Civil rights attorney Ron Kuby fired off a letter to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara on Monday asking his office to pursue charges against NYPD officers who used excessive force against Occupy Wall Street protesters last fall. "The DA's Official Corruption Unit, which is responsible for this investigation, seems more interested in pursuing hypothetical police officers with possible ties to prostitutes than with prosecuting actual police deputy inspectors for brutality," Kuby writes. more ›

Felix Rivera-Pitre, the protester who was punched by NYPD Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona during a Occupy Wall Street march on October 14, met with the Manhattan DA's office yesterday. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne had claimed that Rivera-Pitre attempted to elbow Cardona, and that they intended to arrest him. more ›

Felix Rivera-Pitre, the protester who was punched by NYPD Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona during a violent clash between police and OWS protesters on October 13th has agreed to sit down with city prosecutors on Monday. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne previously claimed that Rivera-Pitre had tried to elbow Cardona, and added that the NYPD was seeking his arrest. "The DA's office…has informed me Felix will not be arrested until the DA's office completes its investigation and makes a decision as to whether to press charges," his attorney, Ron Kuby, told the Daily News. more ›

Felix Rivera-Pitre, the protester who was filmed being punched in the face by a white-shirted NYPD officer, has reportedly retained civil rights attorney Ron Kuby in the face of accusations that he tried to assault the officer. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne claimed that Rivera-Pitre instigated the confrontation by attempting to elbow Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona in the face, and authorities want to charge Rivera-Pitre with attempted assault on a police officer, obstructing governmental justice, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. more ›

Socialite Gigi Jordan was arrested for allegedly killing her 8-year-old son in a failed murder-suicide at the Peninsula Hotel. She's been in police custody since February 2010, and yesterday her lawyers, the high-profile team of Alan Dershowitz and Ron Kuby, failed in getting her out on super-expensive bail when they pointed out that alleged sexual assault suspect Dominique Strauss-Kahn got bail. In other words, alleged sexual assault is not the same as alleged filicide. more ›

Not long after a man stabbed two men to death on the No. 2 train with a kitchen knife last year, the NYPD stepped up its enforcement of the city's illegal knife ban, and Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance got Paragon and Home Depot to stop selling illegal switchblades. In April, the crackdown swept up former Pulino's chef Nate Appleman, who was spotted with a chain running from his belt into a pocket, where he kept a two inch long knife that he "used to cut boxes at work." Appleman was arrested, and it seems the NYPD hasn't let up; their latest famous collar is East Village artist John Copeland. But luckily for him, he had lawyer Ron Kuby on his side. (He knows his rights, man.) more ›

The New York man arrested in the Queens terror plot, Ahmad Wais Afzali, had been serving—cooperatively, at least according to his lawyer—as an FBI informant. The 37-year-old Afzali, who served as an imam in a mosque in Flushing and lived in the house pictured, had been passing along to the FBI information on Mohammed Zazi and his son Najibullah, who have also been arrested, according to WCBS 2. more ›

After a recent end-to-end walk through the newly renovated Washington Square Park, there was a certain ring missing from the din— had anyone polled us to see if we smoke (smoke). To make sure that the new-look park stays on the up-and-up, there's word that a local community group is planning to hire additional security that the Post says "will soon be booting druggies and lowlifes" out of the square. more ›

Lawyers for Natavia Lowery, the personal assistant accused of killing Linda Stein, are arguing in the press that a recently released forensics report practically exonerates their client from the crime. Police and the DA's office said that they'll wait until the trial to address the evidence, but that it was not as significant as Ron Kuby and David Pressman were describing. more ›

In an extremely embarrassing incident for the Brooklyn DA's office, an audio technician taped over a statement made by a cop killer while in custody. The DA's office will now have to rely on a detective's notes taken during that statement and the videotape recorded during a follow-up interview with suspect Robert Ellis. more ›

Some new details from the ME's office about slain realtor to the stars Linda Stein. Toxicology tests on Stein, who was brutally bludgeoned to death in her Fifth Avenue apartment in October, show that there were "no traces of marijuana in her system," according to the NY Post. more ›

After a public scrutiny over police procedure when dozens of youths were arrested on their way to a gang members' wake, the Brooklyn DA's office has decided to drop the charges of 22 of the arrestees. Ten others will face charges. more ›

A judge has decided not to grant murder suspect Natavia Lowery bail. Lowery is accused of killing her boss, broker to the stars Linda Stein, by bludgeoning her to death. more ›

The young woman accused of killing real estate broker to the stars Linda Stein pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday. Natavia Lowery was denied bail, and her new defense lawyer, Ron Kuby, made a few points:First, he said Lowery's confession was coerced by the police detectives because, having been interrogated for hours on end without access to a phone or her lawyer "She had to make something up to get out of that... more ›

The New York Times examines the practice of handcuffing prisoners who have been shot by the police, just a few days after the death of Khiel Coppin. The mentally disturbed Brooklyn 18-year-old was handcuffed by cops after they shot him ten times, thinking he was armed with a gun. It turns out, Coppin was armed only with a hairbrush. According to the Times, the practice of handcuffing someone who is already prone and wounded is... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on 160th St. and Sanford Ave. in Queens, a stabbing on 10th Ave. in Manhattan, and a homicide on Kelly and East 163rd Sts. in the Bronx.
• CUNY hired a legendary graffiti artist to teach a course on the subject, which is upsetting a lot of people.
• Ron Kuby is upset that Don Imus is back on the air. Mostly because he took his job to get back there.
• Two Maltese dogs were dog-napped outside of a Manhattan restaurant this weekend. The combined price of the two "designer dogs" was almost $10,000.
• Soldiers from Fort Drum--2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division--returned home from a 15-month tour in Iraq this week. 54 soldiers did not return home alive with them.
• A disturbing account of a Yonkers firefighter, who died choking on his own blood after a series of allegedly negligent missteps at Mount Sinai Hospital.
• Dozens of car windows were shattered over the evening by BB-gun fire in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
• A day-long symposium dedicated to the socio-political importance of the public toilet.

Now that WABC-AM has announced the return of Don Imus to radio airwaves starting December 3, their morning programming is shifting. In fact, Ron Kuby, who with Curtis Sliwa, co-hosted the station's morning drive program, was asked not to come to work starting today in anticipation of Imus' arrival! more ›

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro placed a full page ad in the Staten Island Advance blasting Staten Island D.A. Daniel Donovan. Molinaro called the trial and the sentencing of his 18-year-old grandson Steven to 5 years in jail a "miscarriage of justice." more ›

The same day that Don Imus settled his breach of contract lawsuit with CBS, he was slapped with a lawsuit by a member of the Rutgers women's basketball team. Initial reports yesterday put Don Imus' settlement figures with CBS as high as $20 million, but reports today say that figure is actually much lower. In addition to the settlement, The Post says the two sides agreed to a "non-disparaging" clause, forbidding the sides from criticizing the other. The Daily News talked to industry insiders who believe Imus' settlement was in the $10 million range. more ›

Possibly the only thing more reassuring than marijuana possession charges being dropped against a 71-year-old is the Daily News's determination to make her into a kind of folk hero by calling her "Ganja Granny." Barbara Jackson, who had been smoking pot during a bout with colorectal cancer, credited marijuana with helping her appetite (her weight was under 100 pounds before the MJ, now it's at 124 pounds). But that excuse wasn't enough for undercover police in her Bronx neighborhood, who arrested her when she bought some pot in March. more ›

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, but the marijuana helps me get the food down." more ›

As we all expected, the Hells Angels member who was arrested during a police raid of the motorcycle gang's headquarters plans to sue the city. The police were investigating the beating of a 52 year old woman found on the sidewalk outside the Hells Angels' location on East 3rd Street in the East Village. The police prepared to raid the establishment and brought out snipers, a hostage negotiation truck, and more, and arrested Richard West in the process. more ›

More details have emerged about why the police raided the Hells Angels Headquarters on East 3rd Street yesterday. It turns out that 52 year old Roberta Shalaby was beaten into a coma when, as the Daily News puts it, she "tried to push her way into the Hells Angels clubhouse" Sunday night. Shalaby had gotten into an argument with a female Hells Angel biker at The Edge, and then followed them to their headquarters. Witnesses say she yelled, "You motherf----r! Let me in!" as well as "Come down here and say it like a man!" when someone from the club told her to shut up. Then someone came out and beat her up, according to police. more ›

A strange fight has broken out between the FDNY and the firefighters' union. The union, Uniformed Firefighters Association, says that the FDNY won't allow firefighters to put up stickers of American flags, photographs of family or colleagues lost on September 11, mass cards or other seemingly innocuous items on their lockers. The FDNY says that firefighters are actually allowed to put up flag stickers or other "inoffensive material" and that the debate - which now involves lawyer Ron Kuby fighting for the union's rights - was unnecessary. Of course the FDNY would think that - it's not good when the press and public hears things like this from Kuby: "We entrust New York City firefighters with our lives and the lives of those most precious to us, and we don't trust them to properly decorate a locker?" more ›

The two police officers accused of sexually assaulting a Brooklyn woman they initially stopped for a traffic violation two and a half weeks ago were indicted for sexual abuse yesterday by the Brooklyn DA. It turns out that four more women stepped forward to say that police officers Fernand Clerge and Charles McGeean had abused them as well (the DA's office has only charged the two for one assault). Earlier reports that the victim knew the police officers before are cleared up in the report: Apparently she had been pulled over before by the pair and they asked for her phone number. She did so willing, "believing it would free her from citation," and received two calls from them, according to the Times. During the November 20 assault, the police officers had followed the victim home after a traffic stop and molested her in her apartment; the DA says Clerge's DNA was found in the apartment. more ›

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The protestor who stripped down in Washington Square Park, with the words "Stop the War" painted all over her body, had her case of "public indecency" thrown out by a judge. Haila Faisal was in Criminal Court yesterday, armed with lawyer Ron Kuby, to argue her case, but Judge Stanley Katz said the complaint was too vague (or as the NY Times put it, "too scantily described to warrant prosecution") and therefore threw out the case. Also contributing to the situation: Neither the arresting officer nor someone from the DA's office was present. D'oh! Or perhaps that was their passive-aggressive way of realizing the charges were dumb. more ›