NYPD Confidential - An Inside Look at the New York Police Department
Home Page
All Columns
Books
Biography
Contact Leonard Levitt
Search this site

Archive » January – June 2004

Archive

January – June 2004

June 25, 2004
Betrayal by high-flying cop painful
Standing before a federal judge in Maryland, his dark suit tight across his barrel chest, Ed Norris - a former NYPD deputy commissioner and Baltimore police commissioner - started to cry.

June 18, 2004
Few backing Blackburne
In a town traditionally skeptical of the police, it is remarkable how little support State Supreme Court Justice Laura Blackburne enjoys since police officials criticized her for allowing a robbery suspect to escape from her courtroom as a detective came to arrest him.

June 11, 2004
Focus on prelude to shooting
The issue in the indictment of Officer Bryan Conroy is not whether he felt his life was threatened when he fired the shots that killed Ousmane Zongo, an unarmed African emigrant in a Chelsea warehouse last year.

June 4, 2004
Publicity cop didn't need
The head of the FBI's New York office has said the Police Department's identification of an anti-terrorism detective has led to "security concerns" for the detective and his family, resulting in his premature return from London.

May 21, 2004
Kelly goes solo on power trip
So it's cultural differences between the Police and Fire Departments that are preventing Mayor Michael Bloomberg from implementing a disaster relief plan for another terrorist attack?

May 20, 2004
Enough with the softballs!
Here are some questions the Sept. 11 commission forgot or were afraid to ask former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

May 14, 2004
Exposing the finest of the buffs
Mr. Teddy Leb, a.k.a. The Duke of Buffland, brings law enforcement agencies together better than Homeland Security.

May 7, 2004
He who speaks last fares well
Here is a tale of two fatal police shootings. Both involve unarmed victims. Both officers are white, both victims black.

April 30, 2004
Kelly's issues with free press
When Michael Bloomberg ran for mayor, he promised a more "transparent" Police Department than had existed under Rudolph Giuliani.

April 23, 2004
Horsing with their health?
Here's the good news from the Mounted Division: The Police Department is expected to assign 20 more officers to the Republican National Convention this summer.

April 16, 2004
Pension bid gets big backer
In the latest twist in his four-year quest for a line-of-duty disability pension, retired Chief of Personnel Michael Markman has found an unlikely ally - Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

April 9, 2004
Unconventional surveillance
Here's an update on some of the NYPD's Intelligence Division's foreign and domestic travails.

April 2, 2004
Unwelcomed back
Charlie DiRienzo, superintendent of the Port Authority Police, is returning to the NYPD at the behest of his old friend Ray Kelly.

March 26, 2004
Big headache over a box of aspirins
Akey player in the alleged downgrading of crimes in the 50th Precinct has come forward to tell how and why she forged the name of a complainant. Lt. Bridget Banuchi, speaking through Tony Garvey of the Lieutenant's Benevolent Association, provided the first indications of underreporting of crimes in the Bronx precinct.

March 19, 2004
NYPD gets cold shoulder
Now that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has given the Intelligence Division a national and international mandate, its detectives are discovering that life outside New York City is no bowl of cherries.

March 17, 2004
Cops seek reinstatement
Two officers whose convictions were overturned in the Abner Louima brutality case have filed suit seeking reinstatement to the Police Department.

February 13, 2004
PBA's Sound, Fury Signifies Not Much
He did what he had to do. But it may be less than meets the eye. That was what two former top Police Department officials said about Patrolmen's Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch, who called for a no-confidence vote against Commissioner Ray Kelly.

February 9, 2004
Neri to Testify Before Grand Jury
A police officer accused in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager on a Brooklyn rooftop last month is expected to testify Wednesday before a grand jury in Brooklyn.

February 6, 2004
Settlement of Suits Unsettling to Some
Has the Latino Officers Association used the federal courts to make the city its cash cow in a $26.8-million discrimination settlement against the Police Department?

January 30, 2004
No-Win Situation For Commish
When Police Commissioner Ray Kelly quickly called a white cop's shooting of an unarmed black teenager as having "no justification," he proved once again that sympathizing with the police or with the city's black citizenry can be a zero sum game.

January 23, 2004
Demoted Officer Casualty of War?
Is the demotion of a deputy inspector the latest cold-war act of hostility between Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and his predecessor Bernard Kerik and by extension, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani?

January 16, 2004
Pressure Mounts On Horse Unit
A shake-up is under way in the NYPD's Mounted Unit. It follows reports in this column of the deaths of six horses last year, some possibly due to poor feed and improper deworming. Two of the horses died last month, one on Dec. 24 from colic following the horse's deworming, sources said; the second from an injection after he became excited while being shod.

January 9, 2004
Taking a Bite Out Of '03 Crime Stats
The NYPD's 2003 crime numbers are in and they're all good. But let's put this in perspective.


Email Leonard Levitt at llevitt@nypdconfidential.com