Results tagged “thesmokinggun”

Last week's LA Times article about the Tupac shooting of 1994 (occurring just two years before his murder), led to a lot of chatter about the rapper's death and those who may have been involved. The finger was now being pointed at Sean "Diddy" Combs, who maintained he was not involved.

The Smoking Gun, via a Freedom of Information Act request, received the last photograph taken of John Gotti, the former Gambino crime family head also known as the Dapper Don or Teflon Don.

It's the Smoking Garbage! Lawyers for Brian McNamee, the trainer who alleges his former client Roger Clemens did inject himself with steroids, showed off photographs of alleged injection detritus. The Smoking Gun posted to photos last night and noted, among the "syringes, blood-specked gauze pads, and drug vials, "it is unclear what the significance is of the Miller Lite can seen." (ESPN reports that the can - from Clemens' 2001 NYC trash - contained drug needles!)

Rafael Cruz, whose beating on an A train at the hands - and feet - of a group of teenag girls was captured on video, will press charges with the police. Sources tell the Daily News that Cruz "filed a formal complaint with the NYPD Transit Bureau" last night. As some people wondered if the video was fake, one man, Kevin Belvin, recognized his daughter Kierra Brown as one of the girls seen in the...

The police are continuing to investigate the video of a man being beaten by a group of girls on an A train. While there's still debate about whether the filmed attack was real or staged, this much is known: The teen who filmed the incident, Kajdera Holmes, has retained a lawyer to speak to reporters. The Daily News has two articles about the incident. The News had asked its readers if they knew any of...

After a video of a man being harassed and beaten by a group of teens was publicized by The Smoking Gun, some wonder if the tape is real. The main reason why most people suspect it could be staged is because the teen who filmed the incident is an aspiring filmmaker. Seventeen-year-old Kadejra Holmes told The Smoking Gun she didn't have anything to do with the attack and then took the video off YouTube. Her...

The unofficial first and second rules of sane subway rides might be "Do not talk to anyone" and "Don't look anyone in the eye." The Smoking Gun found a crazy video of an adult being beat up by a group of teenage girls on an A train. The adult, who is white, was somehow roped into a shouty exchange with the girls, who are black, and high school student Kadejra Holmes filmed the exchange,...

The Boston priest arrested for stalking "Late Night" talk-show host Conan O'Brien has been found fit for trial. A Manhattan judge declared the Reverend David Ajemian mentally fit for trial after a court-appointed psychologist examined him. Ajemian was arrested after issuing a number of threats to the host of the NBC talk show host and attempts to get into an O'Brien taping. Ajemian was relatively more unhinged than your average show biz stalker. He was...

Former FBI agent Roy Lindley DeVecchio has been on trial for four counts of murder, as prosecutors have accused him of being a mob informant. And the trial is being described as a "blockbuster" because it's "one of the worst law enforcement corruption cases in U.S. history." But DeVecchio wasn't centerstage yesterday - news about former Mayor - and former U.S. Attorney - Rudy Giuliani riveted the court.

Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire investor who New York called an "International Moneyman of Mystery" back in 2002, may be set to plead guilty to having sex with underage girls in Florida, but now there are claims that he was preying on the young in the Big Apple. Maximilia Cordero is suing Epstein for "repeatedly" luring her to his East Side townhouse for sex back in 2000.

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a carjacking on East 108th St. and Farragut Rd. in Brooklyn, a pedestrian struck on 87th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan, and a carjacking/shooting at Grace Ave. and Hammersley in the Bronx. [Tough day for drivers and pedestrians] In possibly the worst idea ever a Staten Island school sub allowed her class to play a game called "Quiet," in which the first student to speak would be pelted...

The Post visited with Abner Louima, one of the city's most famous symbols of police brutality, ten years after the infamous incident at Brooklyn 70th Precinct. Louima had been arrested on August 9, 1997, after a scuffle outside a Brooklyn club. He claimed he was beaten by police officers on the way to the precinct, and later at the precinct, he was further beaten and sodomized with a toilet plunger while handcuffed. Louima had a perforated colon and damaged bladder, and the plunger was also shoved into his mouth, damaging his teeth.

Will we be hearing about lawsuits against the Borat movie for the next few years? On the heels of frat boys and transit workers suing the producers of Borat last year, a New York City businessman is suing Twentieth Century Fox for the "unauthorized and blatantly illegal use" of his likeness in the movie. Jeffrey Lemerond is best known to Borat viewers as the New Yorker who runs away from the faux Kazakh reporter played by Sacha Baron Cohen. The Smoking Gun posted the federal lawsuit; here's the explanation of exactly which horrified New Yorker Lemerond is:

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Hillside Ave. in Queens, commercial robbery on 16th St. in Brooklyn, and a bomb threat on 70th St. and 2nd Ave. in Manhattan.
• We hope some Brooklynites' leases are ironclad, because getting tatooed with an image of your building is the new fashion.
• Mayor Bloomberg conjures the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party by suggesting the likeliehood of a third party candidacy for President.
• Students are sick after partaking in free samples of a milk-beverage product.
• Toll Brothers wants the Jehovah's Witnesses' Brooklyn waterfront property and we can only pray that the buildings will have ludicrous Splendido-ish names
• 7 line trains are set to run on a near-constant basis while the Yankees visit Shea Stadium..
• The federal government is paying a large sum of money every month to house homeless people and criminals in a building once owned by Vincent Astor on 45th St.
• Wild accusations and recriminations are flying not in the pages of the New York Post, but about it, and The New York Times observes; plus, many more pages of fun at The Smoking Gun
• Brooklyn is now officially the new suburbs as dangerous art is removed from a show in an effort to be "careful" and not offend sponsors.

(NYC - West Village - Please No Pee-Pee, by wallyg at flickr)

Get ready for this Sundays 60 Minutes, because there's an intriguing segment: Anderson Cooper interview rapper Cam'ron about the hip-hop community's code of silence when it comes to crimes. In fact, here's an excerpt of their exchange from CBS News:

"If I knew the serial killer was living next door to me?" Giles responds to a hypothetical question posed by Cooper. "I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him — but I'd probably move. But I'm not going to call and be like, 'The serial killer's in 4E.' "

Continue reading "Cam'ron Must Really Believe in Omerta"

Not only do rats like gorditas, they like faux French food too!

Judge Larry Seidlin wept when he gave custody of Anna Nicole Smith's body would go to her baby Danielynn Smith. Well, make that Danielynn's legal guardian, Richard Milstein. Five-month-old Danielynn was practically the only person who wasn't fighting for her mother's body, and the AP called it a "surprise middle course" decision. However, Newsday's Star Struck blog called Seidiln's sobbing "possibly the most embarrassing thing on television since 'The Magic Hour.'" E! Online has the Seidlin quotes

"I want you to understand that I reviewed absolutely everything," Seidlin said before issuing the ruling. "I have struggled with this. I have shed tears.

Continue reading "Bronx Blubber: Crying Judge Gives Anna Nicole to Baby"

After the fun of seeing the 1993 Rudy Giuliani vulnerabilities study on The Smoking Gun, the Post asks if Giuliani's "woman problems" will hurt his chances. Not only was Giuliani married for 14 years to his second cousin, his marriage to Donna Hanover publicly crumbled during his second term as mayor. And he was seeing current wife Judi Nathan before he was formally divorced from Hanover!

Last month, Jason Kidd filed for divorce from his wife, Joumana, citing extreme cruelty. The Nets point guard claimed his wife kicked and punched him, as well as put tracking devices on his cars and computers, not to mention taunted him during games. The Kidds' relationship had its patches and other allegations of spousal abuse - back in 2001, Joumana Kidd had some called 911 while Kidd played for the Phoenix Suns (she said he had punched her in the face because she didn't want him eating their son's French fries).

The Smoking Gun has decided to bookend the weekend with Rudy Giuliani tidbits. On Monday, The Smoking Gun printed parts of Giuliani's 1993 "vulnerabilities study" which, among other things, offered suggestions on how to answer questions about the former mayor's marriage to his second cousin. Today's installment is Giuliani's tour rider for speaking engagements. At $100,000 for one hour Giuliani time (45 minute speech, 15 minutes of Q&A), one also has to provide certain hotel and travel accommodations. The Smoking Gun writes, "We've previously posted the tour riders of Dick Cheney and John Kerry, but those two pols look like pikers compared to the high-rolling, diva-like Rudolph Giuliani, wannabe Republican presidential candidate." Why is Giuliani a diva? He needs at least a Gulfstream IV! And he doesn't like "direct, on-camera flash bulbs," either, but we can't blame him on that count - they do make him look more ghostly.

Just in time for whenever Rudy Giuliani decides to announce he's running for President, The Smoking Gun has excerpts from his 1993 vulnerability study that offered rebuttals whenever certain charges were levied. For instance, the whole "marrying his second cousin" thing. Or avoiding military service. Or being racist. Clearly, the study helped some, as Giuliani did defeat Mayor David Dinkins.

The drug dealer Kenneth McGriff, who was convicted last year for killing two rivals, was sentenced to life in prison "without the possibility of release" in federal court yesterday. McGriff led a violent drug crew, the Supreme Team, in the 1980s and then became a hip-hop world fixture, working with Murder Inc. While prosecutors were unable to prove that McGriff laundered money through Murder Inc., they did try to convince jurors that he deserved death for hiring a hit man to kill Eric Smith and Troy Singleton in 2001. A few weeks ago, the judge in the case told the federal prosecutors not to pursue the death penalty, saying that in his opinion, "there is no chance in the world there would be a death penalty verdict in this case."

We'd describe recently resigned State Comptroller Alan Hevesi's expression (and posture) as "Worst Day Ever."

This is probably the first September 11-related lawsuit involved nudity. Queens resident Mark DelCore is suing various Fire Island officials for the right to have his rat terrier along when he sunbathes nude. Why does he want to sunbathe nude? The Smoking Gun explains:

DelCore said that he was in a lower Manhattan gym on the morning of the World Trade Center attack and, when the planes hit, was forced to leave the facility while still wet. After the first tower collapsed, DelCore said that he was covered with a "light dusting" of an unknown substance (which attached to his wet skin) as he ran north from the scene. His resulting condition, which he said does not have a name, led to him going on disability from his job with a New York bank.

Yikes. DelCore says he also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and needs to sunbathe nude since his skin needs sun exposure. And the beach at Fire Island is one of the only ones where he can legally sunbathe nude, and he needs his rat terrier, Cheekies, because the canine provides "emotional support and comfort." DelCore considers Cheekies, who hasn't been registered as a service animal, to be a service dog for his therapeutic qualities. But Fire Island officials say they only allow seeing eye dogs. One assistance dog training company told Newsday, "There is a very clear line between therapy animals and service animals. Service animals are taught to perform very specific tasks for disabled individuals." True, but animals do have many therapeutic qualities; for instance, some pets apparently lower people's blood pressure because they are calming.

against the law. And who knew he drove a Ford Escape?

Hot 97's landlord is suing in order to evict the troublemaking station from its Tribeca building. This comes after the NYPD installed a camera to surveil/scare away activities outside the studio (Hot 97, for their part, says they like the camera). The District Council of Carpenters Benefits's lawyer claims that "Hot 97 is a public and private nuisance to the people of New York. They are fostering a level of violence to ensure a high rating," but Hot 97, which has the lease until 2012, says that there are no legal grounds to evict them. Further, Hot 97 recommends the the station, the landlord, and the NYPD meet to work out a security plan. We'd love to be in that meeting! This ruling will be interesting, because it'll pit a safety issue versus the right to lease. Can you evict your law-flouting, violence-attracting tenant?

- And it's National High Five Day

The cockpit recording from United Flight 93 on September 11 was played in the courtroom of Zacarias Moussaoui's death penalty trial. The 31 minute tape details, as the Daily News puts it, "the charge toward the cockpit, yelps of pain, groans, crashing sounds and the panic of the hijackers as the Americans tried to shove their way in," as well as hijackers yelling "Sit down!" and someone saying, "I don't want to die." The hijackers also repeatedly said, "In the name of Allah. I bear witness that there is no other God but Allah," (the NY Times says Moussaoui smiled "broadly" when that was played). The prosecution rested, and the defense will attempt to show the jury that Moussaoui does not deserve the death penalty, the strategy being to show that he was actually a fringe member of Al Qaeda and that he's mentally ill, deluding himself into thinking he's a mastermind of the plot.

- And it's the first night of Passover! There are some community seders from the 14th Street Y...and if you want to go all out, we recommend this matzoh-style yarmulke - hello, afikomen!