In the annals of embezzlement we've seen people take money from all sorts of places. Churches, banks, hospitals, government agencies, PTAs, bridge tolls, unions and so on. And now, with the guilty plea of 54-year-old Margo Reed, we can add overdue library fines to that list. more ›

Police say that three-alarm fire in a Yonkers apartment building yesterday morning was caused by a marijuana grow house. The Journal News reports, "Twenty-four people, 12 adults and 12 children, from 11 families, including the unidentified suspect, were left homeless following the three-alarm blaze at 81 Van Cortlandt Park Ave." more ›

Because no one is content with just leaving people the hell alone to celebrate what they believe in, police in Yonkers are investigating the vandalization of eight different nativity scenes. "It's not about the statute, it's about what it means for you. It hurts," Victoria Beldran told CBS. Beldran's nativity scene was damaged over the weekend, and vandals appear to have hit six homes and two churches. "We believe an attack on one religion is an attack on all and it violates our basic freedoms," Police Commissioner Edmund Hartnett said. more ›

If you've gotten away with murder, you should probably go ahead and keep your DNA to yourself. That seems to be the moral of the story of one Francisco Acevedo, who for years eluded investigators searching for the killer of three New York women. The murders occurred in Yonkers in 1989, 1991 and 1996, and the case went cold until 2009, when Acevedo voluntarily provided DNA as a condition of a parole application after a drunk driving rap. more ›

Using a clever new technique, "foreign gangs" are attempting to steal your debit card information and the last $64 in your checking account. According to CBS, the criminals set up card skimmers on the outside of the ATM entrance, so when you swipe your card to enter the kiosk, your information has been stolen. Asked if the scanners can be identified with the naked eye, a Yonkers police sergeant said, "Absolutely not." Remember when people used to physically remove your wallet on the subway? Ahh, the good old days. more ›

Despite his millions, Mayor Bloomberg drinks the heavenly-tasting NYC tap water just like everyone else, and he doesn't think there's a goshdarn thing wrong with it—and he's not afraid to give the EPA a piece of his mind. more ›

The great chili caper has finally come to an end: a Yonkers woman was arrested at a White Plains Victoria Secret yesterday for dumping a vat of chili on a panties display in a fit of fiery anger. more ›

Yonkers police are getting mighty frustrated that they have yet to be able to capture Ronnell Jones, aka the "cross-dressing killer," who they believe has been hiding in not-quite-plain sight for months now. "I would certainly classify him as a cold-blooded killer. And yes, in my 30-plus-year career in law enforcement I have not encountered somebody hiding from law enforcement for a vicious murder wearing women's clothing," Yonkers Police Commissioner Ed Hartnett told Fox. more ›

Last year police believe that 23-year-old Ronnell Jones and two of his friends broke into an apartment in Yonkers seeking cash and, surprised to find the apartment occupied, left in a hail of bullets that left two dead and four wounded, including a five-year-old boy. While his friends were apprehended, Jones managed to evade capture and now the Yonkers police think he is back in town—dressing as a woman to avoid notice. more ›

Last night Lady Gaga chatted with Jay Leno about the controversy surrounding her new single Born This Way, and its striking similarity to Madonna's Express Yourself. She told the host, “There is really no one who is a more adoring and loving Madonna fan than me. I am the hugest fan, personally and professionally. Well the good news is I got an email from her people sending me their love and support on behalf of the single. And if the queen says it shall be, then it shall be!” But isn't sending love and support via your "people," perhaps... a little passive aggressive? more ›

Libraries are sticklers for their rules—and they have a lot of rules—but check out the latest one at the Yonkers Public Library: NO BALLOONS. While bringing a balloon to the library doesn't seem to be a trend here in the city, it was apparently a thing in Yonkers if enough people were bringing balloons to necessitate this sign. We've contacted the New York Public Library to see if balloons are banned in their branches, or if they'd consider such a ban, and have asked for a list of all banned items from the main branch on 5th and 42nd (if a previous visit there taught us anything, this list will probably include croissants). Stay tuned! [via Scouting NY] more ›

If New York had to pick a 6th borough (or find a replacement for Staten Island if they ever secede), where would it be? A classic pick is Philadelphia, and more recently there's been CRAZY TALK of Cleveland, Ohio becoming a destination for priced-out New Yorkers. In fact, we received many personal messages from ex-New Yorkers living over there, singing its praises as the nation's "best kept secret." more ›

It's pretty clear by now that the SLA, Chuck Schumer and the FDA have gone about this ban of caffeinated alcohol drinks in completely the wrong way. Instead of educating minors on the dangers of binge drinking, or requiring that any alcoholic beverage with a 12% ABV be available only in liquor stores, they decided to ruin the fun for legal adults wanting to indulge in the disgusting, cloying madness that is drinking a Four Loko by banning it everywhere. But dem's the breaks, and now CBS 2 is reporting on Yonkers police cracking down on bodegas selling the drink to kids. Because as we've learned, when a teenager demands alcohol, you're required to sell it to them. more ›

If you're going to get into the scamming business, it's probably not a great idea to make your clientele brides-to-be. According to WCBS, about a dozen women getting ready to walk down the aisle showed up screaming at a Yonkers storefront yesterday. There were accusations of assault and the police were brought in as they caused a scene outside of the Lily Fleur Wedding Dress Shop, where they hoped to confront owner Michelle Mears. more ›

In return for trying to help a man lying on the ground by his bicycle, a Good Samaritan in Yonkers got an 8-inch cut that required 17 stitches to sew up. Police say the brazen robbery happened Wednesday afternoon right across the street from Yonkers police headquarters, after the unidentifed nice guy approached the "injured" cyclist. When he offered to help, the thug sprang to his feet, stabbed him in the stomach, and relieved him of $372 before pedaling away. The bleeding victim reportedly walked to a nearby hospital (not the police station!); his assailant is still at large. Be on the lookout for a 28-year-old, 5'9" Hispanic male wearing a green jacked and hoodie—or just steer clear of anyone who rides a bike. more ›

The NAACP says two white policemen in Yonkers assaulted a black NYPD officer as they tried to pin him with a purse snatching. Sgt. Kenneth Kissiedu, who lives in Yonkers, was heading to work in the Bronx when local cops got a call about a theft nearby. In a canvas of the area, they spotted Kissiedu walking to his car. "Yo, Yo," they allegedly shouted trying to get his attention. Then they saw that he had a gun. more ›

After three days on the lam, four-year NYPD veteran Kelvin Jones was arrested by FBI agents in Yonkers yesterday; Jones was wanted in connection with a million-dollar perfume heist at a warehouse in New Jersey last month. Jones and two other officers allegedly entered the warehouse brandishing guns and badges, yelling, "NYPD! Hands up!" After tying up employees, investigators say that day laborers helped them load the high-end goods in rented trucks, and then they drove off. And they might have savored the sweet smell of success, had they not made one crucial mistake: feds tell the Post the scheme "fell apart when the officers used their real IDs to rent the trucks." more ›

A surprising report in the March issue of Men's Health asserts that Boston is the "least drunk" city in all the land. You really don't need to read much further to realize this news is wicked retarded, but what makes it even more ridonkulous is that the Irish and college capital of America ranks even higher on the sobriety scale than Salt Lake City, which is fourth "least drunk." And ranking #2 for least drunk is Yonkers, which is such a dreary place you need a drink just to get through it on Metro North. more ›

The woman who drove a minivan full of her children and nieces the wrong way on the Taconic yesterday was feeling ill, but there is no indication of drugs or alcohol being involved in Westchester's worst accident in 75 years. Diane Schuler of West Babylon was on her way home from a weekend camping trip upstate when she called her brother on Long Island to say that she felt sick—apparently so ill that he offered to come get her if she would pull over. However, she didn't know where she was exactly and two hours later, she veered onto the other side of the highway. Schuler, 36, apparently had been on the wrong side for 2 miles before crashing head first into an SUV, killing all three Yonkers men inside it—father and son Michael and Guy Bastardi and their friend Daniel Longo. Schuler, her two-year-old daughter Erin and her three young nieces—Emma, Alison and Kate Hance— all died in the crash. The only survivor was Schuler's five-year-old son Brian, who is amazingly in stable condition. A secondary collision with a Chevy Tracker left a Freehold couple with minor cuts that they were treated for. Police now await autopsy and toxicology results to learn more details of Schuler's condition. more ›

The hailstorm that hit Yonkers on Monday definitely left a trail of destruction in Yonkers. Thanks to the 80 MPH winds, a tree fell into Jennifer Crespo's home's chimney, which then crashed into her 7-year-old son's bedroom. Thankfully, little Trent slept in the basement—his parents didn't want to move him since he looked so peaceful; the boy told the Daily News, "I would be dead, and my mommy would be crying a whole lot," while his mom wept, "I'm just so grateful my son wasn't in his bed because it's covered with bricks." And 89-year-old Grace Martini shared a photograph of her basement—filled with three feet of hail! The NY Times spoke to the National Weather Service's Joe Polina, who said El Nino and global warming weren't the culprits, "Normally, we do see thunderstorms, some of which do become severe in spring and summer, but this year, especially with the amount of rain, it’s been a little on the abnormal side." Further, "The culprit is the polar jet stream: a fast-moving air current that controls the movement of fronts and weather systems and is usually north of New York by summer, he said. This year, the jet stream has stayed on a southerly course, causing more storms to develop." more ›

Thanks to our coup-coup State Senate, the city has frozen all hiring. The State Senate hasn't been able to act on legislation that allows the city to maintain a balanced budget; Mayor Bloomberg said, "The gridlock in the State Senate imperils the City’s budget," and the hiring freeze "includes a class of 250 Police Recruits, who were set to enter the academy this week, along with Firefighters, School Safety Agents, 911 and 311 call takers, and EMTs. Further, we will be reviewing all City contracts to ensure we do not enter into non-essential contracts. We have a legal mandate to produce a balanced budget - something we’ve done for seven consecutive years - so we have to act responsibly." Also under pressure from the Senate's inaction: Yonkers, which is the 4th largest city in the state and which needs the Senate to pass bills so the State Comptroller can approve its budget. more ›

A quarrel between two roommates on the Upper West Side left one dead yesterday, stabbed several times inside his apartment. Police responded to a 911 call around 12:30 p.m. yesterday and discovered the body of the 51-year-old victim already deceased when they arrived on the sixth floor of 145 W 71st Street. West Side Spirit reports that elevators were shut down and the SWAT team called in as part of the initial response. Eventually police tracked down the roommate, 51-year-old Frederick Zappulla, in Yonkers after he had allegedly confessed to the crime to his brother. Zappulla was charged with second-degree murder after police interrogated him for several hours. The Post says that the victim worked as a cleaner and had lived in the building for over thirty years. more ›

Last week, a man's body was found in a suitcase, at a park in Yonkers (the dead man's leg fell out of the suitcase when a park worker went to inspect). Now an autopsy has found that the man had 50 heroin packets in his body. Police think he died when one or two broke open. Westchester County police said that the street value of the drugs was about $100,000. They do not think the man was killed by drug dealers, since the dealers would "have cut his body open for drugs." A police spokesman said, "How he got to the park with the drugs still inside him is still piece of the puzzle." 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 ›

Jim Fullington, better known as ECW champion "The Sandman," was finally able to post his $10,000 bail and leave a Westchester County jail. Fullington had been arrested on Sunday night, after getting into an altercation with restaurant workers (and, later, the police) during Captain Lou Albano's 75th birthday in Yonkers. Fullington had prior out-of-state felonies on his record (like burglaries when he was 20) that held up the bail hearings. Fullington and his lawyer will return to court next week to discuss the charges; his lawyer thinks some of them are too severe and added he did not believe his client had "roid rage." more ›

Take one Yonkers restaurant, add a number of professional wrestlers celebrating Captain Lou Albano's 75th birthday, and you get Jim "The Sandman" Fullington losing it-- to the point where a SWAT team had to be called in to settle the matter. La Lanterna employees called the police because Fullington was throwing glasses at them; the Journal News reports that by the time police arrived, Fullington was "still flinging glasses from a tray at employees" and then even threw glasses at the cops, too. (A witness told the Post that Fullington and La Lanterna's owner had gotten into a fight, and the owner pulled a beer bottle on the wrestler.) Fullington was charged with resisting arrest, assault, criminal mischief and more. 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 ›