CITYWIDE

LAWMAKERS PUSH FOR IMPROVED PORT SECURITY

City lawmakers hoping to shore up security at the city’s ports recommended a number of changes yesterday, including a newly created seat for the New York City Police Department on the Port Authority Board of Commissioners. At a joint hearing between the City Council’s public safety and waterfront committees, council members also lobbied for improved security coordination and better screening technology. Testifying at the hearing, representatives from the Port Authority and the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor revealed persistent weak spots in port security, including challenges in dealing with cargo from foreign countries, and screening concerns following a Department of Homeland Security report that more than half the drivers with access to the ports have criminal records.

– Special to the Sun

MAYOR SAYS U.S. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS SHOULD GET PERMANENT STATUS

Mayor Bloomberg says the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in America should get permanent status. The Republican mayor also said guest worker programs and mass deportations aren’t practical solutions.

– Associated Press

INVESTIGATORS ARREST 11 MEMBERS OF DRUG RING

Investigators arrested 11 members of an international drug ring that smuggled nearly 200 kilograms of cocaine – much of which was concealed in tombstones – to New York City from Mexico, the Drug Enforcement Agency said. The agents also seized almost $500,000 in proceeds from the drug ring. Agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency, which led the multi-agency operation, raided a Long Island stash house on November 4 and discovered 84 kilograms of cocaine, DEA said. Nearly two weeks later, the agents raided a Brooklyn warehouse and allegedly found 110 kilograms of cocaine concealed in eight tombstones with embedded statues of the Virgin Mary. Investigators also seized $474,000 from a Bronx stash house.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MAYOR: ‘WELCOME TO MY CRIB’

Mayor Bloomberg may be a bit older than the hip-hop generation, but he did his best to fit in yesterday as he hosted Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons and rapper Ice-T at City Hall. “Welcome to City Hall, or my crib, as I call it,” the mayor opened, to a big laugh. Mr. Simmons and Ice-T were on hand to announce New York City as the home of the 3rd annual VH1 Hip Hop Honors in October. The show, part of the administration’s push to lure major events to the city, will coincide with a week of events across the five boroughs dedicated to the urban music genre, Mr. Bloomberg said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

TRISTATE

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING IN NEWARK

An American Airlines flight bound for Chicago experienced engine trouble after lifting off from La Guardia Airport yesterday and was forced to make an emergency landing in New Jersey. The jet touched down safely at Newark Liberty International Airport just past noon. No one aboard was injured. The pilot made the landing with power from just one engine after the second one was shut down following an apparent malfunction, aviation and airline officials said.

– Associated Press

MISSING WOMAN FOUND SLAIN; SON CHARGED

WOODBURY, N.J. – A New Jersey man was charged with murdering his mother after an argument about the messy state of the house where he lived, authorities announced yesterday, ending almost two weeks of mystery surrounding her whereabouts. Benjamin Martin, 30, killed his mother, Nancy Martin, 51, on March 10, the Gloucester County prosecutor, Sean Dalton, said. Mr. Martin was arrested Wednesday night after relatives convinced him to lead police to his mother’s body, which had been dumped in a bush near a garage off a rural road in nearby Monroe Township.

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

LAWYER: FEW WILL REPRESENT ATTORNEY ACCUSED OF SEX WITH GIRLS

Few lawyers are willing to represent the former Cravath, Swaine & Moore tax attorney accused of paying two underage sisters for sex, said the lawyer who agreed yesterday to defend James Colliton, 41. “When one of our own gets into trouble the organized bar heads to the hills rather than ride into the valley, which is something we would do for any defendant rather than one of our own,” attorney Howard Greenberg said. Mr. Greenberg confirmed suspicions that Mr. Colliton is in financial ruin despite having made a reported $500,000 a year at the renowned firm. Mr. Greenberg will represent Mr. Colliton free of charge and said in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday that he would ask the court to supply state money to fund an investigation on Mr. Colliton’s behalf.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

FORMER FBI AGENT SUSPECTED OF MOB TIES INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGES

A former FBI agent took bribes from a ruthless mobster to provide inside information that led to the gangland slayings in Brooklyn of four people, including the girlfriend of a high-ranking gangster, prosecutors said yesterday. The agent, Lindley De-Vecchio, was charged with second-degree murder in a case of “confidential leaks, payoffs, and death” dating back two decades, Brooklyn’s district attorney, Charles Hynes, said at a news conference. Mr. DeVecchio, 65, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, and was released on $1 million bond.

– Associated Press

LONG ISLAND

BASKETBALL COACH CHARGED IN COCAINE SWEEP

An assistant high school girls basketball coach whose son plays for the defending national champion North Carolina Tar Heels was among three people arrested yesterday on charges they participated in a multimillion-dollar cocaine distribution network, state police said. Daniel Green, 39, of North Babylon, who has worked as a teacher in the North Babylon School District and helped coach the girls’ basketball team, was expected to be arraigned Friday on charges related to the drug scheme, a spokeswoman for Suffolk County district attorney, Thomas Spota, said.

– Associated Press

ALBANY

PATAKI PRESS SECRETARY LEAVES FOR UNIVERSITY JOB

Governor Pataki’s press secretary for the past two years, Kevin Quinn, is leaving to take a job with Syracuse University, school officials announced yesterday. Mr. Quinn, 35, was a spokesman for the state budget division prior to becoming the governor’s press secretary. At Syracuse, Mr. Quinn will become vice president for public affairs, a newly created position.

– Associated Press

CUOMO SAYS END ‘SELF-POLICING’ IN ALBANY

A Democratic attorney general candidate, Andrew Cuomo, yesterday called for a ban on all gifts from lobbyists to state lawmakers, an end to the practice of paying state lawmakers for making speeches, and create a three-year “cooling-off period” before a government official can start lobbying their former colleagues. Mr. Cuomo also proposes a $300 campaign contribution limit for those doing business with the state, “mandatory ethics training for lobbyists, legislators, and senior staffers” and the creation of a seven-member Independent State Ethics Commission to work with the attorney general’s office and stop “self-policing” of state lawmakers.

-Staff Reporter of the Sun

BROOKLYN

JUDGE GIVES BROOKLYN DA WIDER JURISDICTION TO PROSECUTE A JUDGE

The Brooklyn district attorney now has wider jurisdiction to prosecute a divorce judge accused of taking bribes, after the state’s highest court decided certain types of judicial misconduct can be criminally prosecuted. The opinion, which the Court of Appeals released yesterday, will allow Charles Hynes to charge a former state Supreme Court judge, Gerald Garson, 73, with allegedly receiving payments in return for dispensing legal advice and referrals to lawyer during his time as a judge. A previous ruling had prevented Mr. Hynes from prosecuting certain alleged violations of state rules governing judicial conduct. Yesterday’s ruling had no effect on a related bribery charge Judge Garson faces. Judge Garson’s case has been on hold for the last two years, pending the outcome of Mr. Hynes’s appeal of the earlier dismissal of charges.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun