El Queens Center Mariachi

1010 WINS 

 Five people were charged on a 625-count indictment in connection to a gun trafficking operation that sold dozens of ghost guns, assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in Queens, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Wednesday.

The suspects charged in the operation allegedly transported 3D-printed ghost guns assembled in Nassau County and serialized firearms purchased in Indiana into Queens, where they were stored and sold, according to the Office of the Attorney General.

An investigation by the OAG’s Organized Crime Task Force in cooperation with Homeland Security Investigations and the NYPD recovered 86 firearms – including 55 ghost guns and 25 assault weapons – along with over 90 high-capacity magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Investigators began tracking Satveer Saini, 20, and his associates, Mateo Castro-Agudelo, 21, Hargeny Fernandez-Gonzalez, 20, Adam Youssef Senhaji-Rivas, 20, and Milanjit Sidhu, 20, in late 2023, according to the OAG.

During the investigation, Saini, Fernandez-Gonzalez, and Senhaji-Rivas allegedly paid over $27,000 to purchase firearms from Indiana, which has less restrictive gun laws than New York.

Early in the investigation, Saini and Castro-Agudelo drove from Indianapolis to Queens with weapons purchased in Indiana when they were stopped for speeding by the Ohio State Highway Patrol in Medina County, Ohio. During the stop, police recovered nine unloaded serialized handguns from inside Saini’s rental car.

From this point on, Fernandez-Gonzalez allegedly began paying Sidhu to drive weapons from Indianapolis to Queens.

Fernandez-Gonzalez also allegedly bought 3D-printed ghost guns in Nassau County and brought them to Queens.  Saini, Castro-Agudelo, and Senhaji-Rivas all allegedly sold trafficked firearms, high-capacity magazines, and ammunition during the course of the investigation.

Car revolution on open street

Summer Of Division

Worst FDNY Commissioner in New York City history resigns

 

NY Post

Embattled FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh is quitting her $243,171-a-year post, she told The Post Saturday.

The stunning development comes amid a slew of controversies that left some members of Mayor Adams’ administration questioning her ability to lead the country’s largest fire department.

Kavanagh, who Adams tapped as the city’s first female fire commissioner in 2022, said in an email to The Post she feels it’s “time for me to pass the torch” and explore other career opportunities. She plans to stay on the job for now and help pick a replacement, Kavanagh wrote.

“My dedication to the FDNY has never and will never waver,” she wrote. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to devote the last 10 years — five as first deputy commissioner and more than two as commissioner — to advocating for the men and women of the FDNY.

 Kavanagh sent the email mere minutes after Adams gave her a huge vote of confidence and tried to squash rumors her resignation was imminent.

“I love her style — I want her in my administration, whichever she decides to do,” he told The Post following an unrelated Brooklyn event. “She sat down with me some time ago and said ‘I’m looking to do some other things in my life at this moment,’ and whenever she decides to do so, she will. As long as she wants to be my fire commissioner, she will be my fire commissioner.”

 Although Adams remains supportive of Kavanagh, she’s felt plenty of heat within the administration over a slew of firestorms under her watch.

They include rising FDNY emergency-response times, surges in lithium-ion battery fires citywide, repeated criticism from underlings and an age-discrimination lawsuit filed by department honchos she demoted.

“She was a political operative – not a firefighter – so her selection [as commissioner] was always an unusual choice, and she’s been unable to do what she was brought in to do: put out political fires,” a City Hall insider said.

Kavanagh, who began her career working campaigns for ex-President Barack Obama, ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio and other Democrats, has dealt with a series of public relations nightmares since Adams named her commissioner, in part to tackle the department’s longtime struggle to diversify. 

This woman's entire career before being anoninted FDNY commissioner was being a publicist, and she even couldn't do that right 

 Lithium Ion Laura couldn't fight a fire by blowing out a match.

 

ImpunityCity

Donald Trump survives assassination attempt at campaign rally

Former President Donald Trump was wounded on a Pennsylvania campaign stage by a sniper’s bullet Saturday night in an apparent assassination attempt that nearly claimed his life, law enforcement sources told The Post.

The Secret Service said Trump is safe. A campaign spokesperson added that he is “fine” and being checked out at a local medical facility.

“He came within inches of having his face shot open,” a senior law enforcement source told The Post. 

The shooter was killed by a Secret Service assault team.

One other person, believed to be a civilian standing behind Trump on the podium was killed by the sniper, sources said. Another person was reportedly wounded.

The gunman was believed to have been positioned on the roof of building hundreds of yards from the former president at the Butler County Fairgrounds — outside the security perimeter, according to law enforcement sources. Trump confirmed his own brush with death in a post Saturday night on Truth Social: “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.

“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”

The bullet may have been deflected by glass before Trump was struck in the face, law enforcement sources said.

Following the attack on Trump at a rally in Butler — about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh — nine shots rang out and Trump ducked for cover before being surrounded by Secret Service agents, video from the event shows.

11 hours of stories of the City of Mess and here's a few of them

City Planner Paul Graziano makes NYC Planning Commissioner and Developer Mascot Dan Garodnick uncomfortable with dire warnings of the desecration of towns from the one size fits all plan to build a little more affordable housing in every neighborhood. Because it really is just a little that won't end the infinite housing crisis the city has made. Jackson Chabot from the public streets usurping 501 c 3 lobby cult Open Plans rambles on about removing parking mandates from buildings and towns and gets laughed at, but not before he trashes Graziano for how he got his house and remained in his neighborhood. But wouldn't you know the best take about the City Of Yes/Mess literally came from the street from the ubiquitous NYC political media gadfly Christopher Leon Johnson who remarked that this will do nothing to help people who make less than 60% of the AMI to qualify for the prospective tall and dense luxury public housing towers to end the housing crisis NYC Planning created and now they want a do-over. CLJ also blows the whistle on lobbyist infiltration of community boards that were placed there by borough presidents.

 Update:

 Well, it looks like Dirty Danny and the City Of Yes people at NYC Planning is censoring the public from isolating clips and embedding the whole video of the public hearing. Paul comes around the 3:45, Jacko around 4:37 and CLJ around 5:08.  

Watch how Danny tells people not to clap for people against City Of Yes because it would "take up valuable time" but he allows extended time for borough presidents Mark Levine and Vanessa Gibson to shill for the overdevelopment apocalypse program. He also spends time interrogating council members who announced they will vote no against it and gave nearly an hour to an architect to describe and justify the plan.

Caption the audience behind Eric Adams

Saturday in the Park

Tenants displaced by apartment building fire gets temporary housing from the landlord they are suing

 

 Queens Post

A breakthrough was reached just days after tenants of a Sunnyside apartment complex filed a lawsuit against their building’s landlord stemming from their displacement following a 5-alarm fire in December.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and A&E Real Estate, the landlord, announced a plan Monday to provide 22 tenants of 43-09 47th Ave. who were forced out of their apartments on Dec. 20 due to fire damage with an additional round of six-month temporary housing agreements.

After the fire, which was determined to have been caused by a contractor using an unregulated blowtorch, A&E offered the tenants the option of signing a temporary relocation license agreement for “up to six months if needed,” allowing them to rent apartments at other A&E properties at the same monthly rate they had paid at their Sunnyside building. Those original agreements were set to expire on Tuesday, July 2.

“Through no fault of their own, our neighbors tragically lost their homes and their possessions in the heart of the holiday season,” Richards said. “I’m thankful to A&E Real Estate for its partnership and for its support of these families by offering additional temporary lease agreements. Going forward my office will work tirelessly with our partners in city government to ensure those displaced by the fire have continuous access to stable and affordable housing.”

A spokesperson for A&E Real Estate said the agreement was with 22 households that are still in A&E temporary housing as of Monday.

“Borough President Richards picked up the phone and asked how we could work together to do more for residents. Working through the weekend, we found a path forward that will enable us to offer temporary housing for residents affected by the fire for up to six months more,” the spokesperson said. “While we know this has been challenging, we have worked hard at every step to go above and beyond to give residents some security and breathing room to plan for the future.”

The additional temporary lease agreements will run through Jan. 15, 2025, giving impacted families another six months to secure more permanent housing.

“Ultimately, it’s the insurance settlement that will compensate all parties for their losses in the fire,” the A&E spokesperson said. “We appreciate Borough President Richards’ partnership in finding an approach that we can sustain for several months more.”

The lawsuit filed on behalf of 200 tenants seeks $10 million in damages for gross negligence in failing to properly supervise their contractors and/or employees. Brett Gallaway, the tenants’ attorney from the law firm of McLaughlin and Stern, emphasized the severity of the situation.

“The reckless actions of A&E have caused irreparable harm to these families,” Gallaway said. “This lawsuit seeks to hold them accountable for the devastation they have caused and their continued failure to provide adequate support and compensation to the displaced tenants.”

 Considering the stupidity of the developer's contractor, A & E should just let those tenants have those apartments they are only temporarily staying in. Wonder what they look like and I wonder if they are building new "affordable housing" in this town.

 

 

Man murders younger half-brother and stabs parents, then gets gunned down by NYPD at "affordable" housing tower

 

 

AMNY 

The 4th of July holiday became a nightmare in Queens on Thursday afternoon after a man stabbed a child to death and police fatally shot the knife-wielding suspect in a domestic dispute, police brass said.

According to NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, cops from the 103rd Precinct rushed to a luxury apartment building  at around 5:20 p.m. in the Jamaica section of the borough, located at 147-25 94th Ave after several residents called police for help.

“A female came out of this building pleading for help. She ran down to the corner to MTA police to get help and simultaneously the security desk called 911 for assistance,” Chief Chell said. “Members of the 103 Precinct responded in three minutes.”

Upon arrival at the 5th floor apartment, authorities said, cops were confronted with a man, in his 20’s, holding a knife to his 43-year-old father’s neck. Inside that same apartment a 29-year-old woman had been wounded and an 8-year-old boy had been stabbed to death, all in the same apartment as an 8-month-old-baby. Chief Chell told reporters that cops demanded the man drop the weapon, but he refused, resulting in the officers shooting the suspect. The baby was unharmed.

Police say the perpetrator was rushed to a hospital; sources close to the investigation report that he later died.  

 Chief Chell said the 8-year-old and his killer were stepbrothers, however, the ultimate reason for the holiday rampage remains under investigation.

This is not a luxury tower per se, it's one of those "affordable housing" towers from the 421a program to set aside 20%-25% of units under market rate (it's the one with the now leasing sign)

Besides the tragic domestic slaughter, this is bad all around for the "city of yes" and what may be another indictment of the city's continuing lack of mental health services. 

 

 

 

 

Home of the free

NY Post 

 New York City officials are dramatically expanding a controversial program that gives debit cards pre-loaded with cash to migrant families staying in taxpayer-funded hotels across the city.

The Adams administration says another round of debit cards is expected to be distributed to more than 7,300 migrants over the next six months, costing the city about $2.6 million. The move represents a major expansion of a pilot program that began earlier this year that doled out cards to about 3,000 migrants. 

New York City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom says the program allows newly arriving families the ability to “make choices for themselves and their children” by using debit cards. 

“They can buy from local shops, support small businesses, and manage their own resources,” she said in a statement. “When we empower people, we help them achieve self-sufficiency and access the American Dream.”

Mayor Eric Adams has defended the program as a “cost savings measure” that “temporarily” replaces New York City’s existing system of providing non-perishable food boxes to migrant families staying in hotels and other city-funded shelters.

The program is a partnership between the Adams administration and the company Mobility Capital Finance, which says the plan will help migrants with food, baby supplies and other necessities as they await authorization to work from the federal government. 

Under the program, a four-person family with children under five can receive up to $350 per week, or about $18,200 a year, according to published news reports.

Critics, including New York Council member Joseph Borelli, have argued that the debit cards are “fundamentally unfair” to the city’s working poor, who don’t receive similar benefits from the city. 

Borelli and other Republicans argue that the city’s right to shelter law, which requires it to provide housing, food and other necessities — coupled with the city’s ‘sanctuary’ policy cooperation with immigration crackdowns — are drawing a record number of migrants to the city. 

 Great, now these families can continue selling candy and deliver food for multiple apps. Ain't that America?

Happy 248 USA

 

 

 The Sutter Ave. Of Americas. Have a great holiday and be careful with those fireworks.