CITYWIDE

ACCUSED BANK ROBBER, 65, ARRESTED IN FLORIDA

A 65-year-old man accused of conspiring in a string of armed bank robberies nearly 10 years ago has been arrested in Florida, where he was living under an assumed name, prosecutors said yesterday. Philip Nasalga could face up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted of charges brought in June 1995 for robberies which occurred in the New York City area, according to a statement from federal prosecutors. Mr. Nasalga was arrested Saturday in Lake Worth, Fla., where he had been living under an assumed name for the past six months, according to prosecutors. An indictment had charged him with conspiring to rob banks from June 1993 through May 1994. Prosecutors said the targets of the robberies included a Hamilton Bank branch in Brooklyn. Eight others who were charged in the robberies have already pleaded guilty or been convicted by juries, prosecutors said.

– Associated Press

MTA COULD ABANDON EXPANSION PLANS

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority could scrap plans like the Second Avenue subway expansion in order to save the agency’s five-year $17.2 billion program for maintaining the existing transit system, the MTA chairman said yesterday. Peter Kalikow told reporters at the MTA’s Midtown headquarters he hoped legislators in Albany as well as Governor Pataki would realize the need to both maintain the current system and fund new projects, the New York Times was reporting on its Web site last night. The MTA is asking Albany for $16 billion to fill a revenue gap. Neither the governor nor leaders of the Legislature have gone along with an $11 billion package of tax increases proposed by the MTA to help pay for capital projects like the Second Avenue subway, an airport rail link to JFK, and the Grand Central Terminal connection to Long Island.

– Special to the Sun

ALBANY

STATE AGENCY WITHHELD DOCUMENTS FROM ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE

Top officials at a state authority acknowledged yesterday that with guidance from the governor’s office, they intentionally withheld documents from an Assembly committee investigating a development rights’ contract awarded at a cut-rate price. Thruway Authority officials said under oath during a hearing here that they did not give the Assembly Committee on Authorities and Corporations internal documents, even though a low-level attorney at the authority questioned the decision.

Committee Chairman Richard Brodsky told authority officials they “thwarted legitimate public scrutiny” by denying records to the committee. Todd Alhart, a spokesman for Governor Pataki, said the governor’s office consults with authorities but encourages agencies to fully cooperate with the Legislature. He said Mr. Brodsky’s hearing is “a publicity-seeking charade.”

– Associated Press

TWO NEW MEMBERS NAMED TO LOBBYING COMMISSION

Two new members have been appointed to the six-member state Lobbying Commission by Governor Pataki, on the recommendation of the Republican leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, commission officials announced yesterday. The two members being replaced, Albert Callan and Stewart Wagner, had been strong supporters of the commission’s aggressive executive director, David Grandeau.

– Associated Press

BRUNO HOLDS STRATEGY SESSION

State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, facing private criticism from a number of his Republican colleagues, took the chamber’s GOP members behind closed doors yesterday to talk political survival – theirs and his. Mr. Bruno emerged from the two-hour meeting at Albany’s private Fort Orange Club to declare himself happy and content, “and much more important is, I think, our members are happy and content.”

In wake of losing three Senate seats, and possibly four, in the November election, Mr. Bruno convened yesterday’s meeting to talk about ways to improve the Senate GOP’s campaign operations and other issues.

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

JUDGE REFUSES TO ACCEPT GUILTY PLEA

A federal judge refused to accept a guilty plea yesterday from a former America Online software engineer accused of stealing 92 million e-mail addresses and selling them to spammers.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein of Manhattan federal court said he was not convinced Jason Smathers, 24, had actually committed a crime under new federal “canspam” legislation that took effect earlier this year. Mr. Smathers, of Harpers Ferry, W.Va., planned to enter guilty pleas to charges of conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property. But the judge turned him away and scheduled another hearing for January. The judge, who said he dropped his own AOL membership because he received too much spam, said it was not clear that Mr. Smathers had deceived anyone – a requirement of the new law.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

POST OFFICE WORKERS LOCK SELVES IN SAFE DURING ROBBERY

Four people were bound and gagged and placed inside a Queens post office safe during a robbery yesterday, and, fearing for their lives, locked themselves inside and called 911. The robbery took place at 5:55 p.m. yesterday evening, five minutes before the post office closed. Two men, whom witnesses described as black males in their 20s dressed in all black and possibly sounding Jamaican, entered the bank and announced a robbery, police said. One of the men was described as possibly wearing a dreadlock wig.

The men bound and gagged three post office employees with duct tape, and placed them inside the safe at the post office on 126th Street in the Rockaway section. The daughter of one of the office workers, a young child, was placed with them. One of the workers then managed to break free from the bonds and dial 911 from inside the safe. According to police, she told them there were two gunmen robbing the post office, that the workers were locked inside the safe, and that they wouldn’t come out until police arrived. Police responded in force, bringing multiple patrol cars, Emergency Service Unit vans, and two police helicopters. The suspects had left before officers arrived on the scene, and were still at large, police said. According to police, the suspects took as much as $20,000 in cash.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE FATALLY SHOOT MAN WHO HAD SHOTGUN

A man carrying a shotgun under a long trench coat was shot and killed by police officers in a standoff in the Bronx early yesterday morning. According to police sources, the man, whose identity was not immediately released, was walking down Taylor Avenue at about 9 a.m. when his path was allegedly cut off by a livery cab driver. The man removed the weapon, which had been sawed off at the handle so that it could fit under his coat, and banged it on the windshield of a passing livery cab, police said.

Worried neighbors quickly dialed 911. After police arrived, officers chased the man down for more than 250 yards. Police said the officers repeatedly demanded that the man put down the shotgun. Only when the man pointed the weapon at police officers did they open fire, police said. Three officers fired; eight rounds were fired in all. The man was struck in the head, and suffered severe damage to the head, sources said. The shotgun, which carried one bullet lodged in the chamber, was recovered.

– Staff Reporter for the Sun