March 17, 2018 | New York Daily News
Nikki Bell was 16 years old the first time she had sex for money. Her mother had recently died, she became addicted to drugs and alcohol, and soon thereafter, wound up in the arms of a pimp.
For 10 years, she was paid to be sexually assaulted multiple times a day in an industry that normalizes and thrives on exploitation.
“You are trying to survive at this point in your life, which is why most people enter into prostitution. Because they are at an economic disadvantage,” Bell, 37, told the Daily News.
She disputes the notion that choices existed for people like her.
New York Daily NewsFebruary 28, 2018 | Manhattan Times
Their haul’s come to a halt.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Police Commissioner James O’Neill and New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) Commissioner Mark G. Peters announced the takedown of an expansive fraud scheme involving the city’s towing industry.
Manhattan TimesFebruary 27, 2018 | The Manhattan District Attorney
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. today announced that members of the D.A.’s Office, together with survivors of gun violence from New York City, will travel to Washington, D.C., to join the “March For Our Lives” on March 24, 2018. Created after the fatal shooting of 17 students and teachers in Parkland, Florida, the March For Our Lives is inspired and led by young people to demand the timely passage of legislation to address gun violence, stop the epidemic of mass school shootings, and ensure that students can learn in safety.
The Manhattan District AttorneyFebruary 23, 2018 | Patch
A mother who pleaded guilty to killing her newborn son in 2013 is facing nearly 20 years in prison, according to reports.
Tiona Rodriguez, 21, was sentence to 16 years in state prison Thursday, the New York Post first reported. Rodriguez pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree manslaughter in January, admitting that her son was born alive before his death from asphyxiation.
PatchFebruary 22, 2018 | New York Amsterdam News
With momentum toward closing the dysfunctional jails on Rikers Island and continuing reductions in crime, New York City is making progress toward a better justice system. Despite steps in the right direction, the road to shuttering Rikers is paved with hard decisions and, most importantly, the recognition that our criminal courts are not the solution for all of society’s ills. This reality is in the spotlight because of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s recent decision not to prosecute most people who are arrested for jumping subway turnstiles.
New York Amsterdam NewsFebruary 22, 2018 | amNewYork
Legislation that would give concealed carry permit holders from other states the ability to walk the streets of New York City with a gun at their hip would cause major complications for the NYPD, according to a Second Amendment expert.
The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act was passed by the House of Representatives in December and is currently awaiting a vote in the Senate, but Congress would be “foolish” to approve it, said Saul Cornell, Fordham University’s Paul and Diane Guenther Chair in American History.
amNewYorkFebruary 22, 2018 | NY1
The Manhattan DA has announced a major takedown of an illegal enterprise that domintated the city's towing industry.
Cyrus Vance says more than a dozen people and companies, including Tow-arrific Inc. in East Harlem, have been indicted and slapped with a slew of charges, including enterprise corruption, scheme to defraud and conspiracy.
NY1February 16, 2018 | RealDaily
Cryptocurrencies promise to make all kinds of payments easier, including, it now appears, paying a ransom.
In December the New York District Attorney announced an arrest in a kidnapping.
“This case demonstrates the increasingly common intersection between cyber and violent crime — the defendant is charged with coordinating an elaborate kidnapping, armed robbery, and burglary to gain access to the victim’s digital wallet and the significant funds it contained,” said New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr.
RealDailyFebruary 16, 2018 | JDJournal
An 81-year-old former attorney pleaded guilty to grand larceny and scheme to defraud on Thursday in the Manhattan Supreme Court, according to a NY Daily News report. Paul Karan, a now disbarred attorney, stole roughly $2.6 million from his clients’ trusts and estates from April 2005 and August 2016.
JDJournalFebruary 15, 2018 | The Manhattan District Attorney
“Congress has outsourced federal gun policy to the NRA. The only way to disrupt what has become ritual slaughter is with gun controls based on public health and safety, not on the business interests of a single industry. There is a reason why the United States is the only country where these atrocities happen regularly.
The Manhattan District Attorney