A doctor who practices in NJ with admitting privileges at New York Presbyterian Hospital. His 94-year-old mother. Her $832,453 savings. And a wall collapse in Upper Manhattan. In a case Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau called "a mini-Astor case," Dr. Robin Motz was accused of stealing his mother's savings since 2003. Motz, who pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and money laundering, assumed power of attorney for his mother, Minnie Motz, a retired librarian. According to......

The tragic death of a construction worker at the Trump Soho building has put the spotlight on the spotty history of a contractor on the project. On Monday afternoon, a worker, Yuriy Vanchytskyy (pictured below), fell 42 stories to his death when the molds he and other workers were pouring concrete into broke, causing a collapse into lower floors. The NY Times notes that another worker, also working for subcontractor DiFama Concrete, died when he......

New Jersey police have arrested a number of members of the Lucchese crime family. In the process of breaking up a multi-billion dollar betting organization, cops discovered that the old school mafia family had also teamed up with the more street-level gang the Bloods. The two groups were working together to smuggle things like iPods, cell phones, and drugs into the East Jersey State Prison. The betting ring was fairly sophisticated, utilizing Internet sites, an......

New York City is getting safer and safer. Well, at least Manhattan is. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told reporters yesterday that there have only been 65 murders in the borough this year, down 40% from last year. When Morgenthau took office in 1975, the borough had 648 murders, accounting for almost 40% of the city's total. The 65 homicides this year account for just 14% of the city total. The 88-year-old DA attributed the......

Robert Morgenthau's stranglehold on the position of Manhattan District Attorney has lasted 33 years but today's Post tittered that he was mulling an "early exit." Page Six reported that a "well-connected legal source" said the 88-year-old DA was orchestrating a retirement to have Cyrus Vance Jr. installed for a few years. Apparently Morgenthau wants Vance Jr., once an assistant DA, in place to block his former protegee and 2005 Democratic primary opponent Leslie Crocker Snyder,......

David Lemus, who was convicted in the 1990 killing of Palladium bouncer Marcus Peterson in 1992, was found not guilty yesterday at the conclusion of his retrial. His mother screamed when the verdict was read and Lemus' lawyers reportedly appeared stunned. The jury took only two days to deliberate and the foreman of the jury from the 1992 trial was present during much of the retrial. Before his original conviction for the 14th St. club......

Anthony Marshall, the only son of New York society legend Brooke Astor, pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of criminal activity related to the handling of his mother's finances. The 83-year-old former Marine spoke in court once (to utter "not guilty") and, after his bond was approved, left the courthouse using a cane. He also apparently cried. Among the accusations the Manhattan DA's office made against Marshall and his former lawyer Francis Morrissey (a PDF......

Dare we say that Brooke Astor is rolling in her grave? Yesterday, it was reported that her son Anthony Marshall and his former lawyer Francis Morrissey would be indicted for criminal activity over the handling of her will. And this morning, Marshall turned himself in at the Manhattan DA's offices, to face charges of fraud, forgery and grand larceny. Or, as DA Robert Morgenthau said, "The indictment charges that Marshall and Morrissey took advantage of......

Robert Chambers, whose privileged Upper East upbringing earned the tabloid nickname "The Preppy Killer" when he killed a woman in 1986, was charged with 14 counts of selling and possessing drugs. Since two of the counts are for first-degree sale, which the Daily News reports carries 15-30 years, Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau said, "I would expect he would spend the rest of his life in jail." Chambers and girlfriend Shawn Kovell were arrested by......

Police officer Sean Sawyer was released and not charged after confessing to shooting an unarmed man in Harlem during a road argument early Sunday morning. The Manhattan DA's office claimed that Sawyer could have been acting in self-defense, because the other driver, Jayson Tirado, suggested he had a gun when he gestured and yelled at Sawyer. DA Robert Morgenthau said the "case is under investigation and is going to go to a grand jury. When......

Two men were arraigned for trying to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from billionaire Mayor Bloomberg. Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau outlined the two schemes: Odalis Bostic forged two checks from Bloomberg's personal Bank of America account. One was for $190,000, the other was for $230,000, and both were "issued in the name of the mayor’s financial manager, Geller & Company," according to CityRoom. Bostic deposited them into two different bank accounts, but when Bank......

Ten people were indicted yesterday for taking part in a cash-for-grades scheme at Touro College. Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau explained that students - and even people who never even attended the school - would pay thousands of dollars to change their transcripts or to buy diplomas. The accused include a Touro admissions administrator, a Touro computer center head, and three city teachers who "bought" master's degrees. One concern of the Manhattan DA's office is whether......

Can it be? The Sun reports that the Assembly "could pass a medical marijuana bill" this week, and the Senate will do the same. The lead sponsor of the Assembly's bill is Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, who said, "There are thousands of New Yorkers who suffer from serious medical conditions who could have a better quality and longer life." Various people, including Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau and Montel Williams, have supported the legalization of marijuana......

The law can be very cruel, even to cancer-stricken 71-year-olds. The Daily News has a feature on Barbara Jackson, who was arrested last month after she bought some bags of pot in her Bronx neighborhood. Jackson was diagnosed with colorectal cancer eight years ago, and tells the News she's been smoking for the past seven to restore her appetite. "The marijuana calmed me down and gave me back my appetite. My taste buds are gone,......

Marc Anthony may have gotten a deal from the Manhattan District Attorney's office to pay $2.5 million in back taxes, interest and penalties for - ahem - not filing tax returns for five years but can he still be found guilty of being really stupid? The Manhattan DA's office said they couldn't prove Anthony "knowingly did not file" because the problems started when Anthony changed managers and accountants in 2000. DA Robert Morgenthau excused Anthony's......

A man was arrested for stealing $3.6 million - and the money was from a city bank account! Unemployed social worker Tracy Ball used the money to buy jewelry from TV-and-online retailer Jewelry Television; then he'd pawn the jewelry for cash to pay bills - and some other luxury items. When he was arrested at his Brooklyn home, the AP reported that investigator found him with "two huge plasma televisions, $35,000 in cash, and several......

Remember the New York magazine cover story from July 2005 about the $2000/hour "escort"? Even though the escort, Natalia McLennan, was charged with money laundering, prostitution and money laundering and Jason Itzler, aka "The King of All Pimps," pleaded guilty to money laundering and attempting to promote prostitution from a Worth Street address, the story gets a second life. Former NJ prosecutor Paul Bergrin is being charged with promoting prostitution, money laundering, and conspiracy by......

The Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau announced that the NYPD shut down a sport betting and numbers ring in the Bronx, indicting 11 people, 3 of whom have links to the Lucchese and Genovese crime families. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly admited that "the size of this operation was not particularly significant" - it only generated $200,000 in yearly profits - but the gambling ring was run out of the Hunts Point market. And the ring was......

Iin yet another story of a con artist duping an elderly person, an 81 year old astronomer was bilked by a 31 year old scammer out of over $200,000. The fact that Joseph Gossner is a prominent city philanthropist lands him on the cover of the Daily News - he was taken in by Janet Costello, who told him she suffered from breast cancer and needed money to pay the bills, but actually used the......

It's global leader week in the city, and many who work, live and travel through East Midtown know that as intense security and more traffic are evident (plea from the Mayor: "Take mass transit"), especially as the President will address the United Nations today. Yesterday, President George Bush and First Lady Laura attended a conference on global literacy sponsored by the White House at the New York Public Library, but the bigger question was whether......

There's yet another interesting bit in this weeks City section FYI column, this time on one of our fair city's old school private clubs, the Century Association. Housed in a land-marked 1891 McKim Mead & White Beaux Arts building on W. 43rd street the association (also called the Century Club) was "originally an arts and letters society founded in 1847." The invitation-only club admitted its first female members in 1988 and currently has around......

Yet another story about how social networking sites can be dangerous! And this one involves a Brooklyn man who posed as various female Facebook members' friends to get them to somehow give him nude pictures and force them to be his friend. The Post reports that 20 year old Elvin Chaung was charged with identity theft, computer trespass and tampering, coercion and grand larceny after it turned out he was using his Facebook account to......

This has Law & Order: Embezzlement Task Force written all over it: A couple from New Rochelle, along with a Bronx woman, were indicted for $667,722 in embezzlement from Manhattan publishing company, Thomas Publishing. And what's more, the three were involved in a love triangle. The motivation for thefts are unclear, but this is how it worked: Michelle Daniels worked in accounts payable at Thomas and created fake checks to actual vendors. She gave the......

Police are looking for fifth suspect in connection to the death of NYU junior Broderick Hehman. Police have already arrested four teenagers who allegedly chased Hehman, who then ran into a car at Park Avenue and 125th Street and later died of his injuries. And the teenagers are only 13 and 15 years old. Though the police are not charging the four with a hate crime - they reportedly said, "Get whitey" while chasing him......

Holy white shoe: A tax attorney at Cravath, Swain and Moore is on the run from police who want him in New York to face various charges of paying a mother to have sex with her young teen daughters. James Colliton was caught at Niagara Falls, and the Ontario police were holding him - but somehow, he was released, much to the DA's office's dismay. The girls' mother is being held on $100,000 for promoting......

If you thought your cat was only good for adorable primping (and hairballs), meowing during scratches, and covering up litter box poop, think again - your cat could have a future in law enforcement. Because the Best Story Ever Ever Ever is how the Brooklyn DA's office deputized an eight month old cat from Animal Care and Control to help bust a fake vet! The case itself seems straightforward - Robert Reid was suspicious of......

The lawyer for Halloween sex attacker, Peter Braunstein, complained in court about various leaks in his client's case. Attorney Robert Gottlieb wrote, "I am disappointed and extremely frustrated by the district attorney's failure to ensure that prejudicial information solely in the possession of the District Attorney and the NYPD is not disseminated in the media...Members of law enforcement have brazenly engaged in an unauthorized and impermissible release of highly prejudicial information about allegations and evidence......

The Observer recognizes Power Geezers - basically old New Yorkers who make the world go round. Entrance to this group is a double digit age that begins with at least 7 - director Mike Nichols qualifies, while someone like Knicks coach Larry Brown is a "Baby Geezer" - and "optimism, ambition, pleasure in daily routine." Hmm, so a grandparent whose daily goal is to clean out the rest of the nursing home during Bingo is......

Unlike the uncertain Democratic mayoral primary, the other races were more decisive. In three big races, the incumbents prevailed, with Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau (top left), Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum (top middle), and Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes (top right) winning their respective Democratic primaries. Morgenthau had his first real challenger in years with Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder, but managed to hold her off. Gotbaum won very decisively against challengers like the Norman Siegel and......

Okay, here's a 11PM check on the votes: With 5999 precincts of 6033 precincts reporting, it seems like Fernando Ferrer has a 39.99% of the vote, with Anthony Weiner snatching up 28.9%. C. Virginia Fields has 15.89% and Gifford Miller has 10.19%. That is some ouchy for the Miller campaign. If these numbers hold, then there will be a runoff. Ferrer originally had a pretty substantial lead (with 500-some precincts reporting, his lead was......