POLICE BLOTTER

BASEMENT FIRE AT CARNEGIE DELI SENDS PATRONS RUNNING FOR THE DOOR

Diners at the Carnegie Deli, a Manhattan theater district institution famous for its mile-high pastrami and corned beef sandwiches, ate and ran yesterday when a small fire erupted in the basement. Heavy smoke filled the basement and first floor of the deli, whose sandwiches are named after celebrities, but no injuries were reported. About 35 diners were evacuated. The blaze began at about 5 p.m., when a feeder cable blew up, the Fire Department’s acting battalion chief, Mike Meyer, said. It was under control about 30 minutes later.

— Associated Press

UNIDENTIFIED MAN FOUND DEAD IN ALLEYWAY

An unidentified man was found dead in an Upper East Side alleyway yesterday, police officials said.The body was so decomposed that investigators weren’t sure if any criminality was involved in the death.The alley was located behind 126 E. 103rd St., police said. The medical examiner was conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

DRIVER ARRESTED IN HIT AND RUN

A driver struck and critically injured a 19-year-old woman before fleeing the scene early yesterday morning, police officials said. The man who was driving the silver Toyota Camry was arrested not long after the incident. He was identified by police as Ellis Chang, 18, of 71-02 162nd St. in Queens. Police charged him with leaving the scene of an accident, operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs. The woman, who wasn’t identified yesterday, was crossing the street at Kissena Boulevard and Melbourne Avenue in the Fresh Meadows section of Queens when the car allegedly struck her. She was listed in critical condition yesterday, police said.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

IN THE COURTS

$3 MILLION SETTLEMENT IN OFFICER’S SHOOTING OF UNARMED IMMIGRANT

The family of an unarmed African art trader who was gunned down in a chance run-in with police during a warehouse raid will receive $3 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit, attorneys said yesterday. The family had sued the city in federal court, claiming a New York Police Department officer violated the civil rights of Ousmane Zongo by shooting and killing him in 2003. Police had targeted the Manhattan storage facility, where Zongo repaired art and musical instruments, after an investigation found it was being used in a CD and DVD pirating operation.

— Associated Press

BROWNIE LEADER ADMITS ABUSING GIRLS, FACES JAIL

CANTON — A former Brownie leader who admitted Wednesday she had sexual contact with three underage girls is expected to be sentenced to 18 months in jail. Marlene Herne, 39, of Massena, pleaded guilty to felony counts of first-degree sexual abuse and aggravated third-degree sexual abuse in St. Lawrence County Court. Herne cried as she told a judge she used a turkey baster and medicine dropper to sexually abuse two of the girls and spanked the bare buttocks of another.

— Associated Press

APPEALS COURT RULES PART OF STATE ELECTION LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL

ALBANY — An election law that prohibited a political party from attacking or supporting candidates in another party’s primary was ruled unconstitutional yesterday by a midlevel state appeals court. The ruling will allow political parties to try to influence another party’s primary election, the judges said, citing freedom of speech protections. In practice, major parties have preferred to let opposition party candidates attack each other and save campaign dollars for the weeks running up to the general election.

— Associated Press

REPUTED MOB FINANCIER-TURNED-EXECUTIVE CHARGED WITH FRAUD

A reputed financier for the mob who morphed into an executive for the high-end restaurant company that runs the Rainbow Room was charged yesterday with bilking three insurance companies out of more than $1.5 million. Dennis Pappas, 59, vice president of Cipriani USA, surrendered on charges of insurance fraud, grand larceny, and filing a false document. His arraignment was postponed after he complained of chest pains and was taken to the hospital. A call to his attorney was not immediately returned.

— Associated Press

PAKISTANI SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS AFTER AL QAEDA AID CONVICTION

A young Pakistani man was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison for agreeing to help an Al Qaeda operative sneak into America to commit terrorism, a prison term that a judge said was necessary to deter others who might wish to do the same. A U.S. district judge, Sidney Stein, told Uzair Paracha, 26, that he believed Paracha knew what he was doing when he agreed to help an Al Qaeda member, Majid Khan, a former Baltimore resident, sneak back into America from Pakistan to carry out a chemical attack.

— Associated Press

HIGH COURT NOMINEE LIST SENT TO PATAKI

ALBANY — Governor Pataki will fill an upcoming vacancy on the state’s highest court from a list of seven candidates recommended yesterday by a state commission. When a vacancy occurs on the Court of Appeals, the governor appoints a judge from a list of three to seven candidates submitted by the Commission on Judicial Nomination.The governor’s appointee has to then be confirmed by the senate. The latest list contains three candidates who’ve been recommended by the Commission on Judicial Nomination for previous vacancies on the Court of Appeals as well as a current judge, George Bundy Smith, an appointee of Governor Cuomo who reapplied to serve until the end of 2007, when he would be forced to step down after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

— Associated Press

CITY SETTLES WITH 13 ARRESTED DURING REPUBLICAN CONVENTION

The city has settled 13 of the hundreds of claims against it related to arrests during protests at the 2004 Republican National Convention, a spokeswoman said yesterday.The settlements total $411,072, an average of $31,620, according to a spokeswoman in Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr.’s office, Laura Rivera. Some 1,800 people were arrested during the four-day convention, held at Madison Square Garden in the summer of 2004, when President Bush accepted his party’s nomination for a second term.

— Associated Press

STATEWIDE

DEC URGES CAUTION AFTER BOTULISM FOUND IN BIRDS ALBANY — The state Department of Environmental Conservation reported yesterday that Type E Botulism was found in gulls and terns collected from Little Galloo Island earlier this month, warning hunters and fishermen to take only waterfowl and fish that appear healthy from along the Lake Ontario shores and St. Lawrence River. The strain of botulism most commonly affects fish-eating birds, causing paralysis and often killing them. If ingested, a toxin produced by the bacteria can harm people.

— Associated Press