Newsday is reporting that beloved coal-oven pizza institution Grimaldi’s was shut down today by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. The paper's website has it that the Brooklyn restaurant was seized because of over $150,000 in tax warrants. Agency spokesman Tom Bergin told Newsday that Grimaldi's has been in a dispute with tax officials over allegedly unpaid state sales and withholding taxes for two years. And yet... we swung by Grimaldi's......

Illegally renting subleased apartments as hotel rooms is nothing new, but Raziel Ofer, who "controlled hundreds of units at swanky uptown addresses" (at Woogo.com), was caught by Manhattan prosecutors because he never paid over $1 million in sales tax to the city and state. D'oh! He also apparently "evaded up to $2 million in other fees"; Ofer pleaded guilty and now faces between 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison. Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau groused,......

A grand jury voted to indict former police commissioner Bernard Kerik on federal corruption charges yesterday and, this morning, he surrender to the FBI in White Plains. The indictment was sealed, but the 16 counts include charges of "conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, tax fraud and making false statements." The U.S. Attorney's office, which sought the indictment, and the FBI are giving a press conference now; U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York......