The James A. Farley Post Office in Manhattan is the largest post office in the nation. The building bears a rousing inscription — taken from Herodotus’ Histories — which reads, “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Turns out, what does stop a postman is his tracks is being charged with stealing packages, electronics and nearly $10,000 worth of stamps. Greenpoint postal worker Bagner Cardoso pleaded not guilty to federal felony charges on Tuesday even after he admitted to stealing all of those items from the Greenpoint Post Office (66 Meserole Avenue) nearly every other day for the past two years. Continue reading →
Can you help identify these men? NYPD surveillance photos of the suspected attackers. Via News 12
The NYPD has released surveillance images of two men suspected of carrying out a violent attack against another man on Nassau Aveune between Diamond and Newel Streets on September 15th. According to News 12, two men approached a 36 year-old man from behind, and knocked him to the ground. Once he fell, the assailants continued to punch and kick the victim’s face and body. The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
While members of the North Brooklyn Community facebook page have speculated that the attack began with a game of pool at Goldies, the bar’s managers say there was no argument inside the bar. They explain, “the police did inform us to an attack that happened several blocks away, as they stopped by to review the cameras we have that show the sidewalk, I think to see if they could track whoever did the attack as they passed by. There certainly was no attack inside or outside of Goldie’s.”Continue reading →
The suspect in the fatal stabbing of Greenpoint resident George Carroll, Gary Correa, was apprehended today after being on the run for the past few weeks. The victim’s fund on gofundme has climbed to nearly $23,000, with the community rallying support.
Cops on Thursday arrested a teen wanted in the murder of a Brooklyn man who was stabbed in front of his wife — and they busted him right near the crime scene, according to police sources.
Gary Correa, 19, had been on the run from police for more than a week, but seems to have been hiding in plain sight — he was caught just blocks from where Greenpoint man George Carroll was knifed outside McGolrick Park on Aug. 18, sources said.
Correa, who lives at the nearby Bushwick Houses, allegedly stabbed the 42-year-old actor after they crossed paths on Monitor Street near Driggs Avenue that night.
Carroll and his wife, Christina Romero Carroll, 41, were walking home when the husband made eye contact with two men standing on a stoop.
“What are you looking at?” one of the men said, according to Christina, who said her husband shot back: “I’m lookin’.”
More words were exchanged before the men chased Carroll down the street, and he was stabbed in the left side of his chest.
Witnesses later identified Correa as the knifeman, according to police.
The 19-year-old has 13 prior arrests, including grand larceny, armed robbery, burglary and criminal possession of marijuana, according to police sources.
Do you feel like things have been pretty quacked in Greenpoint this week? You’re not wrong. On Monday night, a leashed duck boarded the G Train, and as you can see from the video, he was not too pleased to be there.
The reputed local crime boss, John “Sonny” Franzese was recently released from the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts. The hundred-year-old reputed member of the Colombo crime family had been serving a fifty year sentence for bank robbery that dated back to 1966. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirmed that the Greenpoint native had been the oldest prisoner in Federal custody until his release. He had been paroled at least six times since his 1967 conviction, but always violated his parole, ending up repeatedly back in prison.
Franseze lived for many years locally on Engert Avenue. Mob aficionados credit Franseze with introducing the kiss into mafia family culture. It all started when “Sonny” Franzese and Joey Brancato, both alleged members of the Colombo crime family, bumped into each other on the corner of Lorimer Street and Metropolitan Avenue. As a gesture of peace, they kissed each other on the cheeks. The only thing anybody on Metropolitan Avenue knew was that they had never seen it done before. After the men kissed, it quickly became a mafia trademark. Continue reading →
Traffic safety is an ongoing concern after a 14-year-old was hit by a reckless driver on Manhattan Avenue this week. The driver is currently being held on $2500 bail. Community members mobilized and met to discuss safer streets this past Wednesday.
Police are currently looking for two suspects who bought more than ten thousand dollars of luxury goods after stealing a Greenpoint woman’s credit card.
A Williamsburg man has pled guilty to running a heroin ring, and sold the drugs out of his apartment on Driggs Ave. According to Patch, “Twenty-three other people pleaded guilty in the same ring, where they sold heroin under the names, “Knockout,” “Takeover,” “Power Hour,” “Killing Time,” “Pure,” “Gucci,” and “Scorpion.” Continue reading →
Protesters in front of the 94th precinct today. Photo: Julia Moak
Greenpoint’s own 94th Precinct police station (100 Meserole Avenue) was the site today for an organized protest following Captain Peter Rose’s remarks to a DNA Info reporter last week that sparked not only local concern but also social media outrage andnationwideattention. His comments insinuated that the police may prioritize cases of “stranger rape” over cases where the perpetrator was known to the victim.
“It’s not a trend that we’re too worried about because out of 13 [sex attacks], only two were true stranger rapes,” Rose said in the DNA Info article. “If there’s a true stranger rape, a random guy picks up a stranger off the street, those are the troubling ones. That person has, like, no moral standards,” he said.
These comments come on the heels of a string of rape cases in Greenpoint last fall, in addition to reports of women being publicly groped, and police response to those events gave local residents enough concern to form a task force.
Captain Rose released a formal apology yesterday via Twitter stating, “Every rape, whether it is perpetrated by a stranger or someone known to them is fully investigated. We make no distinction in our response. My comments suggested otherwise and for that I apologize.” Despite the apology, the NOW protest planned for this afternoon in front of the precinct moved forward, with about 20-30 protesters in attendance and almost as many police personnel in front of the precinct keeping watch. Continue reading →
A 1924 mugshot from Australia. Credit NPR, NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice & Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW
Think that North Brooklyn was a safer place back in the good old days? Think again! In the second half of the 19th century, North Brooklyn had many notorious gangs and hard-core hoods. Here are some of the most infamous local gangs of yesteryear.
The Battle Row Gang – This gang, which had an almost two-decade-long life starting in 1870, was in the words of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle “composed of the scum of the Fourteenth Ward (Williamsburg).” known as “fighters and rowdies,” they lurked at “Crow” McGoldrick’s saloon on Union Avenue and North First Street. They became notorious in July of 1871 when gang member Henry Rogers killed Brooklyn Police officer Donoghue and was hanged for the murder. In June of that year, two factions of the gang fought with “pistols, knives, fists and slingshots. The battle raged,” furiously and unrestrained” for thirty minutes. One dying member, Patrick Cash, asked to name his assailants, replied “I’d die with the name of the fellow in my throat, before I’d give him away.” You can read more about these scumbags in the Daily Eagle archives here and here. Continue reading →
