By PAULETTE GINDI
Billionaire developer Harry Macklowe walked up to his two lawyers sitting on a bench outside the courtroom during a break in in his ongoing divorce trial from his estranged wife Linda in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday.
He leaned in and whispered this joke to the attorneys Peter Bronstein and Dan Rottenstreich:
“There were two lawyers in a garden. Then a beautiful naked woman ran by. One lawyer goes, ‘I’d f… her.’ The second lawyer asks, ‘Out of what?’”
The three men were still laughing as they entered Justice Laura Drager’s courtroom.
The blue joke somehow resonated in the background of this sensational trial in which staggeringly expensive assets are being squabbled over and defendant and plaintiff each seem to want to outfox the other.
Macklowe’s wife Linda, 78, filed for a divorce in June 2016 after discovering that Macklowe was hiding a French mistress, Patricia Landeau, 62, in one of his Park Ave apartments for two years
Macklowe, 80, real estate mogul, is being sued for $1 billion by his estranged wife.
His defense? He’s broke and worth negative $400 million.
Her husband’s attorneys say that his famous 432 Park Ave building has one tenant.
John Feeney, an expert called to stand by John Tietler, Linda Macklowe’s attorney, testified that 432 Park Ave was in fact worth $2.4 billion as of June 2016.
Not only is Macklowe’s real estate on the line during this divorce, but so is the Macklowe’s $100 million apartment in The Plaza, $41 million yacht and a $600 million art collection.
The question remains: who will outfox whom?
By JOSEPH MODICA
Enjoying the last vestiges of summer in front of his restaurant, James Bari, 68, sat watching the crowds of tourists and locals trickle in for the first day of the San Gennaro feast.
“I think it’s disgraceful,” were the first words that he blurted out. “According from what we learned in school, Christopher Columbus found this America, this country. ” Bari spent his entire life in Little Italy, and became a co-owner of the “The Original Benito One” 40 years ago.
Bari, of course, was referring to the nascent movement to take down statues of the Genoese explorer who, historical records show, mistreated Native Americans.
Alfredo Balarin, 60, is an immigrant who came to the U.S. 40 years ago. “You don’t want to change history,” he said. “With the slaves and all that stuff, that was that era. It was not right, but it was in that era.” added the Staten Island resident, not taking his eyes off the small fixture he was adjusting to shine light on his wares. Balarin spent his life working, eventually earning enough to leave his job to open his own import and export business. “I was born in Peru and [am I] going to hate on Spanish people that was in the past?” he continued, referencing Spain’s conquest of Peru. “It makes no sense.”
“Whatever happened, happened.” said Raymond Bell, 58, pausing to take a drag of his cigarette “It’s part of American history.” The retired window cleaner from East Village.
A dissident note was sounded by Valentina Jimenes:“I feel like if somebody is offended, they should remove it,” said the 32-year-old waitress from Harlem, looking at the crowds of people during an unusually slow lunch rush.
With the investigation into the possibility of removing Christopher Columbus’s statues around the city, many of New York’s residents share the sentiment that the statute should stay where it is. The movement to remove controversial statues gained traction in the last few months and came to a boil when violent clashes to remove a Robert. E Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia left one woman dead. Many around New York’s Little Italy district want to keep the statue, and were dismayed by the news that his statue in Central Park was defaced on Tuesday.
Joe Monaco, 80, a retired pastry chef from Bay Ridge sat on the steps of a stoop behind a booth selling fried oreos. “You have crazy people all over the world,” he noted. giving a chuckle. “I don’t know what they’re trying to achieve; after 500 years?” He trailed off with another laugh and went back to enjoying the feast.
“That’s someone with a lot of time on their hands.” remarked Vinny Patuto, 35, a food vendor from Williamsburg.
Antoinette Cataldi, 30, is a manager of the Comedy Cellar and resident of Brooklyn heard about the defacement of the statue. “I think everyone should stop worrying about the non-important issues right now and be worried about coming together as a country.” said Cataldi.
Dan Russo, a retiree, spent the entire 80 years of his life in Little Italy. He wants the statue left alone, calling the movement to remove the statue after over a century in New York “ridiculous.”
James Bari, before going back inside his restaurant, added “I think they should grab this person and deface him, whoever he is, simple as that.”
Photo by Joseph Modica of Workers and onlookers clapping as the statue of San Gennaro is placed in its stand.
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By JAMIE DELIZ
Some members of the Independent Democratic Conference released a report Thursday that claimed to show a large increase of sex offenders living in New York City’s children and family homeless shelters in the last ten years, the highest ever.
“Our legislation is very, very simple,” said State Senator Jeff Klein, spokesman for the renegade group of Democratic Albany lawmakers who caucus separately from their party leaders. “First and foremost, I recognize the law that states that everyone has a right to shelter. But I do believe that a dangerous sexual predator does not have a right to shelter within a family shelter, with kids.”
Compared to 2007, which reported six sex offenders residing in family homeless shelters, there are currently 21 sex offenders living in the city’s approximate-150 shelters this year. Out of the 21, nine reside in the Bronx, five in Manhattan, five in Queens, and two in Brooklyn, the report said.
Klein, Senator Jose Peralta and Senator Marisol Alcantara called for the State Assembly and the Department of Homeless Services to ban registered, convicted sex offenders from living in family shelters and place them in “all-male shelters.
According to a 2017 report from the DHS, 22,908 children reside in shelters per-night, putting them at possible risk of being in contact with a sexual predator.
The proposal has been passed by the Senate numerous times, but the Assembly has shelved it.
“They don’t need to be in a place where they [sex offenders], not only create danger for the families that are there, but also for themselves,” Alcantara said. “They need to be around ‘men shelters’ where they can get the care and the help that they need. They don’t need to be around children.”
Klein urged the DHS to implement the policy.
“The time has come to stop treating our young people in shelters as second-class citizens,” he asserted. “They deserve the same protections. They deserve to live in a homeless shelter with their families and feel secure that there is not a dangerous sexual predator living next door.”
A DHS spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
Photo by Jamie Deliz
By JOSEPH MODICA
The City Council last Thursday unanimously passed a initiative to revitalize downtown Far Rockaway, bringing a much needed flow of money and development into a community still rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy.
The brainchild of Councilman Richard Donovan, local and state officials, and community businesses, the Far Rockaway Redevelopment program is a $288 million plan designed to foster entrepreneurship and new residents, with programs ranging from increased access to affordable housing, to initiatives to a complete rezoning of the area.
Surrounded by city planners, legislators, and Far Rockaway community activists, Donovan proudly announced on the steps of City Hall that he was poised to cast his vote for the project.
“We have achieved our goal of economic diversity in this plan,” boasted Donovan, in the press release hours before the vote was scheduled.
The project will build 1,700 new public housing units in Far Rockaway for low income residents. For its more impoverished residents, the city will also provide 200 rental assistance vouchers for residents to move families out of homeless shelters.
The city will allocate $10 million to upgrade existing schools, while also looking into the potential of building a new elementary school. The initiative will work with the Department of Parks and Recreations to complete a $59.3 million dollar plan to renovate Baywater Park, and begin construction in the summer of 2018 of a 14,000-sq ft. park at the corner of Augustina Avenue and Nameoke Avenue
To help the new influx of residents, the city will construct bus shelters in downtown Far Rockaway, install new bus arrival displays, and commence a study in the feasibility of a new ferry landing on Beach 108th Street. The bill also contains additional funding for renovations to the 101st Police precinct and study the potential of establishing a farmers market in the downtown area.
“We want the community to rest assured and know today, that we heard you loud and clear” said Donovan “and that all the things you’ve spoke of, and dreamed of for this community did not fall on deaf ears.”
Photo by Joseph Modica of Councilman Richard Donovan on steps of City Hall.
ByTATYANA BELLAMY-WALKER
A former pro-boxer had an angry outburst in court Thursday and was later restrained after a Queens judge slapped him with a 25-year-to-life prison sentence for the brutal killing of his ex-girlfriend.
Before the outburst that led officers to restrain Trevis Hall, 31, an ex-Golden Gloves Champion and featherweight known as “Black Mamba,” mumbled “Get out of here,” as Schwartz read the court’s decision.
The short-fused defendant was convicted killing of killing Margarita Rivera, 31, a mother of two, by knifing her repeatedly in the chest and bludgeoning her to death with a pipe in broad daylight in Jamaica, Queens in December of 2014. Before Rivera died she muttered three times that “Tre” killed her, according to Queens District Attorney’s Office.
“There is no question in my mind that this pro-boxer acted with pre-meditation,” said Queens District Judge, Barry A. Schwartz, who rejected the defendant’s plea that childhood sexual abuse in Guyana caused him to kill his ex-girlfriend. “The defendant was able to get pass these childhood episodes.”
Janelle Castro, the victim’s niece said the family has yet to heal from Rivera’s brutal death.
“Christmas will never be the same,” cried Castro. “He left her to bleed out on the cold concrete.”
In court, the defendant’s Lawyer’s alleged that Rivera’s relatives threatened the Hall family three separate times including once at a laundromat, during the trial and outside the courtroom Thursday.
In 2014, Hall tried to commit suicide, but was later found unconscious in a dumpster.
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By AHMED JALLOW
A 72-year-old man who shot his much-younger wife after she said he didn’t satisfy her sexually pleaded not guilty on Thursday in Bronx Supreme court for attempted murder in the second degree.
Clarence White, dressed in a khaki jumpsuit, stood quietly in handcuffs while Judge George Villegas read out the charges against him. He pleaded not guilty with his lawyer standing by his side.
Late last July, the indictment alleges, White shot his wife, Dominque White, 28, after an argument between the couple over Mr. White’s inability to satisfy his spouse both financially and sexually.
According to reports, Dominique White’s comment about her husband’s sexual deficiency was what prompted Mr. White to shoot her.
Shortly before the shooting, a neighbor walking his dog said he saw the couple arguing outside their home on Glebe Ave. in Parkchester, according to reports.
Police found the wife, who was shot in the right cheek sitting on the floor in the hallway of their home. She was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center, in critical but stable condition at the time.
The couple have a daughter together and were preparing to divorce, sources said.
The case was adjourned until December.
By JAMIE DELIZ & MARLENE GOMEZ
Kids across New York City flocked to the classrooms of the largest school system in the nation Thursday morning to ring in a new school year.
“As we begin a new school year, we have much to celebrate,” said Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, Carmen Fariña.
Some 1.1 million students across the city’s 1,800 public schools will witness the rollout of new programs, like 3-K in parts of Brooklyn in the Bronx and free lunch for all students.
Under sunny skies and mild weather the new school year went smoothly though in one incident an unloaded hand gun was confiscated from a 17-year-old student of City Polytechnic High School in Downtown Brooklyn.
Offering free lunch to every student regardless of need stems from the desire to end the practice of “school lunch-shaming,” where those who qualified because of low family income were sometimes ridiculed by classmates.
“Free school lunch will not only ensure that every kid in New York City has the fuel they need to succeed,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “but also further our goal of providing an excellent and equitable education for all students.”
Last year, roughly 75 percent of students were eligible to receive free school lunch. This year, more than 200,000 students, including charter and non-public school participants, will benefit from the initiative.
De Blasio visited schools throughout the five boroughs Thursday, starting with P.S. 277 in the Bronx, where he welcomed students, teachers, and staff members.
In Harlem’s P.S. 46, de Blasio read “How Do Dinosaurs Go To School?” to a second-grade class.
“It’s a welcome change,” said UFT representative Zina Burton- Myrick, and a supporter of free school lunch. “I’m glad he picked a Harlem school. It’s nice for the children in the neighborhood to actually interact with the mayor. It’s a nice way to come back to the beginning of the school year.”
The mayor engaged in photo-ops with some of the neighborhood residents before heading off to the next school.
“We felt honored,” Assistant Principal Sharon Goodman said. “His presence is powerful. It sends a message as a community—we’re all in this together.”
By HERMIA JEAN-LOUIS
“That’s my son!” said Marva DeBeauchamp, pointing proudly at the newly-minted multi-millionaire standing near the podium of the Resort World Casino in Queens.
Eric Beauchamp, one of three Mega Million Lotto winners announced on Thursday, grinned broadly. “My mom is good now,” he said. “She has nothing to worry about.”
As it happened, striking it rich turned out to be a mother-and-son venture.
DeBeauchamp, 34, a general contractor from Suffolk County, bought his lottery ticket while out to lunch with his mother. The young contractor got off early from work to get lunch with his mother at a deli that happened to also sell lottery tickets. DeBeauchamp originally gave his mother money with which she purchased a $10 scratch-off ticket, that then turned into a win of $20 that he used to buy the $5 Million Fortune winning scratch-off.
DeBeauchamp also said that he chose that specific ticket because it was lucky number 13 and his favorite color, “money green.” DeBeauchamp chose to have his millions given to him in one lump sum payment of $3,309,000 in cash, and he describes the feeling to be amazing. With his winnings, DeBeauchamp plans to keep his promise to take care of his mother, buy a house for him and his wife, and also start his contracting business. And finally, get himself a nice cold Corona.
Yangi Sherpa, however won the top prize of $7 million,
With just $2, Sherpa’s father bought her a Cash 4 Life ticket worth $7 million. It wasn’t until the next day, Sherpa checked her winning numbers and could not believe it. She describes the feeling to be, “unbelievable!” Sherpa had no knowledge of the cash prize amount. She, too, opted to receive her $7 million prize as a onetime lump sum payment of $4,361,280. Her advice to other lottery players, “Hey, you never know. Just play!” Sherpa plans to buy her parents a house and even get herself a designer purse that she’s always wanted.
The Lotto’s $4.7 million winner, Juan Mendez, describes his experience as an abnormal part of his daily routine. He usually walks around the neighborhood with his family every Friday, to their local store to play their regular lottery tickets. However, this particular Friday, Mendez sent his wife to play the Lotto’s winning numbers. When he realized he won $4.7 million, he, too, could not believe it.
After acquired withholdings and opting for a one time lump sum payment, Mendez received $2,018,143. Mendez plans to buy a house, pay some bills, and invest the rest of the money. Maybe even buy himself a brand new watch.
Photo by Hermia Jean-Louis
