Results tagged “undercover”

Street gangs used to have way cooler names — like, say, the Devil's Rebels for instance. Now there's some amazing footage that's resurfaced of the '70s Bushwick gang, originally broadcast as part of a 1976 newscast. The footage was allegedly captured using a night vision lens and concealed cameras, and Bushwick BK notes that it all goes down in the 83rd Precinct, "a battleground for the police and young street criminals, where a teenage gang roams the streets at night looking for trouble."

Hot on the heels of their undercover work at the city's trendy nightclubs, Inside Edition heads to a much less glamorous scene: the construction site.

The Natural Resources Defense Council's New York Urban Program Director Eric Goldstein (that's a mouthful) has gone undercover to see what Manhattan retail stores are blasting their air conditioning with open doors to lure the customer inside. This is illegal, of course, and as Goldstein points out, while "the issue isn't tops on the national environmental agenda... it does serve as something of a symbol of shameless wasting of fossil fuels by some of our fellow citizens."

When will people learn that when they are meet a minor in an online chatroom it might very well be an undercover detective? On the heels of the Monday arrest of a Goldman Sachs compliance lawyer who thought he was chatting with a 15-year-old girl (really a Westchester DA's office investigator), now the Queens DA's office has announced a number of charges—including attempted use of a child in a sexual performance, second-degree attempted rape and second-degree attempted criminal sexual act—against a financial analyst Joseph Sulker. According to the DA's office, a male NYPD Vice detective had posed as a 14-year-old girl while chatting with Sulker, 26, between January and July 28 of this year: "The defendant’s messages allegedly were sexual in nature and expressed a desire to meet for a sexual encounter, and included offers by the defendant to pay the undercover persona to perform oral sex on him and to have sexual intercourse and oral sex with both a male and female while he watched." The Daily News says Sulker, currently a temporary worker at a financial firm, was arrested when he arrived at a Wendy's to meet the "girl" on Tuesday. He was released on $15,000 bail and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

A Westchester County middle school social studies teacher and former lacrosse coach has a $500 a week crack addiction and a penchant for underage girls, prosecutors say. Gregg Cavaluzzi, who has taught at six schools (some in NYC) over the last decade but was recently dismissed from Pelham Middle School, was caught in a sting by cops posing as 15-year-old girls in online chat rooms. Thinking an undercover cop was a teen, he allegedly texted, "At a motel in Bronx partying you smoke? Can you get down here" and asked what's "one thing you like to do very dirty." Cavaluzzi was busted when he showed up in Elmsford, NY, for the rendezvous and was charged with enticing a minor for sex, which could get him up to life in prison if convicted. A previous student of Cavaluzzi tells CBS2, "[The girls] used to talk about how he was such a pervert and they all found it very disgusting. He might look at different body parts thinking the girls wouldn't notice but everybody noticed." Cavaluzzi denies the charges; his lawyer says his client suffers from depression and cocaine addiction.

A judge is not pleased with the 46-year-old Brooklyn mother who posed as a "sexy" 30-something to win the confidence of a juror who helped put away her son for 25 years to life. Yesterday Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus threw out a motion filed by Doreen Giuliano, who repeatedly smoked pot and drank wine with former juror Jason Allo, recording conversations which she says proves he lied during jury selection about knowing the defendants. Giuliano's son John Giuca was ultimately convicted, along with another young man, in the murder of a Fairfield college student in 2003 during a long night of partying in Ditmas Park.

A 46-year-old Brooklyn mother who posed as a "sexy" 30-something California transplant in order to win the confidence of a juror from her son's trial has not proven the need for a new trial, prosecutors say. You may recall the story: Doreen Giuliano, whose son John Giuca was convicted in the murder of a Fairfield college student in 2003 during a long night of partying in Ditmas Park, learned that one of the jurors, Jason Allo, knew some of her son's friends, a fact he withheld during the trial. So she slimmed down, dyed her hair, and rented an apartment near Allo in order to befriend him.

Here's today's second instance of Asian weaponry used in a potential crime: A Brooklyn resident was arrested for plotting his wife's murder. The police are pretty sure Rockefeller Auguste was trying to kill his wife because he paid $5,000 to an undercover cop posing as a hit man. Captain James Coan explained, "He felt he had been wronged, and he wanted the 'hit man' he hired to follow his exact instructions - and gave him a samurai sword to be sure." According to the Daily News, Auguste "roughed up" his wife because he thought she was cheating, and when she "reported him for domestic abuse, and Auguste became enraged that she would turn on him." Auguste had requested that the "hit man" bring back her ring as proof she was dead. The wife has gone into hiding.

Six employees at a Manhattan S&M club were arrested this week and arraigned on misdemeanor prostitution charges yesterday. The women were busted for offering more than the standard whips, chains, and ropes that other dungeons offer. The six women, ranging in age from 19 to 39, allegedly offered to extend their services to full sexual intercourse for an additional $220. That's when undercover cops had to say the safety word, "Busted." Presumably, they weren't trussed up with ballgags in their mouths at the time.

The serial sexual predator, who had been arrested 52 times (29 were for sexual offenses) and was arrested for a 53rd time on Wednesday after sexually assaulting a woman on the 6 train, was eligible to be legally institutionalized. However, a State Supreme Court Judge decided to parole him.

Detective Michael Oliver, the undercover cop who fired 31 times at Sean Bell in the fatal November 2006 shooting, told a grand jury last year, "I didn't want to die. I reloaded the gun, and I continued to fire."

Undercover detective Hispolito Sanchez testified for a second day, with prosecutors playing the 911 call he made on November 25, 2006, the night police fatally fired at Sean Bell 50 times.

Early Saturday morning around 2 a.m., an undercover police officer shot and killed a 22-year-old Queens man after he pointed a gun at him and another officer. Earlier in the night, Ronnie Smalls had run from police when they approached him because they recognized him as a known criminal--he'd been arrested nine times before--and suspected he was carrying a gun. When they saw Smalls a second time, he ran again. According to the Associated Press account, with two undercover police chasing on foot and the third giving chase in a car, the officer in the car said he saw the suspect pull his gun and point it at the pursuing officers. At that point, Smalls either tripped or was tackled and the closest pursuing officer fired four shots at Smalls as they struggled on the ground.