Tag: new york

Illegal immigrant squatters released without bail after arrest on drug, gun charges near Bronx school

Six of the illegal immigrant squatters who were arrested last week in the Bronx have been released without bail, sparking outrage and raising concerns about public safety in the neighborhood.

The eight squatters were apprehended on charges of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance, and acting in a manner injurious to a child. On the property, located next to a school, authorities found a seven-year-old child in the basement.

Hector Desousa-Villalta, who allegedly brandished a gun on the property, was released on supervised release by a Bronx Criminal Court judge, despite the district attorney’s request for bail set at $150,000 cash or $450,000 bond. Subsequently, five more squatters were released after their arraignments, according to the New York Post.

Despite the severity of the charges, the six individuals were granted release without bail, with law enforcement failing to clarify why some men were being held and others were let go. 

The lack of clarity surrounding the rationale behind some individuals’ release while others remain in custody, despite facing identical charges, has added to the frustration. Neighbors, who had witnessed the troubling events unfold, expressed their frustration with the entire situation.

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When the solar eclipse arrives, N.Y. prisons will be locked down

Preparations for April’s solar eclipse have ramped up as the highly anticipated astronomical event nears — those preps, it turns out, include New York’s prisons.

The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced its plans to cancel visitations at nearly two dozen facilities in the path of totality on April 8.

In total, the department said 23 facilities “will experience total darkness ranging from approximately one and a half minutes to approximately three and a half minutes.” Those sites will be closed to visitations all day, while facilities not “directly” in the path will end visits early at 2 p.m.

The DOCCS solar eclipse plan doesn’t just affect visitations. According to Hell Gate, a “system-wide lockdown” will be put in place during the eclipse “as a safety precaution.”

A memo issued by the department earlier this month reportedly states that all persons in DOCCS custody will be locked in their housing units between 2-5 p.m. on April 8, Hell Gate reported. Despite this move, the department allegedly made a large purchase of solar eclipse safety glasses to distribute to the incarcerated population on the day.

April’s event will be New York’s first solar eclipse in almost a century, and the state has been preparing for this moment for months.

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NYC couple are sued by squatters who allegedly took over their $930K investment home and won’t leave: ‘It’s absolutely absurd’

A pair of alleged squatters accused of unlawfully moving into a Queens duplex are suing its rightful owners after refusing to vacate the $930,000 home.

It’s the latest logic-defying chapter in the ongoing squatter saga in the borough, which in recent weeks has seen multiple homes occupied by unwelcome invaders who claim rights to the properties under New York City’s permissive laws.

“It’s absolutely absurd,” said the owner of the latest targeted home, Juliya Fulman — who so far has racked up more than $4,000 in legal bills fighting the suit — to The Post on Sunday.

“These people literally broke into my house. It’s not fair to us as homeowners that we are not protected by the city,” said the Jamaica property owner.

“You can’t really even blame them in a way because it’s handed to them on a silver platter,” Juliya’s husband, Denis Kurlyand, said in a phone call with The Post, calling the squatters “opportunists.

“Something needs to be done because the issue is getting worse. People are taking advantage of these laws, manipulating the laws, and our hands are tied,” he said.

“What did we do? Nothing. We put up a property for rent, and that’s it, now we’re dealing with a nightmare.”

The couple spent $530,000 renovating the Lakeside Avenue investment property and secured tenants for both rental units when their real estate broker, Ejona Bardhi, discovered March 5 that the locks on the property had been changed.

After determining the lock change was not authorized, Bardhi returned to the home and saw through the window a silhouette of a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and holding a drill, the broker told the Daily Mail.

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FDNY firefighters forced to remove flag honoring 9/11 heroes after lefty pol questioned if it’s a ‘political symbol’

Fire Department brass ordered an East Village ladder company to remove its “red line” American flag honoring the squad’s six brothers killed on 9/11 – after a neighborhood resident complained it was “fascist” and a local lefty pol questioned whether it was a “politically charged symbol.”

The shocking order came March 22 after a man claiming he was a staffer for Democratic Manhattan Councilwoman Carlina Rivera confronted firefighters at Ladder Co. 11, sources said.

The man pedaled up to the East 2nd Street firehouse on a bicycle and told firefighters he worked for Rivera and that the councilwoman’s office “complained” to the FDNY three days earlier about the flag – which features a red stripe in tribute of firefighters injured or killed in the line of duty.

He called it a “fascist symbol” and demanded to know why it was still up, sources said.

In a March 19 email to FDNY Intergovernmental Affairs Coordinator Madison Hernandez, Rivera staffer Lisander Rosario said the councilwoman’s office was contacted by the “constituent” twice about the ladder company’s flag and asked if it’s violating department rules.

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Letitia James Faces Growing Pressure to Prosecute Jon Stewart over Property Overvaluation

New York Attorney General Letitia James is facing mounting pressure to prosecute comedian Jon Stewart after it was revealed that he overvalued his Manhattan home — the same so-called “offense” for which James is prosecuting former President Donald Trump.

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), radio host Andrew Wilkow, and Trump attorney Alina Habba are among those calling for “Tish” to show that no one is above the law.

Jon Stewart was recently found to have overvalued his Tribeca duplex  by more than 800 percent when he was selling it back in 2014. The embarrassing revelation comes after the comedian used Monday’s episode of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show to claim Trump was “lying” when valuing his own properties.

Now Stewart has egg on his face, with pressure building on James to ensure the equal application of the law.

Rep. Collins recently posted that he is looking forward “to Letitia James sending the NYPD to haul Jon Stewart to jail and seize his property.”

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Fringe Political Figure and Social Media Personality Identified as Assailant Who Allegedly Punched Multiple Women

The man accused of randomly punching multiple women in downtown Manhattan has been identified as a perennial fringe political candidate and purported scion of a prominent civil rights lineage.

Skiboky Stora, a 40-year-old from East New York, finds himself under arrest and facing assault charges after a reported incident involving TikTok influencer Halley Kate.

The New York Police Department identified Stora as the assailant in a seemingly unprovoked attack that took place in Chelsea, where Kate was punched in the face as she navigated the city streets.

This occurrence, detailed by the influencer to her 1.1 million TikTok followers, sparked widespread attention, amassing over 41 million views. The video catalyzed a series of reports from several other women, who shared their own experiences of being randomly assaulted in Manhattan.

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Report: Jon Stewart Found to Have Overvalued New York Home After Accusing Trump of ‘Lying’ About Property Values

Comedian Jon Stewart is facing online mockery after a new report showed that he overvalued his New York City home during a sale.  The revelation comes after Stewart devoted a recent episode of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show to ridiculing former President Donald Trump over his New York civil case involving real estate valuations.

On Monday’s show, Jon Stewart accused Trump of “lying”  about the valuation of some of his properties, claiming Trump’s “shenanigans cost the city of New York.”

But documents obtained by the New York Post appear to show that Stewart once overvalued his own New York home by more than $16 million.

In 2014, the comedian reportedly sold his 6,280-square-foot Tribeca duplex to financier Parag Pande for $17.5 million. But, according to 2013-2014 assessor records obtained by The Post, the property had the estimated market value of only $1.882 million. The actual assessor valuation for property tax purposes was $847,174.

Records also show that Stewart paid property taxes based on that assessor valuation price — in other words, what he accused Trump of doing.

The report has inspired online mockery of Stewart.

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NY Democrats Want To Sink Another $2.4 BILLION Into ‘Migrant Care’

New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul has proposed another $2.4 billion in spending on illegal immigrants in her latest budget proposal, in addition to the $1.9 billion the state spent on ‘migrant care’ in 2023.

Politico reports that Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams had previously agreed to allocate $1.1 billion for illegals that have made their way to New York City, but the costs have now doubled.

The report notes that “The money is expected to go toward National Guard deployment, short-term shelter services and relief centers at state-funded housing sites that include Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, Randall’s Island and Floyd Bennett Field.”

It continues, “The state will also continue to provide ‘humanitarian aid’ for New York City, which has seen an influx of more than 160,000 migrants in the last several years.”

The budget plan would also see up to five prisons closed.

The development comes as NYC hands out prepaid debit cards to illegals loaded with up to $1,400 per month in a pilot program that is costing city taxpayers $53 million.

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The truth is out there — especially here

I thought my brother had been dipping a bit too heavily into the cooking sherry at work that night in the summer of 1986 when he says he saw something in the sky.

Rob Levine, then a recent graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, was driving home after closing the St. Andrews Cafe for the night. He saw what he first thought was a low-flying airplane or helicopter. Its size seemed to vary and colored lights were moving around it, he remembers.

He pulled over and watched for a while.

“I looked up and down the river valley, staring at this,” he said. “It seemed to get bigger and smaller, closer and farther, in the blink of an eye. The lights were moving in a V or triangle shape, and colors would change into shapes that looked like unknown letters, like it was trying to communicate something. And there was no sound whatsoever. There was light coming from it, but it appeared to go from the ground up instead of from the object down. I was, like, this isn’t a helicopter.”

I no longer think he was having a tipsy vision. In the 1980s and ‘90s, the Hudson Valley was a hotspot for unidentified flying objects. More than 5,000 people — including police officers, professionals and other highly reputable sources — report seeing essentially the same thing my brother saw between 1982 and 1986, making these sightings one of the biggest clusters of UFO reports in history. On March 24, 1983, there were more than 300 reports alone, all describing a V-shaped craft adorned with colored lights that hovered slowly and silently in the sky. The sighting became known as “the Westchester Boomerang.”

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Staten Island’s ‘power couple’ District Attorney and top judge are accused of double dipping into taxpayer funds by collecting government salaries AND pensions at the same time

A Staten Island ‘power couple’ comprised of a district attorney and state Supreme Court justice have come under fire for discreetly filing for retirement while continuing to collect yearly salaries.

Michael McMahon, the district attorney of Richmond County, and Judith McMahon, a justice for the Supreme Court’s 13th Judicial District, are being paid six figures while collecting hefty government pensions, according to public records.

The husband-and-wife duo are suspected to be pulling in more than $600,000 in collective gross income.

DA McMahon covertly retired on December 30, 2023, according to a payroll notice independently verified by DailyMail.com.

However, he remained the borough’s chief prosecutor, with a subsequent payroll notice listing him as  ‘appointed’ from January 2 to January 19.

Public records show his yearly salary as $212,800, meaning his annual pension, which has not been disclosed, could be upwards of $127,000.

In a statement to the New York Post, a spokesperson for DA McMahon admitted that he retired last year and subsequently continued to serve as Staten Island’s highest-ranking law enforcement official.

‘After 30-plus years in public service to the people of New York, DA McMahon submitted his retirement papers at the end of 2023 but of course continues to serve as Richmond County District Attorney,’ the representative said.

‘It’s quite frankly a no-brainer for those in public service, as not retiring when you are eligible puts your family at risk to receive no pension at all if you were to die.’

The district attorney’s office declined to share the cost of his pension.

DA McMahon was officially sworn in for his third term on January 2 by none other than his wife. Photos from the ceremony show the pair beaming at each other.

The DA ran unopposed for re-election this past November, pitching himself as a ‘common-sense Democrat’ in a heavily red county.

‘He’s pretty universally beloved,’ a Staten Island Democratic operative told City & State last year. ‘It is fascinating though – you would think any Republican with a pulse could win.’

Justice McMahon retired even earlier than her husband, effective December 31, 2022, according to public records.

She receives a $210,900 annual salary while collecting a $122,916 pension.

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