Ex-assembly member charged for pill mill participation

From CBS 2:

More than a dozen people have been arrested and charged in a prescription drug ring in Brooklyn, and a doctor is the alleged ringleader.

As CBS2’s Dave Carlin reported, nurses and even a former New York state assemblyman were also caught up in the bust, dubbed “Operation Avalanche.”

Allegedly, the multimillion-dollar scheme involved thousands of medically unnecessary prescriptions, and shady patient tests and treatments to defrauded Medicare and Medicaid.

Also charged is former Coney Island, Brooklyn Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, 59. He is in Israel and has not surrendered.

Investigators said he allegedly directed a lab he is now affiliated with to alter drug test results.

What's going on here?

http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=A07168&term=2013&Summary=Y&Text=Y

Hi folks,

Someone gave me a heads up re: the NYS Assembly/Senate bill above. It is very disturbing.

Currently, the boardwalks on NYC's beaches are under the jurisdiction of the Parks Dept. Parks also maintains the public beaches by removing trash, staffing with lifeguards (though NYS law dictates how many lifeguards, how far apart lifeguard stations should be, etc). Parks can also allow temporary structures (i.e. removable handicapped access mats) volleyball courts, etc. on the beach. But the beach itself - the sand - is also under the jurisdiction of NYS DEC which ensures compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act, among other things. Also, under Public Trust Doctrine, the shoreline and intertidal area is held, in trust, for the people, by the state. So in essence, there is a very nice checks & balances system that has been in place for years and that has worked very well. Brighton/Coney/the Rockaways/Orchard Beach/Midland Beach/Manhattan Beach, etc. are all governed by IDENTICAL guidelines.

All of a sudden, very, very, VERY quietly, the above piece of legislation has been proposed, by Assemblymembers Cymbrowitz & Brook-Krasny. It would take the beaches of Brighton & Coney Island - and ONLY those beaches, and give jurisdiction to the NYC Parks Dept, for 250 feet south of the Boardwalk. Basically, ALL OF THE BEACH, would now be turned over to the NYC Parks Dept. the most woefully underfunded city agency.

Interestingly, Manhattan Beach, which is within spitting distance of Brighton Beach, is also in Assemblyman Cymbrowitz's district. Yet he has NOT proposed a similar set up for Manhattan Beach. Why not?

This smacks of a special interest deal that will ultimately impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who live in a flood zone. The implications are enormous. And the fact that there has not been a single word in the media or anywhere else about this, is even more upsetting. Things that are done behind closed doors are usually kept hidden for a reason.

AGAIN, NOT A WORD OF THIS PROPOSAL HAS BEEN MADE PUBLIC. WHY???

Please call your NYS Assembly & Senate representatives and urge them to vote against these bills: A 07168 & S 04787.

Thanks,
Ida Sanoff

To hookah or not to hookah?

From the Daily News:

Despite popular belief, scientists have recently discovered that hookah smoke contains at least two cancer-causing elements - and can be just as addictive as cigarettes, says a recent Harvard Medical School study.

Someone who smokes a hookah for 45 minutes to an hour at a rate of two 10-second puffs per minute is inhaling 10%-to-50% more nicotine, says a 2009 study published in the Current Science journal.

Sheepshead Bites reports that local pols State Senator Marty Golden, Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny and Council Member Vincent Gentile all have pending legislation that would ban or limit hookah smoking.

Brooklyn pols support money launderer

From the NY Post:

A Brighton Beach-connected international money launderer — who worked under the European equivalent of John Gotti — counts ranking New York politicians among his friends.

A trio of powerhouse politicos is coming to the aid of Nikolai Dozortsev: state Sen. Carl Kruger, Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, and even Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. The elected officials all sent letters on his behalf to the Brooklyn federal court judge who will sentence Dozortsev later this week.

Dozortsev – a twice-convicted felon with a criminal career spanning two decades – was the money man for a violent organized crime syndicate. The group’s illegal activities in the U.S. and Europe easily exceeded $50 million a year, officials say.

He worked alongside the legendary European mob boss Ricardo Fanchini, and faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced.

But Brook-Krasny calls Dozortsev a man "of integrity and strong moral fiber" in a letter written on Assembly letterhead and addressed to the judge presiding over the case.

Kruger, another Brighton pol, who sits on the state Senate’s Crime Victims and Crime and Corrections committees, urged Judge Frederic Block to kindly "take under consideration" the assistance Dozortsev and his family has given to other immigrants from Russia settling in New York.

Markowitz wrote Block a letter praising the character of Dozortsev’s parents and explaining that although he had never met "Nick," he hopes their qualities had been passed on to him.

P.S. Pedro Espada's been indicted.