Category Archives: New York

US arrests Japanese yakuza leader over alleged missiles-for-heroin plot

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Takeshi Ebisawa accused of planning to purchase surface-to-air missiles for rebel groups in Myanmar and distribute drugs in US

US authorities have arrested a leader of a Japanese crime syndicate on charges of plotting to distribute drugs in the United States and purchase weapons including US-made surface-to-air missiles.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Takeshi Ebisawa, who they described as a leader in a network of Japanese crime families known as yakuza, and a co-conspirator agreed to buy the missiles for rebel groups in Myanmar during conversations with an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

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Judge in New York urged to hold Trump in contempt and fine him $10,000 a day

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Attorney general Letitia James requests calls for fines until Trump complies with order to turn over files related to his businesses

New York’s attorney general on Thursday asked a state judge to hold Donald Trump in contempt of court for not turning over documents she subpoenaed for her civil investigation into the former US president’s business practices.

In a court filing, attorney general Letitia James said Trump failed to abide by his earlier agreement to comply “in full” with her subpoena for documents and information by 31 March.

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Disturbing claims of torture and sexual abuse at trial of New York ‘cult’ leader

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Larry Ray accused of psychological abuse at the prestigious Sarah Lawrence college, in trial that echoes Nxivm case

New York is accustomed to high-profile trials, the details picked over like canapés at a cocktail party.

But the trial of Lawrence “Larry” Ray, on federal charges of sex trafficking, extortion and conspiracy has caused revulsion and horror, and raised troubling questions that go far beyond criminal justice.

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Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid for new trial denied, judge rules

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Maxwell repeatedly requested a new trial after a juror on her case failed to disclose childhood sexual abuse during jury selection

Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid for a new trial has been denied, the judge in her Manhattan federal court sex-trafficking case said on Friday.

The daughter of the late British media baron Robert Maxwell repeatedly requested a new trial after a juror in the case failed to disclose childhood sexual abuse during jury selection.

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Mafia hitman escapes from federal custody in Florida

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Dominic Taddeo, 64, pleaded guilty in 1992 to killing three men in 1980s mob wars for Rochester, New York, crime family

A New York mobster who killed three people and attempted to kill two others has escaped from federal custody after recently being moved to a halfway house, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Dominic Taddeo, a hitman from a Rochester-area crime family, pleaded guilty in 1992 to racketeering charges that included the killings of three men during mob wars in the 1980s.

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Amazon workers in New York close to forming historic union after key vote

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Elsewhere, a unionization vote by Alabama workers is pending as hundreds of votes were challenged

Amazon workers in New York are close to voting to form a union – a major win for labor activists who have failed in previous efforts to organize at the tech giant that is now the second largest private employer in the US.

Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island will find out on Friday whether or not they want to form a union, Amazon’s first in the US where it now employs over one million people.

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New York court urged to uphold order for Donald Trump to face questioning

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State attorney general Letitia James says her office has every right to question Trump and his two oldest children over possible fraud

The attorney general of New York state is asking an appeals court to uphold a lower-court ruling requiring Donald Trump to answer questions under oath, after a civil investigation uncovered evidence he may have misstated the value of assets like golf courses and skyscrapers on financial statements for more than a decade.

In papers filed late on Monday, the office of Letitia James said it had every right to question Trump, who is appealing against the lower-court ruling, as it seeks to determine whether the misrepresented values shown to lenders, taxing authorities and other business interests constituted fraud and, if so, who committed that fraud.

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Buffalo Bills will receive $850m from New York taxpayers to build new stadium

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  • NFL and team will commit $550m towards new facility
  • New 60,000 capacity stadium set for 2026 completion date

State and county taxpayers will be asked to commit $850m in public funds toward construction of the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium which has a state-projected price tag of $1.4bn as part of a 30-year lease agreement reached on Monday.

New York state will commit $600m in funds, which will be in included in the budget due on Friday, Governor Kathy Hochul announced in a press release. Erie county will commit $250m toward the project, with the NFL and the Buffalo Bills committing $550m in financing.

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Former Catholic bishop admits covering up sexual abuse allegations

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Howard Hubbard made admission during a deposition last year as part of a response to dozens of claims filed in New York

The former bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Albany, New York, has acknowledged covering up allegations of sexual abuse against children by priests in part to avoid scandal and protect the reputation of the diocese.

Howard Hubbard made the admission during a deposition taken last year as part of a response to dozens of claims filed under New York state’s Child Victims Act. A judge ordered the deposition released on Friday.

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Mayor orders New York’s homeless camps dismantled ‘within two weeks’

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Eric Adams says officials will place people in ‘healthy living conditions with wraparound services’ as debate swirls

New York mayor Eric Adams has ordered that every homeless encampment in the city should be taken down within two weeks, arguing that the situation is not only dangerous to those living there but to the city itself.

“We’re going to rid the encampments off our street and we’re going to place people in healthy living conditions with wraparound services,” Adams said Friday, though he provided few details on exactly how that extra provision would be provided for them.

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Uber strikes deal to list all New York City taxis on its ride-share app

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Passengers will pay roughly same fare for taxi and Uber X rides in move that could help overcome shortage of drivers

Uber Technologies Inc has agreed a deal to list all New York City taxis on its app, a move that could help the ride-hailing firm overcome a shortage of drivers in one of its biggest markets.

The agreement was announced by Creative Mobile Technologies, which makes apps for the city’s yellow cabs, and Curb, a ride-hailing app for licensed taxi and for-hire rides in North America.

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NYPD officer was harassed by superior after good deed, lawsuit alleges

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Louis Sojo claims that his captain racially harassed him and said he was ‘not a real cop’ after he paid for an alleged shoplifter’s food

A New York police officer who made headlines after buying food for an alleged shoplifter is now suing the department and his captain over racial harassment and slurs following his good deed.

In July 2019, Louis Sojo and a few other officers were asked to confront a woman who was suspected of shoplifting at a Whole Foods grocery store in New York City. Sojo found food containers in the woman’s bag, filled with food from the store’s hot food bar.

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Prosecutors accuse China of campaign to spy on and harass dissidents in US

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Prosecutors have launched a series of criminal cases including one involving an alleged attempt to smear a congressional candidate

US prosecutors have accused Chinese government agents of trying to spy on and intimidate dissidents living in the United States, including a congressional candidate, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in New York.

The US justice department convened a Washington news conference to detail the accusations in a series of criminal cases.

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New York mayor’s crime plans reinforce ‘worst parts of NYPD’, say experts

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Plainclothes unit and enthusiasm for facial recognition technology are worrying civil rights advocates

While New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, has been defending his veganism and equating drug dependency to liking cheese, he has been escalating the city’s police powers, deeply concerning civil rights advocates.

Adams, the second Black person to serve as New York mayor, largely won the mayorship through securing the votes of Black, brown and working-class New Yorkers.

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Accused 9/11 plotters reportedly in talks over deal to avoid death penalty trial

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New York Times reports talks under way for plea agreement that could bring an end to one of biggest criminal cases in US history

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants accused of planning the 9/11 attacks are reportedly in talks with US prosecutors over a potential plea deal that would see them plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

The New York Times reported that negotiations are under way for a possible plea agreement that could bring to an end what is arguably the biggest criminal case in US history. The five defendants were first charged in 2008 with plotting or logistically supporting the terrorist attacks that led to the murder of almost 3,000 people in New York’s Twin Towers, the Pentagon in Washington, and in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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MoMA stabbing: New York police still searching for man who attacked staff

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Man who was denied entrance on Saturday for previous incidents of disorderly conduct identified as 60-year-old Gary Cabana

Video from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City showed the moment a man leaped over a reception desk and stabbed two employees as they tried to flee on Saturday.

The video released by police showed a man identified as 60-year-old Gary Cabana enter the museum lobby through a revolving door then climb onto the desk and jump over it as a man carrying what appeared to be a walkie-talkie tried in vain to stop him.

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Two employees of New York’s MoMA stabbed after man denied entrance

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New York police said the man’s membership had been revoked for previous incidents of disorderly conduct

A man stabbed two people inside the Museum of Modern Art in New York on Saturday afternoon after he was denied entrance for previous incidents of disorderly conduct, authorities said.

Police said the two people who were stabbed were museum employees. Both were in stable condition at Bellevue hospital.

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‘Bomb cyclone’ storm dumps snow across eastern US

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Powerful late-winter storm comes with predicted snowfall up to about 13in and potential to cause travel issues and outages

A powerful late-winter storm combining rivers of moisture and frigid temperatures – a phenomenon known to some as a “bomb cyclone” – was expected to dump snow from the US deep south all the way to the Canadian border over the weekend, forecasters said.

With forecast snowfall ranging from about 4in in northern Alabama and Mississippi to about 13in in northern Maine, forecasters expected travel problems and power outages across much of the eastern US.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Judge blocks Donald Trump’s effort to countersue rape accuser E Jean Carroll

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New York judge accuses ex-president of ‘bad faith’ in tactics that would have further delayed defamation lawsuit

Donald Trump cannot countersue the US writer E Jean Carroll, who says he raped her in the mid-1990s, a federal judge ruled on Friday. The former president had argued that her defamation lawsuit against him violated a New York state law intended to protect free speech.

US district judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said a ruling for the one-term Republican would needlessly cause further delays for Carroll’s lawsuit, which began in November 2019.

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Woman who ran Russia propaganda center in New York charged as foreign agent

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Elena Branson, who has both US and Russian citizenship, received thousands of dollars from Moscow to run center

A woman who ran a Russia propaganda center in New York City was charged on Tuesday for acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the Russian government.

Elena Branson, 61, who has both US and Russian citizenship, ran the Russian Center New York, which she founded in 2012, receiving thousands of dollars from the Russian government.

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