Romanian ATM skimmers strike again! In yet another sign we need to get better about monitoring our bank statements, the U.S. Attorney's office today announced that the Secret Service arrested Laurentiu Iulian Bulat [PDF] and charged him with participating in a fraud ring that managed to steal at least $1.5 million from HSBC customers. According to the complaint, Bulat and his friends hit up more than 40 ATMs in Manhattan, Long Island and Westchester in less than a year. more ›

You think it is hard getting a cab? Try catching one while in a wheelchair. It isn't easy, and despite the TLC making a big fuss about their "Taxi of the Tomorrow" competition, it isn't going to get better anytime soon. Of the three finalists for the title, the TLC managed to choose the two models that aren't handicap-accessible—a fact that the U.S. Attorney's office reiterated yesterday when it surprisingly came out in support of a lawsuit that argues the city's cabs violate the Americans With Disabilities Act. The U.S. Attorney has been investigating the issue since May. more ›

Hundreds of officers and agents from local, state, and federal agencies, led by the FBI, conducted early morning raids in Newburgh, NY today, in an attempt to address the outsized violence in the small city. The Times Herald-Record reports there were two operations: "Blood Drive" which "targeted 60 suspected members of the Bloods, including the reputed leader Anthony 'Double O' Boykins and his 18-year-old replacement, Joseph McLean" and "Black Crown," which "targeted 18 members of the Latin Kings." Federal indictments are expected later this afternoon. WABC 7 reports, "The Bloods will be brought to Lower Manhattan, and the Latin Kings will be brought to White Plains." more ›

Everyone's favorite target these days is now under criminal investigation. Federal prosecutors are now looking to whether Goldman Sachs' employees in mortgage trading operation committed securities fraud. The investigation apparently stems from the SEC's civil fraud lawsuit against Goldman regarding mortgage trading. The Wall Street Journal reports it's unclear whether charges will be brought, adding, "Many criminal investigations are launched that never result in any charges." more ›

The NY Times offers a profile of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who led the investigation into Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's dealings. Previously, he was an assistant U.S. Attorney in NYC between 1988 and 2001, making "his reputation [here] prosecuting Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman... who plotted to bomb local landmarks... and helping to build a criminal case against Osama bin Laden." This tidbit from a 2005 Newsweek article is also telling: "Growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., in the 1970s, Patrick Fitzgerald was so determined to attend the prestigious Regis High School that even a rejection letter couldn't keep him away. When his carefully prepared application was denied, Fitzgerald dialed up Regis's director of admissions and protested that there must have been some mistake. Sure enough, the school had mixed up his entrance exam with that of another Patrick Fitzgerald of Brooklyn who got lower marks. The right Patrick Fitzgerald entered Regis that fall." more ›

Michael Garcia, who is leaving the U.S. Attorney's office for private practice, explained why former governor Eliot Spitzer isn't facing federal charges for his involvement with a prostitution ring. In an interview with the NY Times, Garcia "said that although there was evidence that Mr. Spitzer had violated the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting people across state lines for the purpose of prostitution, there were none of the other factors that traditionally weighed in favor of bringing charges, like the use of juvenile prostitutes, or commercial or other exploitation of them." He added,"I think at the end of the day that decision is the right decision. And it’s justice in that case. And I stand by it.” more ›

The Yonkers police officer accused of throwing a woman onto a restaurant floor is saying that he did so because the woman was drunk and interfering with police. Irma Marquez is suing Yonkers police for $11 million for being body-slammed face-first into a tile floor by veteran officer Wayne Simoes last year. Marquez was in the hospital for days with a broken jaw and intense bruising on her face. She says she was attacked while trying to attend to her niece who was hit with a bottle. The accusation that she was intoxicated came out in court on Friday. Marquez's lawyer says that two other officers have already testified that she wasn't getting in the way. more ›

The U.S. Attorney's Office won't need Mary-Kate Olsen to testify because it has closed its investigation into how Heath Ledger obtained painkillers which contributed to his death. Rumors swirled about MKO's involvement and how she would only talk if given immunity, leading her lawyer to proclaim, "Mary-Kate Olsen had nothing whatsoever to do with the drugs found in Heath Ledger's home or his body, and she does not know where he obtained them" and that she had cooperated with the government. A source summed up the feds' interest in the actress to the Daily News, "We don't know where [Ledger] got the other narcotics. No one interviewed suggested (Olsen) gave him the drugs. But (Olsen) may have known where the drugs came from." more ›

An 8-year veteran of the Yonkers police department was arrested for allegedly "body-slamming" a woman at a restaurant in 2007. Wayne Simoes was arrested and charged, per the U.S. Attorney's office, "with violation of federal civil rights laws" because it's illegal to for law enforcement to use "excessive force..the course of an arrest, stop, or seizure." more ›

Twelve members of the Colombo crime family, including its acting boss, were charged with 17 counts brought forth by the U.S. Attorney's Office, including "racketeering, murder, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and loansharking." Nine were arrested during Wednesday morning raids. more ›