If a place isn't reviewed on Yelp, does it even really exist? It's a haunting existential social media question, but we have been able to confirm that Rikers Island, Manhattan Central Booking, and the 19th precinct station house are all real legitimate establishments—the Post reports today that Yelp users "have started branching out from their foodie focus by writing reviews of the city's jails. According to Yelp, Rikers Island is the Per Se of pokeys, getting an average rating of 4½ stars." One reviewer who gave it five stars writes: more ›

Last July Gothamist broke the story about the Hasidic cop who allegedly told a dog-toting straphanger, "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman" as he handcuffed her and allegedly grabbed her breasts. The next day, the Post spun the story 180 degrees with a statement from a mysterious witness, the infamous (non-existent?) Viane Delgado, who told the tabloid that the dog owner, one Chrissie Brodigan, had shouted anti-Semitic slurs at the officer. (Brodigan says she lost her job because of the unsubstantiated smear.) And exactly one year later, the Post is reporting on another young woman who got arrested for the same crime. It's tradition! more ›

The Muslim prison chaplain caught bringing razor blades (“the kind found in barbershops”) and scissors into the downtown jail known as The Tombs walked free yesterday when a grand jury couldn’t decide whether to indict him or dismiss all charges. But he still faces charges including felony counts of promoting prison contraband, and has another court date set for April 27. Whatever the decision, the Correction Department says it will seek to fire Zul-Qarnain Abdu-Shahid, who in the 70s took part in a supermarket robbery that resulted in the death of one shopper. more ›

Today Imam Zulqarnain Abdu-Shahid, the Correction Department chaplain and ex-con caught carrying sharp objects (razor blades and a pair of scissors) into a downtown prison, is set to testify in front of a grand jury. Last week the Imam was charged with four counts of first-degree promoting prison contraband. According to his layer, the blades caught by an X-ray machine as the chaplain entered the prison are "the kind found in barbershops." more ›

More trouble at the Tombs! Today cops arrested a Muslim chaplain for smuggling box cutters into the jail in lower Manhattan. Imam Zul-Qarnain Shahid has worked as a spiritual adviser for the city Department of Corrections for three years, and now he may face a prison term of his own. Sources say Sahid was caught this morning attempting to bring three box-cutters into the prison, though so far it's not known why he brought them or for whom, reports the Post. It's not the first scandal to hit the Tombs: last year a chaplain at the facility organized a catered prison bar mitzvah for the son of an inmate, hosting a band and a long guest list of non-inmates. more ›

Former Tombs chaplain Rabbi Leib Glanz apparently was so good at throwing parties for inmates, politicians and his Satmar community alike that his power extended well beyond the jailhouse bar mitzvah where we first encountered of him. Whether it was arranging for ferries that took 10,000 Satmars from Williamsburg to the Jacob Javits Center or hosting a dinner for where his local state senator attempted to get the Orthdox community on board for Governor Paterson's election, Glanz created "a perception that he had political influence...that could help (people's) careers." The rabbi even implied his connections went beyond the earthly plane, saying that he saw "the hand of God" in Paterson's ascension to governor. The Post continues to talk to Corrections officials and inmates who crossed paths with Glanz and now claim that he completely ran the Tombs and could have those who disagreed with him there transferred to Rikers. A worker for the 2005 Bloomberg campaign who dealt with the rabbi tells the Times, “This is the problem: He always erred on the side of helping a little bit too much.” more ›

When Mayor Bloomberg gave an "oy vey" and expressed restrained indignation last week at the revelations about city jail chaplain's pampering of Jewish inmates, he said he didn't want to get in the way of the ongoing investigation of Rabbi Leib Glanz. What he didn't say is that his administration might end up as part of that investigation. Now a report reveals that Bloomberg's top aide, Kevin Sheekey, had three scheduled meetings last fall right before the now-infamous Bar Mitzvah thrown by the well-connected Glanz, who resigned just yesterday. For one of them, Sheekey even trekked out to a catering hall near Glanz's Williamsburg home. A spokesman for the mayor's office says that the meetings were "an effort to listen to different perspectives on similar community issues." He added, "Kevin never had a conversation with Rabbi Glanz that was at all related to the rabbi’s part-time chaplain work. Ever. And he learned about the New York Post story from reading The Post." more ›

Oy vey: The Post reports that Rabbi Leib Glanz has resigned as a city jail chaplain, as tales of his generous ways towards Orthodox Jewish inmates—from allowing one to throw his son's bar mitzvah at the Tombs to entertaining some with clowns and allowing them to have sex with female prisoners—grew. Glanz, who was suspended after the unorthodox bar mitzvah (held at the Manhattan Detention Complex's gym, complete with knives), said, "Yes, I resigned. I decided it was best for everybody." more ›

With one retired Corrections official calling Rabbi Levi Glanz's use of detention facility the Tombs as a lavish social club for Orthodox Jewish prisoners as being "systematic" and something "going on for years that everyone knows about," even more accusations are flying about just how over-the-top the atmosphere could get. The Post talks to Corrections officials who tell them about "a TV satellite truck (coming) to the lockup so that a Jewish inmate could watch a relative's wedding on a live feed." The tabloid deems the live two-way hookup to the wedding in Israel "Jew Tube." One official adds, "The rabbi had brought in wine and food and everything ... and they sat in the visiting area for hours. The rank-and-file [guards] were like, 'You gotta be shittiing me.'" Glanz is currently serving a two-week suspension from his chaplain as the Department of Investigation continues to look into the many allegations that have come out in the days since. more ›

Former police commissioner Bernard Kerik's misdeeds continue to plague Rudy Giuliani's Presidential ambitions, with news that the former Mayor knew that his one-time right hand man vouched for a mobbed-up construction company before appointing him police commissioner. Before Kerik was appointed commissioner, one of Giuliani's top aides was made aware of the fact that Kerik––while commissioner of the Corrections Dept.––met with mayoral aides in a Tribeca bar and defended Interstate Industrial Corp. of criminal wrongdoing, as the firm was undergoing a criminal investigation and also undertaking a $165,000 renovation of Kerik's apartment. While at Walker's [the bar], Kerik allegedly said "If I thought Interstate was mobbed up, do you think I'd let my brother work there?" A city investigation of Kerik's conduct eventually cleared him of wrongdoing, but Giuliani has previously claimed that he didn't know about the matter. more ›

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow called the Transport Workers Union December 2005 transit strike a "criminal act committed against riders" and refused to revote on the post-strike offer that the TWU rejected then accepted. He also told the MTA board that he begged Transport Workers Union head Roger Toussaint to continue negotiatingduring pre-strike negotiations last December.

"I pleaded with Roger Toussaint not to leave. I begged him. I can't remember the last time I begged somebody to do something, but I did that night. I said, 'Roger, don't leave,' and Roger got up and walked out and sent his union out on an illegal strike."

This morning, Transportation Alternatives released its study that shows way too much illegal parking in Chinatown and in that "Civic Center" area of town where the police headquarters and courts are. From the TA press release:

The survey found that between 9 and 10 am on the morning of March 29 there were 99 cars illegally parked on sidewalks and in front of fire hydrants in the area and 16 cars illegally parked blocking a pedestrian refuge island. More than 90% of the cars illegally parked had parking placards that allow for free parking in legal parking spots during "official business," but under no circumstances are to be used to park on sidewalks, in front of fire hydrants or in other illegal ways.

more ›

Interesting fact about the fines imposed on the Transport Workers Union over last December's strike. The TWU can resume collecting membership dues (about $1.5 million per month) if TWU president says the union will never strike again. The thing is that TWU president Roger Toussaint has been pretty adamant about the right to strike, and it'd be unlikely he'd go for it... even though it seems like the union might want some sort of leadership shake-up. And in the "Toussaint's going to jail!" coverage that is so excitable in the tabs, the Daily News looks at what Toussaint can expect in jail. He'll be at "The Tombs" on White Street (aka the Bernard Kerik Complex!) downtown, in a 6" by 8" cell, and breakfast include "cereal, bread and fruit." more ›