IN THE COURTS

JUDGE IN ‘MAFIA COPS’ TRIAL SAYS CASE HAS BASIS FOR APPEAL

The judge who presided over the trial of two former police detectives convicted of moonlighting as hit men for the mob denied the defendants’ request to overturn the verdict, but acknowledged there is basis for an appeal. Louis Eppolito, 57, and his former New York Police Department partner, Stephen Caracappa, 64, were convicted on April 6 of participating in eight killings while on the payroll of a Mafia underboss, Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso.

– Associated Press

LETTER CARRIER CHARGED WITH STASHING AND TORCHING MAIL

A letter carrier charged with torching first-class mail that he had stashed in a basement for years has been released on $25,000 bail, the U.S. attorney’s office said yesterday. Gregory Mewborn, assigned to the Vanderveer post office in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn for eight years, was arraigned before a federal magistrate on Wednesday night, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney, Robert Nardoza, said.

– Associated Press

JUDGE: POLICE CAN ENFORCE ANTI-GRAFFITI LAW

A federal judge decided yesterday that the New York Police Department can continue enforcing an anti-graffiti law that several young artists are challenging in a lawsuit. Earlier this week, a federal judge in Manhattan had ordered the Police Department to stop enforcing the city’s ban on possession of spray paint and large markers by youths between 18 and 21 years old.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

‘SOPRANOS’ ACTOR SEEKS SEPARATE TRIAL IN MURDER CASE

“Sopranos” actor Lillo Brancato Jr., who is charged with murder in the killing of a police officer, asked a judge yesterday for a separate trial from a co-defendant who he expects will testify in his defense. Mr. Brancato’s lawyer, Mel Sachs, said co-defendant Steven Armento could testify that Mr. Brancato did not know that Mr. Armento had a gun with him when the shooting happened on December 10, 2005.

– Associated Press

JUDGE ISSUES WARRANT FOR HOMELESS STALKER OF TV NEWSWOMAN

A judge issued an arrest warrant yesterday for a homeless man who failed to appear for sentencing on his conviction for stalking and harassing cable television news personality Monica Crowley. Ronald Martin, 41, was to be sentenced in Manhattan Criminal Court, where he was convicted March 17 on two counts of second-degree aggravated harassment and two counts of fourth-degree stalking, all misdemeanors.

– Associated Press

JURY DEADLOCKS IN CASE AGAINST STUDENT ACCUSED IN 9/11 PROBE

A judge declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked yesterday on whether a San Diego student lied about his associations with one of two September 11, 2001, hijackers in the days after the terrorist attacks. The jury in federal court in Manhattan could not decide whether Osama Awadallah, 25, lied to a grand jury investigating the attacks after an old phone number of his was found in a hijacker’s car.

– Associated Press

CITYWIDE

GRANTMAKERS ASSOCIATION ELECTS SEVEN NEW BOARD MEMBERS

The New York Regional Association of Grantmakers elected seven new board members at its annual meeting yesterday. They include the executive director of the Independence Community Foundation, Marilyn Gelber, the program director of the Rudin Foundations, Mark Bodden, and the vice president of corporate responsibility at Time Warner, Lisa Quiroz. In recognition of the work of the group’s Gulf Coast Recovery Task Force, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Wynton Marsalis, addressed attendees about the state of his native city. “Even when the city was okay, you had to nearly kill people to get music education in the schools,” Mr. Marsalis said, encouraging the grant makers to ensure funding for art and cultural programs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

14 ARRESTED IN DRUG-RELATED AND OTHER ROBBERIES

Fourteen people have been arrested on charges of committing violent drug-related robberies, kidnappings and burglaries – often with young children present – in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens. New York City’s special narcotics prosecutor, Bridget Brennan, said yesterday that between March and August 2005, the group, which called itself the “Untouchables,” committed at least nine violent robberies in which they stole tens of thousands of dollars in cash, drugs, and jewelry and threatened and beat victims at gunpoint.

– Associated Press

6-YEAR-OLD AND TODDLER TWINS ACCIDENTALLY INGEST CODEINE

Three young children were found unconscious at a Brooklyn home yesterday after accidentally ingesting the prescription drug codeine, authorities said. An ambulance responded to the address after someone there called 911 to report that the children – 2-year-old twins and a 6-year-old – had taken the narcotic, fire and police officials said.

– Associated Press

S TATEWIDE

SPITZER SAYS HIS OFFICE SHUT DOWN MAIL-ORDER SCAM

The state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, announced yesterday that his office has shut down a mail-order scam involving the sale of fake high school equivalency diplomas. The company, GED Associates Inc., which is located in Massapequa, will pay $50,000 in restitution and penalties following an agreement with Mr. Spitzer’s office.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

DAUGHTER OF FIRST ASIAN-AMERICAN LEGISLATOR WILL RUN

The 31-year-old daughter of New York State’s first Asian-American lawmaker said she will run to replace her father, who is not seeking re-election. The Flushing Assemblyman, Jimmy Meng, announced earlier this week that he will not run for his first re-election due to severe back pain. Mr. Meng won the seat in the heavily Asian district by a razor-thin margin in 2004. Allegations of voter fraud of more than 100 voters is still being conducted by the Queens district attorney, Richard Brown. The district attorney declined to elaborate on the status of the review. Mr. Meng’s daughter, Grace, is her father’s chief aide. In an e-mail to friends and reporters, Ms. Meng said a formal announcement will be made in the coming weeks.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SPITZER HELPS WORKING FAMILIES PARTY RAISE FUNDS

A Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Eliot Spitzer, was the chairman of a fund-raiser last night in Manhattan for the labor-based Working Families Party. The group is currently pushing state lawmakers to pass the Fair Share for Health Care Act, which would force companies with more than 100 employees to provide health care. While noting in the Working Families Party Spring 2006 Gala program that the party’s aim is to deliver 200,000 votes “for Gov. Eliot Spitzer on Row E,” the WFP added, “And before we get there, we are in a knockdown, drag out fight with Wal-Mart to make large employers pay their fair share for health care.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

FERRARO ENDORSES CUOMO IN ATTORNEY GENERAL RACE

The first woman to run on a national ticket for a major party, Geraldine Ferraro, yesterday endorsed Andrew Cuomo for attorney general, in a race featuring one upstate woman running against four other men. Ms. Ferraro, a former congresswoman from Queens has ties to Mr. Cuomo and his father Mario, a former governor, going back to decades. The only woman in the race, a former federal prosecutor, Denise O’Donnell, was endorsed earlier by another leading woman in politics, Janet Reno, the attorney general under President Clinton.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

COURT: FELONS CANNOT USE CIVIL RIGHTS LAW TO JOIN ELECTORAL PROCESS

Deciding a subject of national debate, a federal appeals court yesterday denied felons a chance to prove that barring them from voting is discriminatory because a disproportionate number of blacks and Hispanics are imprisoned. In an 8-to-5 vote, the 13 members of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan decided that New York felons cannot use a hallmark civil rights law to try to join the electoral process.

– Associated Press

MOVEMENT TOUTING CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT TO LAUNCH IN TENNESSEE

Hillarynow.com, a movement to push Senator Clinton to run for president, is launching a national campaign in Nashville on May 23, according to the Tennessean’s Web site last night. The group is beginning its campaign in the South in an effort to prove that Democrats can be victorious in Southern states. Hillarynow.com’s first fund-raiser will be at a coffee shop called the Enchanted Gingerbread, according to the Tennessean.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SUOZZI SAYS HE SUPPORTS TUITION TAX CREDITS

A democratic gubernatorial candidate, Thomas Suozzi, told several dozen Jewish educators yesterday that he supported tuition tax credits, and that he was in favor of reimbursing private schools for basic academic expenses like textbooks and standardized testing. Mr. Suozzi, the chief executive of Nassau County who is challenging the state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, for the party nomination in September’s Democratic primary, said he was against school vouchers, but backed proposals to provide $500 tuition tax credits to families living in failing school districts.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun