A gems dealer from Forest Hills claims he made a couple of bad investments this week when, after blowing a deal to sell about $500,000 worth of uncut diamonds, he hooked up with a hooker who ran off with the loot, the Post reports. It all started when Kurt Kaiser, 47, was drowning his sorrows at a Central Park South bar when a woman approached him and asked if she could keep him company. What could go wrong? more ›

A chef from Portland with a "passion for foraging" has landed in Tribeca in an intimate new restaurant called Atera, where he'll offer a $150 10-course tasting menu for just 17 diners at a time. Well, it's not exactly new—the space was formerly Compose, which also offered similarly pricey ($120) tasting menus at an intimate chef's table. The owner's still the same, but the chef is Matthew Lightner, who is "something of a critical darling and one of the big players in the foraging scene," according to the Times. more ›

Tribeca residents had been asking for a stop light at the corner of Duane and Greenwich for more than twenty years. The intersection sees a ton of pedestrian traffic from two schools, a park and playground, a senior center, and the large Independence Plaza development, as well as a high volume of speeding taxis and cars shooting down Greenwich at full speed. But despite more than ten accidents in recent years and dozens of requests from community residents and local officials, the Department of Transportation refused to install a new light. Then, five months ago, three-year old Ozzie Carty was struck by a taxi, and the DOT finally gave in. more ›

Police are seeking a man who called 911 from a Tribeca pay phone last night and confessed to killing his girlfriend. A police source tells the Daily News that the call came in around 6:42 p.m. from a phone at Church and Warren Streets and that initially it was deemed to be from a "suicidal male." "He said he wanted to hurt himself," the source says. "Then he confessed to having killed his girlfriend. Then he ran off and left the line open." Thirty minutes later, a 48-year-old woman was found dead of apparent head trauma inside an apartment on East 174th Street in the Bronx. more ›

According to a Manhattan restauranteur, a camera-shy health inspector fired off a litany of violations as soon as he began documenting the inspection. Bill Koulmentas, the owner of George's diner in Tribeca, tells the Post that because he pulled out his iPhone to document a visit from a DOH inspector yesterday, the inspector became angry and wrote him up for 65 points worth of violations, and shuttered the restaurant for the first time since September 11, 2001. "They can do anything they want, Koulmentas says. "Something's out of control here. It's lies, lies, lies." more ›

Less than a month ago, upscale kosher food court Milk Street Cafe closed its doors in the Financial District permanently only six months after opening; owner Marc Epstein described himself as "collateral damage" from the ousted Occupy Wall Street encampment, which he blamed for hurting business. But maybe the space just needed a true entrepreneur to run it properly—someone who is ultra-classy, who never knows when to back down. Someone who has "enormous balls". To that end, the site at 40 Wall Street will soon rise like a phoenix upon the financially-backed wings of The Donald. more ›

Police are asking for the public's help in finding a man suspected of tying up and beating a 23-year-old woman while robbing a Tribeca office on Monday afternoon. more ›

If you managed to survive the great Lulav Shortage of 2011 and are ready to shake those etrogs for the Jewish holiday Sukkot, which began this week, here's where to do it: more ›

New bars are always looking for new ways to drum up the finances to open, but one upcoming TriBeCa waterhole's scheme is a new one to us. Until it is fully funded, The Elevens is selling off a limited number of "seats" for $500 bucks. Those "seatholders" are then entitled to 25 percent off of everything they buy for life, the ability to make reservations, access to events and tastings and the promise of a warm welcome. The catch is that the bar will stop selling the "seatholders" once they are funded... more ›

Does looking at all that food porn on your tiny computer screen leave you feeling unsatisfied? The fifth annual NYC Food Film Festival is here to fix you right up. The interactive fest is taking over Tribeca Cinemas from October 13-16, with a whole slew of hunger-inducing films, conveniently paired with the real-life foods they focus on. Taste what you see—that means no more watching Chocolat alone on your couch while inhaling Three Musketeers! more ›

Longtime Tribeca pie hawker Bubby's has apparently been pissing off some sensitive types in the neighborhood who find the smell outside of the restaurant nothing short of repulsive. And they're not going to take it anymore! more ›

Founder of the Tribeca watering-hole boutique Bikini Bar fell to his death from the fifth floor of the business's location at 148 Duane Street last night. 48-year-old Stuart Robert Smith was found by a passerby and declared dead at the scene from what appears to be an accident. According to the shop's website, Smith was a former Navy diver who surveyed sunken ships from World War II and the idea for Bikini Bar arose from his love of the ocean. Smith's wife, fashion designer Aileen Oser, tells the Post that her husband liked going to a garden on the roof to "look at the sky." more ›

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund and leading French politician, pleaded not guilty to charges to sexually assaulting a maid at a Time Square hotel on May 14. When he walked into the courthouse, witnesses told CityRoom that protesters from the hotel workers union yelled, "Shame on you!" more ›

If you (or your super-rich third wife) are shelling out $50,000/month for a TriBeCa townhouse to live in during your house arrest, you probably want to take advantage of the roof terrace, right? The Post thinks there's a party happening at 153 Franklin Street—aka the current residence of accused sexual assaulter and leading French politician, Dominique Strauss-Kahn—because "Flunkies outside Strauss-Kahn's...townhouse were spotted removing boxes for outdoor-patio umbrellas. The umbrellas will be perfect to shield the onetime French presidential contender from the sun -- and prying eyes of the press -- when he steps out onto his townhouse's elaborate planted terrace." more ›

The NYPD conducted a citywide manhunt yesterday after a grand larceny suspect escaped custody and walked out of the First Precinct stationhouse in Tribeca in broad daylight, passing by approximately 100 cops gathering for the funeral of Philip Chlanda, who committed suicide earlier this week. Fred Lando, 44, was being questioned in connection to an unspecified theft, the Post reports, and somehow managed to break into a ceiling crawl space in an interrogation room without being seen. more ›

Celebrity chef David Bouley just opened his new, much-delayed, Japanese restaurant Brushstroke but his neighbors could care less. In fact, one neighbor of Bouley's Duane Street mini-empire has gone and sued the chef over the rancid garbage his staff leaves on the street, claiming it has led to "an infestation of fruit flies, blood-sucking bugs, bugs that just raise welts, odors of rotting garbage, seeping black ooze through the floor and dangerous waste piled high in front of 155 Duane Street." more ›

The TriBeCa Film Festival is back with tickets for the annual Downtown film frenzy going on sale today (you can see our picks here). But how exactly do the films in the festival get into the festival? Good question! To find out, we talked with David Kwok, the Director of Programming for the festival who has been with it since it began. Ever wonder how many people have to watch a movie before it goes into the festival? How they organize their movies? If anyone programming for the TriBeCa Film Festival actually, y'know, lives in TriBeCa? We've got your answers right here. more ›

Yesterday morning, a young woman fell to her death from the balcony of a 26th floor apartment in TriBeCa. Hana Lin's body was found on a fifth floor roof deck area at the luxury 101 Warren Street building early yesterday morning. According to the NY Post, "A source at the scene suspected that Lin stumbled over the waist-high rail trying to retrieve her cellphone, which was found next to her. But investigators also haven't ruled out suicide." more ›

You may remember La La Vazquez from her MTV VJ-ing and hosting reunion shows of various MTV and VH1 reality competitions (Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno, Flavor of Love, I Love New York, For the Love of Ray J) but now she's back in New York—she was born in Brooklyn— as the Big Apple newest WAG. Her husband, Carmelo Anthony, is now the Knicks' big addition and she's going to have her own VH1 reality show, La La's Full Court Life. more ›

A man is accused of assaulting a resident in the TriBeCa building where he was delivering copies of the NY Times. According to the Post, "Luis MacAncela was passing out The New York Times in the building at 50 Murray St. -- where one-bedroom apartments rent for $6,795 a month and there is 24/7 security -- when he sauntered through the 26-year-old woman's door last Sunday at around 4:45 a.m., authorities said." more ›