying about the rape. In May 2005, Ramen had been apartment-hunting and was introduced to a fellow Guyanese immigrant, Megnath, who had been working for a broker. Megnath took her to his Brooklyn apartment and......