WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR BACKROOM BULLETIN. By John F. Bailey. January 30, 2012:

The splitting of White Plains as envisioned by the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reappointment released last week, currently threatened with a veto by Governor Andrew Cuomo if eventually adopted in anything close to its present form will give White Plains two State Senators (Senate Districts 35 and 37) and give less weight to the White Plains vote in the new 93rd Assembly District.

The splitting of the White Plains constituents between the 35th and 37th districts will also possibly mean those Senators in 35 and 37, don’t have to pay that much attention to White Plains needs.

That 93rd District assembly race will take shape tonight when Democratic District Leaders hear from White Plains Councilman David Buchwald, new Westchester resident political activist from Queens, Jeremiah Frei-Pearson, and Harrison resident, Clifford Gevirtz, all seeking the nomination to run against Roert Castelli in the race for the 93rd.

Should the new redistricting lines be vetoed by Governor Cuomo the districts would have to be renegotiated in some manner, a process that will be unwieldy at best, according to Assemblyman Robert Castelli’s office.

 Mr. Castelli’s Saturday news release revealed the lopping off of the southend of White Plains (south from Martine Avenue), from the Castelli district, and gave him North Salem.

 Castelli said “In essence, the gerrymandering remains. I believe there is still time for us to do better, though, because when politicians are choosing their constituents, instead of the other way around, it’s the people that lose.”

Elizabeth Schollenberger, head of the White Plains Democratic City Committee, told WPCNR she had not run the numbers yet to assess the impact of how many votes Tom Roach received from the White Plains areas lopped off from the former 89th District (now redesignated the 93rd), when Roach narrowly lost to Castelli in 2010.

According to Councilman Buchwald who is in the hunt for the Democratic nod to face Castelli, Tom Roach carried White Plains by 2,000 votes in his attempt to oust Castelli in that 2010 race.

Buchwald, speaking to WPCNR Saturday said he is in the race to stay, but did acknowledge that ” I don’t think Mr. Castelli has much to complain about (the redistricting).” Buchwald said it was “clear” the loss of a substantial block of White Plains voters, being replaced with North Salem, was favorable to Castelli, but said he (Buchwald) felt he could run very well in North Salem.

If the newly defined 93rd District remains in place for the November election, future Republicans from the 93rd should do well, due to the loss of White Plains southend as a voting factor in the district. The 88th Assembly District where Amy Paulin is the incumbent is bolstered by getting those White Plains southend votes that should assure Paulin of more popularity.

White Plains may be seriously hurt by splitting the city east to west between Andrea Stewart-Cousin’s 35th District and the former Suzi Oppenheimer seat in Senate District 37. Robert Cohen who nearly ousted Ms. Oppenheimer two years ago in a close race, now no longer has Oppenheimer as opposition, the Senator choosing to retire. Cohen seems sure to benefit from the inclusion of a large section of Scarsdale in the new Senate District 37 and from a newly included southend section in White Plains. With all of Yonkers (a very needy city according to Yonkers), Greenburgh and some of Tarrytown to worry about, Ms. Strewart-Cousins, may not be able to advocate as strongly for White Plains as Ms. Oppenheimer did when White Plains was her baby.

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WPCNR FBI WIRE. Special to WPCNR From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. January 27, 2012:

A 14-count superseding indictment was unsealed this morning in Brooklyn federal court charging five members of the Bonanno organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra (the “Bonanno family”) variously with racketeering, extortion, illegal gambling, and conspiring to distribute marijuana. An associate of the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra (the “Gambino family”) was also charged with loansharking.¹

The defendants were arrested earlier today in New York and are scheduled to be arraigned FRIDAY afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Joan M. Azrack, at the U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York. The case has been assigned to United States Chief District Court Judge Carol B. Amon.

An indictment of 5 MS-13 members was unsealed January 23 at the U.S. Courthouse in Central Islip, New York, charging five members of La Mara Salvatrucha street gang (the MS-13) with murder in aid of racketeering, assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, armed robberies, firearms offenses, and related conspiracy charges.

The charges were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Wilbert L. Plummer, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, New York Field Division; Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office; and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department.

As alleged in the indictment and a detention memorandum filed by the government today, defendant Vincent Badalamenti, also known as “Vinny TV,” is a made member of the Bonanno family and a current member of the family’s administration, who until his arrest, was the highest ranking member of the Bonanno family at liberty.

Defendants Anthony Graziano, also known as “TG,” and Nicholas Santora, also known as “Nicky Mouth,” are captains in the Bonanno family and former members of the Bonanno family administration. Defendant Vito Balsamo is an acting captain in the Bonanno family, and defendant Anthony Calabrese is a soldier in the Bonanno family.

 The indictment is the result of a multi-year joint investigation by the DEA and FBI that utilized a variety of techniques to gather evidence, such as consensual recordings of the defendants discussing their charged crimes, cooperating witnesses who were formerly members and associates of organized crime, and surveillance.

The evidence revealed a pattern of violence and intimidation employed by the defendants to further their enterprise’s economic interests, including Badalamenti allegedly directing the hostile takeover of a bar located on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, as a result of its owner’s failure to repay a debt owed to Badalamenti.

The charges in the indictment also demonstrate the recidivist nature of organized crime defendants. For example, as detailed in the government’s detention memorandum, Santora allegedly participated in his charged crimes following his prior conviction and incarceration, and while released on supervised release, and Graziano allegedly committed his charged crimes within weeks of being released to a federal halfway house.

During one consensual recording, a cooperating witness (“CW”) told Graziano that during Graziano’s most recent prison term, the CW was sent to collect money from one of Graziano’s loanshark victims who “was crying hysterical.” The CW and Graziano also discussed how the CW was sent on multiple occasions to collect money from the same victim by a member of the Bonanno family’s ruling panel, to which Graziano responded, “Yeah, well, he was trying to collect my money.” On another occasion, Graziano allegedly directed the CW to meet a second extortion victim and “open him up.”

The charges and arrests announced today are the latest in an ongoing investigation that has resulted in the prosecution of more than 175 members and associates of the Bonanno family in the Eastern District of New York. Since March 2002, more than 10 Bonanno family bosses, acting bosses and administration members have been convicted in this district on racketeering and racketeering-related charges.

“Members of organized crime continue to exploit their victims the old-fashioned way—through violence, threats, and intimidation. Learning nothing from their incarceration, two of the defendants allegedly sought to regain their money and influence on the street while still under federal supervision. But because they learned nothing, they find themselves back in custody again, along with their co-defendants,” stated United States Attorney Lynch.

 “As law enforcement has so successfully done before, we will employ our own time-tested techniques to bring them to justice to account for their crimes. We will not rest in this pursuit until the Bonanno crime family and La Cosa Nostra have been completely dismantled.”

DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge Plummer stated, “These arrests prove that justice comes to those who have abused the system. The five defendants arrested with RICO charges will face the consequences of their alleged illegal actions in the court of law. The New York Drug Enforcement Task Force worked diligently with the United States Attorney’s Office in order to keep our city and state crime free.”

Mr. Plummer thanked the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force which comprises agents and officers of the DEA, New York State Police and the New York City Police Department for their hard work on this investigation.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Fedarcyk stated, “Today’s charges confirm that La Cosa Nostra families continue to engage in the bedrock money-making activities like extortion and loansharking, and are not shy about resorting to violence as a method. As long as mobsters continue their predatory ways, the FBI will continue to target the mob.”

NYPD Commissioner Kelly stated, “This case demonstrates that the FBI, DEA, and NYPD in partnership with federal prosecutors, are relentless and will continue to dismantle organized crime and protect the public from its insidious effects.”

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole M. Argentieri and Stephen E. Frank.

The Defendants:

VINCENT BADALAMENTI Age: 53

VITO BALSAMO Age: 55

ANTHONY CALABRESE Age: 44

ANTHONY GRAZIANO Age: 71

JAMES LAFORTE Age: 35

NICHOLAS SANTORA Age: 69

¹ The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

5 MS-13 GANG INDICTMENTS

¹Two of the defendants, Jose Alvarenga, also known as “Fosforo,” and Hector Torres, also known as “Smiley,” are charged with the murder of 15-year-old Christopher Hamilton in 2009, and the murder of Rigoberto Gomez in 2010, both in Brentwood, New York. All five defendants are in custody. Alvarenga and Torres will be arraigned later today before United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco, and the other three defendants will be arraigned later this week. When Torres was arrested, law enforcement authorities recovered a defaced 9mm semi-automatic handgun, 9mm ammunition, .22 caliber ammunition and 12 gauge shotgun shells.

The charges were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office; and Edward Webber, Acting Commissioner of the Suffolk County Police Department.

As detailed in the indictment and the government’s detention letter filed earlier today, on November 20, 2009, Alvarenga, the leader of the Brentwood Locos Salvatruchas (BLS) clique of MS-13, ordered several MS-13 gang members to attack suspected rival gang members at a house party on American Boulevard in Brentwood. After arming the MS-13 members with a .22 caliber rifle and a semi-automatic handgun from the BLS clique’s arsenal, Alvarenga led them the American Boulevard house. Minutes after arriving, at least three rifle shots were fired by gang members into a crowd of people outside the house—one of them striking Christopher Hamilton in the temple, killing him. Alvarenga is the fifth MS-13 member involved in the Hamilton murder to be charged federally, including the shooter who was a juvenile at the time of the murder and whose case remains under seal.

The indictment and detention letter also allege that in August 2010, members of the Sailors clique of the MS-13 suspected that MS-13 member Rigoberto Gomez was cooperating with local law enforcement. As a result, the Sailors put a “green light” on Gomez, authorizing other MS-13 members to kill Gomez on sight. In the early morning hours of August 31, 2010, defendant Hector Torres, then second in command of the BLS clique, together with a Sailors clique member, who has also been charged federally, spotted Gomez as they drove through Brentwood. They lured Gomez into the car, inviting him to smoke marijuana with them at the nearby Freeman Avenue Park. After exiting the car, Torres stepped behind Gomez and fired a bullet from a .357 caliber revolver into the back of Gomez’s head, and fired a second shot into Gomez’s head after the victim fell to the ground. Torres then handed the gun to the other MS-13 member, who fired a third shot into Gomez’s head.

The indictment also charges Alvarenga and Francisco Ponce, also known as “Spoiler,” with a non-fatal shooting that took place on July 24, 2008, in Timberline Park in Brentwood; Ponce, Freddy Fuentes-Gonzalez, also known as “Pitufo,” and Joyser Velasquez, also known as “Baby Boy,” with the February 15, 2009, conspiracy and armed robbery of the Pollo Campero restaurant in Lindenhurst, New York; Ponce and Velasquez with the December 19, 2009, conspiracy and armed robbery of the Wilson Express Corp., a check-cashing and money transfer business in Patchogue, New York; and Velasquez with a January 20, 2010, conspiracy to rob a McDonald’s restaurant in Smithtown, New York.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. In addition, Alvarenga and Torres, who are charged with the Hamilton and Gomez murders, respectively, each face mandatory life in prison, or the death penalty.

“The MS-13 thrives on violence—violence directed at suspected rivals, as in the Hamilton murder and Timberline Park shooting, violence against its own members, as demonstrated in the Gomez murder, and violence directed at innocent, hard-working Long Islanders, as demonstrated in the armed robberies charged in this indictment,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “Today we mark the latest product of the tenacious investigations conducted by the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force.” Ms. Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for its assistance in this case.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Fedarcyk stated, “The indictment illustrates two ongoing themes. MS-13 continues to use violence, including cold-blooded murder, to intimidate rivals and enforce discipline within its own ranks. Charges include the point-blank execution of an MS-13 member suspected of cooperating. And, the FBI and the Long Island Gang Task Force will continue to make cases and arrest MS-13 leaders and members.”

“Gangs are like a cancer on our communities, and unless we deal with them directly, effectively and immediately they will continue to grow,” said Suffolk County Police Department Acting Commissioner Webber. “We will steadfastly work with our local and federal law enforcement partners to put an end to their violent criminal acts.”

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys John J. Durham and Raymond A. Tierney.

The charges announced today are the latest in a series of indictments by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York against members of the MS-13, a violent international street gang. Over the past decade, more than 150 MS-13 members, including the leaders of a number of the MS-13 cliques on Long Island, have been arrested and convicted on federal felony charges in this district, including federal racketeering and murder charges. These prosecutions are the result of investigations led by the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force, comprising agents and officers of the FBI, Suffolk County Police Department, Nassau County Police Department, Nassau County Sheriff’s Department, the United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department and the Suffolk County Probation Department.

The Defendants:

JOSE ALVARENGA (a/k/a “Fosforo”) Age: 22

FREDDY FUENTES-GONZALEZ (a/k/a “Pitufo”) Age: 28

FRANCISCO PONCE (a/k/a “Spoiler”) Age: 29

HECTOR TORRES (a/k/a “Smiley”) Age: 20

JOYSER VELASQUEZ (a/k/a “Baby Boy”) Age: 27

¹ The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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WPCNR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY By the WPCNR ROVING PHOTOGRAPHER. January 27, 2012:

Temperatures in the fifties combined with the heavy moisture in the atmosphere after last night’s rains, made downtown White Plains, New York, USA invisible this afternoon at 1 P.M. The rare sight of zero visibility to ground level made it appear as if aliens had beamed White Plains up into space and no city ever existed. Photographs are from the terrace of City Limits Restaurant, looking East to the City Center. You would never know two 500 foot buildings were in that fog bank.

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WPCNR GREEN NEWS. January 24, 2012:

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has approved the White Plains measures to cap, seal and close the Gedney Landfill, Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Nicoletti told WPCNR Monday. The Commissioner said he received final approval from the DEC in a letter Friday.

White Plains Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Nicoletti

The plan was devised by the Commissioner in several versions over the last six years under the auspices of the NYSDEC. It came about based on a series of test well readings measuring the amount of Tri-Chloral-Ethylene (TCE) contamination below ground beginning in 2006.

After the series readings, the Commissioner of Public Works working with consultants devised a recommended plan to cap the dump on the surface and on its sides to prevent escape of an underground TCE pocket sixteen feet below the surface that has been polluting the Mamaroneck River for over 35 years. The TCE pocket was created by disposal of dry cleaning agents in the dump for many decades.

As part of the plan, the city will  resurface the Our Lady of Sorrows Softball field adjacent the dump, to avoid users of the field from any contact with contaminated soil, according to the DEC)  below the surface of the field, or adjacent to the field..

Commissioner Nicoletti told WPCNR bids will be requested shortly, and he expected the work to begin by June, 2012.

Previously the Commissioner has speculated the project could cost the city $8 to $10 Million with the state reimbursing the city approximately $2 Million.

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WPCNR BACKROOM BULLETIN. January 20, 2012:

David Buchwald, the White Plains Councilman, after two months of being asked repeatedly by WPCNR if he was going to run for Assemblyman Robert Castelli’s 89th Assembly District seat as the Democratic candidate, announced his candidacy for the seat to The Journal News Thursday.

Buchwald, who squandered two months of potential political positioning time by agonizing over whether he would run or notwhen he was shoring up support, is being challenged by a political unknown, Jeremiah Frei-Peterson, who has come out of nowhere. He is a lawyer locally and a White Plains resident since last year.

WPCNR Political Correspondent King tells WPCNR Mr. Frei-Pearson is the choice of the  County Democratic Party, and perhaps the New York City Democratic power structure. Though unknown politically in the city, he is a seasoned, savvy political operative.

Frei-Pearson also announced his candidacy to the Journal News this week. The Gannett reporter, Richard Liebson writes Frei-Pearson ran for the Assembly in the 36th District in Astoria, Queens in 2010.

WPCNR has learned that Frei-Pearson competed against two other Democrats for the Democratic nomination to run for that seat, but dropped out of actually contending in the primary because, Frei-Peterson’s spokesperson at the time, Michael Murphy said in a Gotham Gazette article, “because Frei-Pearson and Aravella Simolas has similar stands on the issues, Frei-Pearson did not want to take votes from her that might allow for a third snd more conservative candidate, John Ciafone to win.” To read about this race, go to www.gothamgazette.com/article/Albany/20100805/204/3329 

WPCNR has also learned Frei-Pearson is a accomplished attorney, who won a $63 Million lawsuit against Con Edison for victims of the Queens blackout, and has won state reforms in how the developmentally disabled are treated.

Liebson describes him as a native of the Lewisboro, Bedford Hills and Mount Kisco and reports him as saying he and his wife, Karla Mosley a television actress (with a former role as a regular on The Guiding Light, and now a star of the childrens show, Hi-5), , moved back to White Plains to settle down.

More about Frei-Pearson, can be learned at http://www.thealbanyproject.com/diary/8108/locals-want-jeremiah-freipearson-to-run-for-state-assembly

The local White Plains Democratic Party district leaders will get an opportunity to meet both candidates this week.