Tag: new york

Crypto investor allegedly tortured captive Italian businessman with a chainsaw for weeks in luxe NYC pad in sadistic scheme to gain password: sources

A cryptocurrency investor from Kentucky is suspected of torturing an Italian businessman with a chainsaw in a sadistic, weeks-long extortion attempt to gain the password for his accounts at a ritzy Manhattan apartment – before the captive made a daring escape, police sources said.

John Woeltz, 37, was arrested after the bloodied and bruised businessman – a 28 year-old man – broke out of the SoHo house of horrors Friday morning, ran to a police officer and said he’d been held prisoner for more than two weeks, the sources said.

Cops rushed to the luxurious Prince Street pad – which Woeltz was allegedly renting for roughly $30,000 to $40,000 a month – and discovered multiple Polaroid photos showing the businessman being tied up with electrical wire and tortured, including one of him bound to a chair with a gun pointed at his head, according to the sources.

Since being taken captive, the businessman had been bound with an electric cord, Tased while his feet were put in water, pistol-whipped, forced to take cocaine and threatened to have his limbs cut off with an electric chainsaw, the sources said.

The nightmare erupted from a dispute over cryptocurrency, in which the suspect allegedly tried to extort millions of dollars from the man by unleashing a litany of horrific tortures, according to sources.

The man was rushed to Bellevue Hospital for treatment, while cops arrested Woeltz, who was expected to face an assault charge, the sources said.

Woeltz was charged Friday night with two counts of second-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree, first degree unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon.

A second person — 24-year-old Beatrice Folchi of Manhattan — was also arrested and charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree unlawful imprisonment.

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Thousands of rent-stabilized NYC apartments face foreclosure in tenant ‘bloodbath’

Thousands of rent-stabilized apartments in NYC are under threat of foreclosure as an increasing number of landlords stop paying their mortgages — making the coveted units even more scarce, insiders told The Post.

Buildings with a cumulative 176 rent-stabilized units have been foreclosed upon since 2022 – a figure that’s been doubling every year on average — with another 2,093 stabilized units have been put on notice by banks in April that landlords are defaulting on their mortgages, according to an analysis by PropertyShark data.

“It’s a bloodbath,” said Sarah Saltzberg, co-owner of Bohemia Realty Group, who rents pre-war units in upper Manhattan.

Owners lose money on stabilized units, so they leave them empty and skip the listing — or walk away entirely, leading to foreclosures, Saltzberg said.

“The owners are under water — that’s why in the past year it keeps happening over and over,” she said.

Many of the pre-1974 buildings — the year NYC established the rent stabilization system — desperately need repairs, but owners have stopped investing due to 2019 laws capping rent hikes after improvements at 2% and banning landlords from raising rents by up to 20% upon vacancy — changes that cut property values. Rising interest rates over the past three years also slowed renovations to a crawl.

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Hochul to DOJ: Stop Targeting N.Y. Democrats

New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul has urged the Department of Justice to “stop targeting Democrats here in New York” amid a flurry of investigations into high-ranking past and present government officials of the Empire State.

During a press conference in Albany on Wednesday, Hochul was asked by a reporter if she thought the slew of investigations into high profile Democrat lawmakers were politically motivated. “Hell, yeah,” Hochul answered.

“The question is when will [U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi] stop politicizing the Department of Justice and just do their jobs?” Hochul asked reporters.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his responses to Republicans on his handling of the COVID-19 lockdowns.

In March, Cuomo announced his intention to run for mayor of New York City, taking on current Democrat Eric Adams who has fallen out of favor with the liberal establishment over his embrace of some of President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration policies. Adams has since seen his own federal investigation dropped by Bondi’s DOJ.

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New York Marijuana Officials Launch Interactive ‘Buy Legal’ Map To Help Consumers Find Licensed Dispensaries

New York officials have launched a new online map that’s meant to help adults locate licensed marijuana retailers—one of their latest efforts to encourage consumers to buy their cannabis from the regulated market.

After a rocky rollout of the state’s legalization law opened the door to a proliferation of illicit marijuana shops, the governor and Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) have prioritized educating the public about the need to purchase their products from licensed dispensaries as a health and safety imperative.

To that end, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) started a “Buy Legal” campaign in 2023. And the latest iteration of that campaign is a “new, consumer-friendly tool that helps New Yorkers locate licensed, open dispensaries across the state,” OCM announced on Wednesday.

“Whether you’re looking for adult-use or medical cannabis, delivery services, or equity-owned businesses, the Buy Legal map makes it easier than ever to shop safer, legal, and local,” it said, adding that people can “search by location, name, or filters like delivery” and also view “operating hours, website links, and real-time directions.”

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Andrew Cuomo’s pandering to the vile teachers union sets a record for shamelessness

Even in a state packed with shameless politicians, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo has long stood out — but his gyrations in wooing the United Federation of Teachers as he runs for mayor are still a marvel to behold.

To be clear: We’ve long had the impression that Cuomo privately despises New York’s teachers unions, whether on personal grounds or (conceivably!) the principled objections we share; it’s one of his most attractive qualities.

And he took on all the state’s teachers unions early in his first back term as governor, first by championing charter schools against an assault by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and then by pushing for a rigorous-sounding statewide public-schoolteacher-evaluation process — a drive for which he declared himself “the students’ lobbyist.”

The unions hate charters, but saw the evaluations as an existential threat, since the point of them was to get incompetent teachers fired; they fought back, and beat him soundly.

But now the UFT could derail his comeback run, so Cuomo’s desperate to jump if he even thinks the union might’ve said “frog!”

At a cozy sitdown with UFT boss Michael Mulgrew and union activists last weekend, the ex-gov attacked his own past support for teacher evaluations and disowned the money-saving “Tier 6” public pension reforms he pushed through as gov.

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New York Officials Take Steps To Expand Marijuana Farmers Market Program

New York marijuana regulators are moving forward with new proposed regulations around the state’s so-called “cannabis showcase” program, which allows licensed businesses to sell to consumers at pop-up, farmers market-like events.

Members of the Cannabis Control Board (CCB), which oversees the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), voted without opposition at a meeting on Tuesday to advance the 23-page showcase expansion plan, which next proceeds to a public comment stage.

The new rules follow the enactment of legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in March that built on the existing showcase program, which was first created in 2023.

In a presentation to the board on Tuesday, John Kagia, OCM’s director of policy, said the program has “proved to be a particularly compelling way for the new, fast-growing, regulated cannabis market to get out in the community, to build relationships with consumers and to begin the process of normalizing cannabis in the state of New York.”

Between summer 2023 and the end of that year, he noted, New York saw over 60 showcase events that together brought in more than $10 million in revenue for participating businesses.

“It really established that there was real interest, both from the licensees and from the communities where these events were being hosted, to allow cannabis to exist out of the four walls of our retail dispensaries,” Kagia said.

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Trump officials allow NY wind farm project to resume construction following intervention from Hochul, Adams

The Trump administration lifted a stop-work order that threatened over 1,000 jobs at a wind farm project off the coast of Long Island Monday — at the behest of Gov. Kathy Hochul and Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams.

Construction at the Empire Wind 1 site was halted on April 16 after the Department of the Interior concluded that the project and its permit approval were “rushed through” by the Biden administration.

The project, just one cog in New York’s grander push to become fossil fuel-free by 2050, is set to power 500,000 homes through green energy provided by wind turbines. It has faced steep criticism from Nassau County officials, who claim that the project threatens marine life and the local fishing industry.

Hochul promised to fight the stop-work order the same day it was put into place, noting that the bipartisan plan had “already put shovels in the ground.”

“I knew this critical project needed to move forward and have spent weeks pushing the federal government to rescind the stop work order to allow the workers to return and ensure this important source of renewable power could come to fruition,” Hochul said.

“I want to thank President Trump for his willingness to work with me to save the 1,500 good-paying union jobs that were on the line and helping get this essential project back on track. New York’s economic future is going to be powered by abundant, clean energy that helps our homes and businesses thrive. I fought to save clean energy jobs in New York — and we got it done.”

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U.S. Coast Guard REJECTS Chuck Schumer’s Idiotic Suggestion That Trump Admin. to Blame for Mexican Ship Accident in NYC

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer actually tried to blame the Trump administration for the Mexican Navy accident over the weekend, where a tall training ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge.

This is definitive proof that Schumer’s criticisms of Trump have just become a reflex that is cartoonishly stupid.

He tried to imply that DOGE related cuts at the U.S. Coast Guard were somehow to blame.

The Coast Guard has responded, and they have completely rejected this idiocy.

FOX News reports:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested that the Department of Government Efficiency may be at least partly responsible for a Mexican navy tall ship crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday night.

Schumer made the claim in a press release on Sunday, saying he had been briefed on the details of the deadly crash, which left two people dead and over a dozen more injured. Schumer argued that a U.S. Coast Guard system may have been operating at partial capacity due to a DOGE hiring freeze at the Department of Homeland Security, but the Coast Guard itself says the system was “fully functional during the incident.”…

The Coast Guard rejected Schumer’s claim in a statement of its own. Furthermore, there were no other ships involved in Saturday’s crash that would have involved the VTS.

The Coast Guard told Fox News Digital that VTS was “fully functional during the incident and operating in accordance with established procedures to manage commercial traffic and facilitate safe navigation.”

Schumer even posted this stupidity on Twitter/X and still hasn’t taken it down.

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AOC’s Constituent Says the Congresswoman Ditched Her Own Town Hall After She Asked About Crime in the District

A constituent of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recounted to Fox News how the congresswoman abandoned her own town hall event in the Bronx after she asked her about rising crime in the district.

Guadelupe Alvarez told the network that she had asked Ocasio-Cortez what she is doing for the district, which is facing increased crime and prostitution.

As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier this week, major crime has skyrocketed by 70 percent in the congressional district represented by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez since she assumed office in 2019. This surge in illegal activity is more than double the overall increase across New York City, which remained at 30 percent during the same period.

“I went to one of the town halls where she was speaking in the Bronx, I believe, and when I asked the question of what are you doing for Jackson Heights? How are you aware of the crime and prostitution? Have you seen the neighborhood lately? She dismissed me,” Alvarez recalled.

The congresswoman walked out instead of answering the simple questions.

“She said she’d be right back and never came back and just handed the floor to her assistant, which was really infuriating,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez also alleged that people at the town hall were given pre-written questions to ask the congresswoman.

A new poll has found that Democrat and left-leaning voters view either Ocasio-Cortez or “no one” as the face of their party.

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AOC’s district sees 70% crime surge — more than double NYC average: ‘She doesn’t care’

What these neighborhoods really need is a “Squad” car.

Major crime rose by an eye-popping 70% in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Bronx and Queens district since the ‘defund the police’ socialist lawmaker took office in 2019 — more than double the citywide increase of 30% over that same span, a Post analysis of NYPD data shows.

The 110th Precinct in Queens, which covers part of the infamous “Market of Sweethearts” human-trafficking and prostitution mecca on Roosevelt Avenue, saw a 105% surge, the highest increase of any NYC precinct in that period.

Major crimes consist of murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and auto theft.

The 115th Precinct, which also serves part of Roosevelt Avenue in addition to Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, and north Corona, saw major offenses rise by 85%.

The other four precincts in her Queens-Bronx congressional district similarly saw major-crime increases higher than the citywide average.

Some residents blamed the increasingly lawlessness squarely on the no-show lawmaker.

“She’s not doing s–t. She doesn’t live in the neighborhood, she doesn’t care,” vented Elmhurst resident Guadelupe Alvarez, who has lived in the 110th Precinct her whole life and is one of several constituents who ripped the jet-setting absentee “Squad” member for letting the district turn to “trash” while she focuses on elevating herself on the national stage.

Alvarez, 34, a former AOC supporter, has had to endure a brothel setting up across the street from her childhood home, and the drunken men she says constantly swarm in and out of the place. She said she also regularly witnesses gang activity, car thefts and assaults, but nothing gets done.

She used to dream of building a life in the neighborhood, but not anymore.

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