The Guns Of Astoria

QNS  

 A seven-month investigation into an interstate gun trafficking ring spanning from Cincinnati to an Astoria parking lot resulted in the seizure of over 100 guns and the indictment of three individuals. 

Over the course of five meetups with an undercover police officer at the P.C. Richard & Son parking lot on Steinway Street in Astoria this summer, the defendants sold a total of 97 firearms, including 17 assault weapons. The purchases by the plainclothes cop totaled $124,000 at approximately $1,200 per gun. 

“Guns and the recovery of weapons on the streets of Queens are a priority for this office and the NYPD,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz at a Nov. 6 press conference, where the firearms were on display. “We are fighting the gun plague with all our might and resources, on the streets and in the courts.

 Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz thanked the undercover officer who secured the majority of the guns during meetups with the defendants.Photo courtesy of Queens DA Office 

The three defendants, who are cousins – Ahmed “Taju” Mutalib, Abdul Haruna and Murtala Haruna – were indicted on 575 counts by a grand jury. Their charges include criminal sale of a firearm in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon, conspiracy and money laundering. 

 The NYPD and the DA’s office received a confidential tip informing them of the gun trafficking ring in March 2023. After gathering intelligence and completing an initial investigation, they appointed an undercover police officer to begin acquiring the firearms.

Katz remains DA

QNS 

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz declared victory in her primary race against two Democratic challengers Tuesday night.

Katz held a convincing lead over retired Judge George Grasso and public defender Devian Daniels, having secured nearly 71% of the vote with 96% precincts reporting as of 11 p.m. on June 27.

Grasso and Daniels each have approximately 14% of the vote,with Grasso ahead by only 187 votes as of 11 p.m.

Katz delivered her victory speech at the Queens Boulevard barbecue joint Queens Bully after she amassed an avalanche of endorsements from law enforcement unions and most major labor organizations in the city, nearly all of the borough’s Democratic elected officials, Mayor Eric Adams and, most recently, Gov. Kathy Hochul, who joined Katz during her victory party at Queens Bully.

Throughout her campaign, Katz hammered home the point that she provided a steady hand running the Queens DA’s office through turbulent times, having been sworn in just months ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

“I’m so proud of the work my office has done through unprecedented challenges,” Katz said. “In the third month of my administration, the entire world shut down and my office didn’t skip a beat. We continued going after every gang member, every gun prosecution and everything that came through our office was taken care of no matter what the obstacles we were facing.”

She said she worked to keep Queens families safe by leading the effort to take illegal weapons and ghost guns off the streets and held human traffickers and domestic abusers accountable. At the same time, she has launched Queens’ first-ever Conviction Integrity Unit to ensure justice for those wrongfully convicted.

The fast and the unprosecutable

 

 NY Daily News

It’s a cat and mouse game — but the mice drive too fast and recklessly and are not always held accountable, even when cops nab them.

“You can’t catch me. You’re stupid,” driver Oscar Malik, 28, allegedly taunted out-of-earshot cops in a police cruiser who spotted him as he roared on the Long Island Expressway in March 2021 at a speed police believe hit 117 mph.

They did catch him, but off the road. Police traced and arrested Malik with help from the Instagram feed that recorded his high-speed drive — which officers downloaded before he deleted his account.

Malik got the last laugh in August, when the charges against him were dismissed and his case was sealed because Queens prosecutors didn’t hand over evidence to his defense lawyer in accord with the state’s discovery reform law, said law enforcement sources. The Queens DA’s office did not comment on the matter.

“This is very disheartening,” said Insp. Sylvester Ge, head of the NYPD’s Highway Division. “And it’s an injustice.”

It was another blow to the NYPD’s unceasing race against organized reckless driving, which takes several forms —ranging from highway drag races to impromptu gatherings where drivers spin donuts at intersections, parking lots or traffic plazas.

There’s no data on how many people die from such driving, though it’s clear speeding — an element of drag racing — is a factor in numerous roadway deaths. Speeding factored in 31 of of 159 New York City traffic deaths in 2022 for which data is available — a rate of 21%.

A notorious death case involving drag racing occurred Nov. 20, 2020, when Daniel Crawford, 53, died on his way at Queens Hospital Center, where he worked as a phlebotomist. Crawford’s car was T-boned by one of two drivers drag racing each other.

Both drivers believed involved in the race that killed Crawford were indicted in February. Alamin Ahmed and Mir Fahmid, both 24, face murder and manslaughter charges. Prosecutors said the duo, out celebrating Fahmid’s birthday, were seen on video getting gas at a service station at Main St. and Union Turnpike, then drag racing down the turnpike. Their cases are pending.

Drag races and other gatherings are often organized on the internet. “Some of it is posted on social media — they talk about it beforehand, what they plan to do, which helps us,” Ge said. “And they post videos afterwards. So, some of it is organized, with rules, like no brakes allowed.

“Or it’s two drivers who see each other on the highway — one starts going and the other one decides, ‘Let’s have a race,’” Ge added. “They really have no regard for public safety.”

Melinda's executive security moving service

 

 

 NY Post

When it absolutely, positively has to get there … trust your bodyguards!

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz used members of her taxpayer-funded security detail to help her move to her new million-dollar digs — potentially running afoul of ethics rules, The Post has learned.

The borough’s top prosecutor was spotted wearing her gold DA’s badge on her hip last week as she carried four boxes of belongings to a black Ford Expedition parked outside the Forest Hills house where she’s been temporarily living since selling her former childhood home for $1.05 million in February.

She then climbed into the official vehicle and was driven about 1.2 miles by a pair of plainclothes NYPD cops to her new three-bedroom, 2-1/2 bathroom Colonial-style house, which city records show she bought late last month for $1.1 million.

The trip was one of four that The Post saw Katz, 56, and her detail make between her old and new homes Tuesday morning. Later in the day, Katz took part in an online Pride event sponsored by her office and appeared to be sitting behind the driver’s seat in the SUV, which had a row of clothes hanging from a rack visible in the rear.

On Friday morning, The Post also saw members of Katz’s security detail carry various items to the SUV from one of the homes while picking up her and her two kids. One cop made three back-and-forth trips, and the other made two. They carried stuff in their hands and in large black plastic bags.

Sources familiar with Katz’s routine told The Post that members of her security detail also had been hauling flat-screen TVs, groceries and dry cleaning around for her, as well as loading her sons’ bicycles and sports gear into an official SUV, driving the family away and returning several hours later.

Katz also regularly had her security detail show up at her home on weekday​ mornings in time for her to accompany her kids as the​ cops drove them to school, after which she returned home, dressed for work and left around 10 a.m., sources said.

 

Kew Gardens hotel New Year's Day murder suspect caught

 

 QNS

A Bronx teenager was indicted by a Queens grand jury for murder and related charges in the New Year’s Eve fatal shooting of a Rosedale man, and wounding two other victims, outside the Umbrella Hotel in Kew Gardens, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.

Richard Swygert, 19, was arraigned Monday before Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant on a seven-count indictment charging him with murder, two counts of attempted murder, assault and possession of a weapon in what was the first murder in the city of 2021.

The fatal shooting outraged the Kew Gardens community who demanded the hotel’s closure claiming the Umbrella had been a hotbed of criminal activities, including prostitution, drug dealing and human trafficking. Mayor Bill de Blasio on Jan. 5 said he would move to shut down the hotel that had also received over a dozen violations last year.

According to the charges, Swygert allegedly pulled out a gun after a disagreement between two groups of revelers celebrating New Year’s Eve at the now-shuttered Umbrella Hotel on 82nd Avenue and Queens Boulevard.

At around 1 a.m. on the morning of Jan.1, Swygert allegedly shot 20-year-old Robert Williams, a standout athlete who was just one day shy of his 21st birthday, and two other men. Williams died at the scene and the other two victims were taken to area hospitals for medical treatment.

“The defendant’s alleged actions led to the first homicide in New York City this year,” Katz said. “Senseless shootings have brought grief and heartache to far too many families in our neighborhoods. My office will continue to work with our law enforcement and community partners to stop the proliferation of guns in Queens and to hold accountable perpetrators of gun violence.”

Melinda Katz and Mike Gianaris making a go for State A.G.

  

THE CITY

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez is weighing a statewide campaign for attorney general if Letitia James leaves the seat to run for governor, eight people familiar with the matter told THE CITY.

In recent weeks, they say, Gonzalez has been making calls to his top supporters and elected officials to float a possible campaign in the 2022 race.

“He’s looking to run. He’s fishing around,” said a close ally of Gonzalez who has helped him raise campaign cash in the past.

Also sniffing out support are Queens DA Melinda Katz and state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), according to sources familiar with their activities.

Gonzalez served for years as a prosecutor in the Brooklyn DA’s office before ascending to the top job in 2016 following the death of his predecessor, Ken Thompson. The following year, Gonzalez became the first Latino to be elected as a district attorney in New York.

 Meanwhile, Katz, who secured the Democratic primary win for Queens DA in 2019 by just 60 votes when she was borough president, is also considering a run for the statewide office, according to four sources familiar with the matter.

One source close to Katz told THE CITY Thursday that “she’s certainly going to be ready to run” if James vacates her position to run for governor.

“Melinda is the candidate to run against the DSA and more in alignment with the mainstream Democratic voters,” said the source, referencing the Democratic Socialists of America who backed soon-to-be councilmember Tiffany Cabán in the Queens DA race.

Gianaris, who heads the Senate Democrats’ campaign efforts, is also contemplating an AG campaign, pending James’ decision, according to people close to him. The Senate’s deputy majority leader has amassed a $3 million warchest for past attorney general runs that didn’t materialize and in his state Senate campaign account.

 

Shabby D.A.'s

 

 NY Post

 District attorneys across the Big Apple last year declined to prosecute accused felons at nearly twice the rate of 2019 — letting more than 6,500 suspects off the hook, The Post has learned.

Prosecutors dropped all charges in 16.9 percent of the 38,635 felony cases that were closed in New York City during 2020, according to data compiled by the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

The year before, that rate was just 8.7 percent and the average for 2016 to 2019 was an even lower 8 percent, the statistics show.

Even though far fewer cases were disposed of last year, the 6,522 defendants whose charges were dropped exceeded the 5,985 who weren’t prosecuted in 2019.

The total number of cases closed in 2020 plunged by a massive 44.1 percent last year amid court closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic — down from 69,119 the year before.

A law enforcement source said there were “a lot of layers to the problem,” including veteran prosecutors retiring or leaving for other jobs and “inexperienced [prosecutors] and cops making it harder to do trials,” as well as the political nature of DAs’ jobs.

 “The DAs are worried about getting re-elected,” the source said.

“Plus, you throw in a bucket of ‘woke’ and no one is getting prosecuted.”

The source also pointed to controversial, recently enacted laws governing the disclosure of evidence to the defense, known as “discovery.”

“Now, if someone takes a plea, you still have to provide the discovery information even though the case is closed,” the source said.

“Before, you didn’t have to. If you DP [decline to prosecute] a case, there is no discovery.”

Stop, Warn and Leave.

 

QNS

Joined by NYPD officers from the 103rd Precinct, elected officials and members of the Jamaica business community, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the creation of the “Jamaica Merchants Trespass Notice” — a new initiative that would issue a trespass notice to individuals who engage in disorderly or illegal activities in or outside shops and stores in Jamaica.

The program was created in partnership with the DA’s office, the NYPD and the business community because local businesses regularly grapple with individuals who use their stores and restaurants for illegal drug activities and other troublesome conduct, putting business owners, employees and customers in harm’s way, Katz explained.

Katz said that the program’s primary goal was to deter further disruptive behavior and that it provided an alternative to putting more people through the criminal system.

Instead, when encountering individuals engaging in illegal or rowdy acts on their property, merchants can notify the 103rd Precinct. Its responding officers will serve the offenders with a copy of the trespass notice, informing them that a repeat offense can or will result in their arrest.

“What this really does, it’s a clear communication between the store and the person who is disrupting that store’s business,” Katz said. “And just so everybody is very clear about this, this distinguishes between unwanted and disruptive behavior and criminal acts such as stealing or assault. First, there is a warning. The warning is clear — coming back is not an option.”

The program also includes training police officers on what to do when faced with disruptive behavior in a store or restaurant, teaching officers to issue a trespass warning first, putting the violator on notice.

 

 

Katz orders judge to liberate prostitutes from their criminal records

LIC Post

A Queens judge dismissed nearly 700 open prostitution cases at the request of District Attorney Melinda Katz Tuesday morning.

Queens Acting Supreme Court Justice Toko Serita granted Katz’s request to vacate the open warrants and dismiss the cases pertaining to people who have been charged with loitering for the purpose of prostitution and other prostitution-related charges.

More than 200 cases involved the now-repealed loitering statute, which had come to be known as the “Walking While Trans” ban. An additional 443 cases had been for other prostitution-related charges. Some of the cases go back decades, Katz said.

Katz, at a virtual hearing this morning, also asked Judge Serita to seal the cases – so that those charged would not have criminal records related to the cases.

Judge Serita thanked Katz for making the request and called it a “righteous decision.”

“This is an incredibly emotional moment for me as I have seen thousands of cases over the years in my role as the presiding judge of the Queens Trafficking Intervention Court,” she said.

Judge Serita noted that many of those charged had been victims of trafficking and exploited in the commercial sex trade. She added that the laws have stigmatized those charged and prevented them from leading full and rewarding lives.

“This is something we recognize that you did not need to do but did so because it was the right thing to do,” the judge told Katz.

Several defense attorneys appeared at the virtual hearing and waived their clients’ appearances.

COVID cases rise again in Katz's office, new strain found in Queens resident from undisclosed location and the city is out of vaccines

 

Patch

 A cluster of coronavirus cases among employees of the Queens District Attorney's Office, who continue to work in-person at reduced capacity, has forced colleagues into quarantine and has the agency warning employees that "it is best practice to assume that everyone has been exposed," as one administrator put it.

At least 10 employees with the Queens District Attorney's Office have reported testing positive for COVID-19 since Friday, according to emails from Chief of Staff Camille Chin-Kee-Fatt that were reviewed by Patch.

The cases include four employees who work in felony trial bureau two and the appeals and detective bureaus, according to an email sent to employees Wednesday. The divisions where the other six work were not disclosed.

Employees, at least some of whom have been working in-person since October, are now being urged to limit contact with others and conduct meetings virtually.

"I think it is best practice to assume that everyone has been exposed and act accordingly by wearing face coverings and limiting any in-person contact," Chin-Kee-Fatt wrote in an email Monday. "We must limit our contact at this time as much as we can, which includes meeting and IT/Facilities repairs."

LIC Post

A Queens resident has tested positive for the highly-transmissible variant of COVID-19, city officials announced Wednesday.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a news conference that the variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, had been detected in two New York City residents. One resident is from Queens, the other from Manhattan.

One of them had recently traveled to the U.K., although officials did not say which one. Furthermore, officials declined to identify the neighborhoods where the residents live, citing privacy concerns.

Dr. Dave Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner, said that both people had been diagnosed with coronavirus in late December, and genetic sequencing showed that their infections had been from the U.K. variant “within the past few hours.”

Patch 

 More COVID-19 vaccine shots are going into more New Yorkers' arms at more places this week than any time since doses first arrived. There's only one problem: New York City could run out of vaccines next week.

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday warned that the city's cache of vaccines may not be enough to keep up with supply.

The federal government and manufacturers need to step up and send more to the city, he said.

"I confirmed with our health care team yesterday that even with the normal supplies that we expect to have delivered next week that we will run out of vaccine at some point next week, unless we get a major new resupply," he said.

We could run out of #COVID19 vaccines by the end of next week if we don't get a major shipment IMMEDIATELY.

The Federal government needs to STOP holding back supplies.

RELEASE as many doses as possible so that we can finally get out of this crisis. https://t.co/TUYxM7BgaD
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) January 13, 2021

D.A. Katz is trying to convict a woman for fake gun running

 

 Queens Eagle

NYPD officers acting on a tip last December raided the home of Elizaveta Zlatkis and found a cache of guns scattered around her Forest Hills apartment. The next day, cops from the 112th Precinct arranged the 22 seized weapons on a table and posed for a Twitter photo commemorating the bust.

Queens prosecutors charged Zlatkis, 31, with first-degree criminal possession of a weapon — a charge that carries a possible 25-year prison sentence — and a few local news outlets covered the case.

There was just one problem with the narrative and the charges: 21 of the 22 supposed firearms were airsoft rifles, toy replicas or starter pistols — the kind used at track meets — incapable of firing ammunition, according to the NYPD’s own laboratory reports. 

The one actual firearm was rendered “inoperable” because the trigger, hand grip and internal components were all missing, according to the NYPD’s firearms analysis. 

But a year after her Dec. 27, 2019 arrest, Zlatkis is still facing the first-degree weapons charge, which is based on possession of ten or more firearms. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has declined to drop the case against Zlatkis, who has refused to take a plea deal.

The case has made her life hell, she said. A quick Google search of her uncommon name reveals why. The first six results are news articles about her arrest.

Friends from high school have posted those articles on Facebook and she decided to turn down an initial job offer after she learned about the company’s intensive background checks, Zlatkis said.

“I look completely crazy,” Zltakis told the Eagle. “It’s humiliating.”

She and her husband Elvis Selimi loan the guns to rappers and producers to use in music videos, she said. Zltakis even appears in the background of at least one of the videos for a song by the artist Tay Spades.

“We do videos with them as props,” said Rosedale rapper Crucial, who has become friends with Zlatkis and Selimi. “I didn’t know you could actually get in trouble with all that. That’s wild. They’re fake.”

COVIDIOTS at the Queens Criminal Courthouse

 

Queens Eagle

A wave of new COVID-19 cases has hit the Queens District Attorney’s Office, but that hasn’t stopped high-ranking prosecutors from ditching masks inside the Queens Criminal Court building and adjacent offices, according to staff and defense attorneys.

Screenshots of virtual court proceedings obtained by the Eagle show one top official, Criminal Court Unit Chief Kevin Fogarty, appearing maskless last month during virtual court conferences inside his office, while at least one other masked assistant district attorney stood nearby. Fogarty again appeared maskless during virtual conferences while sitting near another staffer on Nov. 17, according to an email shared among public defenders.

Another veteran prosecutor, Felony Trial Bureau Four Unit Chief Neil Gitin, has also appeared without a mask during at least two virtual proceedings, including one where a screenshot shared with the Eagle shows him talking to a person off camera.

Some Queens prosecutors say a few colleagues, particularly supervisors, have created dangerous conditions in the offices since staff returned for in-person work in mid-October.

“There are definitely employees that think masks are taking away their freedom and that COVID is a liberal conspiracy,” said one Queens prosecutor who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely about the office.

Lower-level staffers are worried about the career consequences if they complain about COVID risks in the office, according to another prosecutor who also asked to remain anonymous.

“Some ADAs are concerned about being perceived to be difficult so they just go ahead with working in unsafe conditions,” the prosecutor said.

Several prosecutors in Queens have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks, the Eagle has reported. Another four staff members tested positive on Sunday and Monday, Patch reported. 

Queens Patch 

 A prosecutor in the Queens District Attorney's Office reported testing positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, an agency spokesperson confirmed to Patch.

News of the positive test largely spread to other staffers through word of mouth rather than formal channels, alarming some who say they believed they may have been exposed to that person but weren't notified by the office, according to two defense lawyers who spoke to multiple staffers about the COVID-19 case.

"Everyone else heard by rumor and were like, 'Were you going to tell us?'" one of the lawyers told Patch.

According to the sources, who asked that their names not be used because they fear retaliation against them and the staffers who confided in them, the Queens District Attorney's Office hasn't been forthcoming when it comes to information about COVID-19 cases among its ranks, leaving some staffers nervous about their health and safety.

Included in their concerns: Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, who tested positive for COVID-19 in March, not wearing a mask while among other staffers indoors.

 

 

 

 

W.W.R.D.? (What will Reynoso do?)

Hi folks,

One of the advantages of having a blog with longevity is that you get to follow the tweeding stories as they unfold. Then you get to call out the tweeders on their BS. Let's take a little trip down memory lane...

It was 2014, and a lot in Ridgewood close to the Bushwick border was being rezoned to allow a filthy eyesore truck lot to be transformed into a gleaming new residential project. Hopes were high that the developers would include affordable housing in their plans. The electeds got to work:

From the Times Ledger:

Some argued the rents described by developers — with studios going for about $1,000 and two-bedroom apartments renting for up to $1,800 a month — would not be affordable to most in Ridgewood and invite an influx of young, wealthier inhabitants...

Katz’s nod of approval came with two suggestions. She requested an unspecified number of apartments be reserved for those making 60 percent of the area’s median income and urged a different commercial overlay be used to recruit a wider array of businesses.

An applicant representative said the landlord would be willing to use the zoning suggested by Katz during the June 11 Planning Commission hearing, application documents show.

The spokesman also agreed to permanently offer eight units in the larger development as affordable housing. When prompted by the commission, he committed to increasing this to 20 percent of the building’s apartments provided the city permits a bulkier development than currently authorized by its Inclusionary Housing program.

From DNA Info:

The proposal for the 88-unit building originally had no affordable housing, but developers committed to 50 percent affordable units, along with the affordable community space after discussions with Reynoso's office and community members, the councilman's office said.

"Any project that runs through a ULURP process will need to meet demands of real affordability, and I’m pleased that we were able to achieve that here," Reynoso said.

The affordable units, of which 20 percent will be permanently affordable, will be distributed to people earning between $23,000 to $105,000 per year.

50% of 88 units is 44. 20% of 44 is 8. Eight units will be "permanently" affordable.

Now, let's take a look at what the community actually got, courtesy of Ridgewood Post:

Forty apartments in a newly constructed building in Ridgewood are up for grabs through the city’s affordable housing lottery — but only for those who make at least $61,000 a year.

The building, called the “The Strand,” is located at 18-81 Starr St. It has a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, which cost upwards of $1,797 a month through the lottery.

Residents must make 130 percent of the area median income to be eligible for the lottery.

Ok, so now we're at 40 affordable units instead of 44? Rent for a studio was supposed to be $1000, now it's starting at $1800? Instead of 60% of the median income, the applicants have to make 130%? Minimum income of $23,000 has now become $61,600?

So, Antonio Reynoso, what are you going to do about this developer pulling a fast one? Or is being complicit with this part of the overall plan?

JQ Update:

Another tidbit from that old DNA article mentions that the developer behind this was the Slate Property Management Group LLC.

You remember those guys right? They were the ones who bought Rivington House for a song from the city and then tried to flip the building to some "mysterious buyer" for luxury condo development for 10 times for what it's worth as de Blasio was busy with his pay to play Campaign for one New York fundraising shenanigans and meetings with his "agents of the city" in city hall.

And speaking of Ridgewood and longevity (you're welcome), the creative geniuses behind Slate joined forces with craft swill makers Rockaway Brewery and attempted to open a pop up beach when this fraudulent affordable housing building was a toxic dirt yard about 4 years ago, which I called out for weeks in my role as a muckraking commenter back in the day.

Queens sees a rise in suicides stemming from the pandemic

NY Daily News

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz was shocked one recent Monday by a pair of borough suicides: A 49-year-old man found hanging in a parking garage. And a 29-year-old woman who jumped from her bedroom window.

The two deaths are among the 16 suicides in Queens since March 15, when New York schools were closed as the pandemic began to wrap the city in its lethal grip. The dead had nothing in common except “they were sheltered and not sure where to turn,” Katz told the Daily News on Wednesday.

For comparison’s sake, there were 17 total suicides in Queens from Jan. 1 through April 29, 2019, just one more than reported in the past six weeks. While there are no citywide suicide stats available at this point in the COVID-19 crisis, anecdotal evidence points toward a bump in New Yorkers taking their own lives.

“I started noticing the numbers coming in over the last month and a half, and I felt obligated to send a message that we need to be checking in on our colleagues, our loved ones, our friends," said Katz.

Queens was particularly hard hit by the pandemic, with 48,382 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 3,581 deaths as of Tuesday night — the most fatalities of any county from coast to coast, according to a data map by Johns Hopkins University.

Queens prosecutors got promoted despite repeated trial misconduct

 

Gothamist asks in their headline if Katz will keep them in charge. On the Queens D.A. website under divisions and bureaus you get this:

 When you click press releases you get this:

When you click photos, you get this:

  So who the hell knows who's there. Transparency, the Queens Machine way

Who's running Queens?

 queensbp.org

Shouldn't the acting BP be listed here? Or at least info about the upcoming special election?

Melinda Katz sworn in as Queens District Attorney

D.A. Brown's entire legacy erased

Queens DA

Looks like the first order of the new district attorney was to construct a memory hole

 


Update:

Today, home page is not as foreboding.

New Queens D.A. Melinda Katz promises less prosecution

NY Post

 Queens District Attorney-elect Melinda Katz announced Tuesday she will go softer on criminal defendants when she takes over as the borough’s chief prosecutor on Jan. 1.

Katz said she will make it easier for criminal defendants to have their cases heard by a grand jury within five days of an arrest, without losing their right to plea bargain.

The former borough president said defendants have a legal right to have a grand jury hearing within five days. But the current policy of the Queens DA’s office refuses to bargain with a defendant who does not wave his right to the five-day grand jury rule.

“Beginning with cases newly arraigned on January 1, 2020, the DA’s staff will at all times be open to discussions aimed at resolving cases and will not withhold plea offers from persons who choose to exercise this statutory right,” a press statement put out by Katz’s transition team said.

Likewise, Katz said the existing policy of refusing to engage in plea discussions with defendants who’ve been indicted by a grand jury “will also be abandoned.”

“The level of evidence necessary to secure a grand jury indictment is a ‘reasonable cause’ to believe that the person has committed the crime. Based on such a low standard of evidence, the rigid refusal to consider options other than a ‘top count’ guilty plea or trial is inconsistent with DA-elect Katz’s commitment to an open minded approach to case resolution that considers all possible dispositions of a case that will serve the ends of justice,” the statement said.

Katz said she made the changes to “foster a new spirit of cooperation” with all parties — including defendants — to seek justice.

Melinda Katz makes her Pavillion dream come true

 

Queens Eagle

The Parks Department is continuing to rehab the old 1964 World’s Fair structures at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, breaking ground on the reconstruction of the New York State Pavilion Observation Towers last week.

“The work we are breaking ground on today will go a long way toward restoring the iconic New York State Pavilion to its former glory,” Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said in a statement. 

“This work will enable future generations to continue to enjoy the Pavilion’s distinctive Space Age architecture and be reminded about the important role the 1964-65 World’s Fair played in Queens history.”

The structures in the World’s Fair area, most notably the Unisphere, have become Queens landmarks. The $24 million project, funded by Katz, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Councilmember Franciso Moya, will see the towers’ bases waterproofed, electrical upgrades, structural preservation measures and stair replacement.