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A Brooklyn man named Barry Baldwin, 35, has been arrested and charged with five incidents in which Jewish women were viciously punched for no apparent reason. The incidents are seen as being connected to a sadistic game called the “knockout game,” which involves targeting unsuspecting victims on the street and knocking them out with a sucker punch. Police picked up Baldwin last week, and originally connected him to six incidents and charged him with six hate crimes because he targeted Jewish victims, sources told the Daily News. For some reason, the charges were later downgraded to assaults without a hate...

<p>A federal judgeon Wednesday backed the city's Department of Education, ruling that the display of the nativity scene, unlike Christmas trees and menorahs, was not secular and has no place in classrooms.</p> <p>Judge Charles Sifton in Brooklyn dismissed the lawsuit brought forth by Andrea Skoros, 34, of College Point, saying the city's holiday displays policy banning non-secular symbols from schools did not violate her right to free exercise of religion.</p>

Year-end boasts by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that New York is the safest big city in America can ring hollow in Brownsville, a Brooklyn neighborhood where the cycle of violence, silence and retribution feels entrenched and where crime seems immune to strategies that have brought record lows across the city. A burst of gunfire on neighborhood streets this past summer typified the frustrating cycle. A baby boy was struck in the head by a stray bullet and killed as he sat in his stroller. His father, who police believe was the intended target, refused to help police identify the gunman. […]...

Brooklyn District Attorney-elect Ken Thompson is happy to be taking Charles Hynes’ seat next week—but he says the veteran lawman can keep his throne. Thompson transition aide Arnie Kriss has told a Hynes staffer that Thompson wants the toilet seat in the district attorney’s private bathroom replaced, said a source close to the outgoing DA. “Kriss said Thompson wants a new toilet seat installed in the DA’s private bathroom because he doesn’t want to sit on the same toilet seat that Hynes sat on,” the source said. “You’d think he’d be worried about running the office, not about a toilet...

Hundreds of teenagers stormed and trashed a Brooklyn mall in a wild flash mob that forced the shopping center to close its doors during day-after Christmas sales, sources said on Friday. More than 400 crazed teens grabbed and smashed jars of candy, stole cheap items such as baby balloons and beat up security guards at Kings Plaza Shopping Center in Mill Basin between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., merchants said. A violent game of “Knockout” also broke out on the upper level of the mall — and one teen may have been carrying a gun, sources said.

Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron was a firebrand to the end, delivering a farewell speech that echoed many of the greatest hits of his controversial tenure barron.jpg “I just wanted to come before you to say that I will always be black, radical, revolutionary. I will always be a socialist, anti-capitalist/imperialist” said Barron, who represents East New York, at the Council’s last meeting Thursday, where many members took the chance to make farewell remarks. “I went to Cuba. I went to Venezuela. I went to Zimbabwe. I brought you the president and you didn’t appreciate it!” he said, a reference to...

Brooklyn, NY - A woman walking along a Brooklyn street Saturday became the latest apparent victim of the sick “knockout game.” The 33-year-old was walking down the block with her 7-year-old daughter when she was ambushed in front of 1212 Elm Street in Midwood by a Black male in his thirties. The victim was taken to Maimonides Medical Center by EMS where she was treated for minor injuries and later released. the NYPD’s 70th precinct hate crime task force is investigating, no arrests have been made in the assault. police gave the description of the perpetrator as a Male, Black,...

When Haredim engage in violence, it's always, without exception, unequivocally, for a reason.What happened on Sunday, Dec. 1 that provoked the alleged Haredi outpouring of violence that resulted in serious bodily injury to one Taj Patterson, 22, on a street corner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at 4:00 in the morning? I recall a 1980s quote from an African American lady who said when she hears footsteps coming up behind her in an alley at night, turning back to see a group of Orthodox Jews is a big relief—compared with the alternative in her neighborhood. I’m sure you’ve heard a version of...

Oy vey you gorgeous people: enthusiasm junkie Marty Markowitz only has about 19 days left as Brooklyn's Greatest Borough President Ever!! And he's been on something of a zydy tour lately! Which means he's had plenty of opportunities to wax poetic about his 12 years in office, which have been THE GREATEST 12 YEARS IN THE HISTORY OF BROOKLYN OR THE WORLD!! Here, watch him rap about it. He stopped by The Brian Lehrer Show yesterday to talk about how Brooklyn has changed, and offered lots of praise, to all the beautiful lesbians and all the hard-working gays: “We remain...

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the alleged beating of a 22-year-old fashion student at the hands of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish mob. Taj Patterson, 22, was walking home from a party through the predominantly ultra-Orthodox section of South Williamsburg when he says a group of at least twenty Jewish men attacked him. Patterson says that during the beating, the men yelled anti-gay slurs, including, "Stay down, f----t!” "I’m walking down some block by myself and then the next thing I know, I’m surrounded by a group of Hasidic Jewish men and they’re attacking me,” Patterson tells the Daily...

Amid an array of “knock-out” attacks against a number of Jews in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, a city councilwoman pointed to the success of the Jewish community as triggering the aggression. Councilwoman-elect Laurie Cumbo emphasized that while she “admire[s] the Jewish community immensely” for its work ethic, black teens may see it differently. “While I personally regard this level of tenacity, I also recognize that for others, the accomplishments of the Jewish community triggers feelings of resentment, and a sense that Jewish success is not also their success,” Cumbo, who was recently elected, wrote in a letter. Chief among the...

NEW YORK — Chava, a student at a Chabad seminary, has lived in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn for six years, but it’s only in the past few days that she started carrying pepper spray in her handbag. Her younger brother gave her the deterrent after news hit of a string of recent attacks against Orthodox Jews, seven of them in Crown Heights. The assaults, believed to be part of a national wave of so-called “knockout game” attacks in which black teens punch random white strangers for sport, are unnerving Jews in the racially mixed neighborhood still haunted by...

A group of Brooklyn tenants busted back into their rent-stabilized apartments Tuesday after their landlord had locked them out and marketed their units for more money. After a series of fires forced out tenants of the six-unit building in Brownsville, landlord Yuen Ip changed the locks and ignored the city’s warnings to let them back in, said Brooklyn Legal Services attorney Adam Meyers. The four, accompanied by Meyers, showed up with a locksmith and reentered three apartments. Another apartment had already been rented.

Brooklyn Cops Arrest Muslim Man & Charge Him With Hate Crime For Participating In Playing "Knock Out" The Jew Game Police in Brooklyn have arrested 28-year-old Muslim man, Marajh Amrit, 28. Police charged Amrit with two counts of a hate crime and third-degree assault in connection with the hate game “knock-out.” Amrit and four other men allegedly assaulted a man in Boro Park on Friday morning. The victim, Caucasian Jewish, age 24, told police that the suspects were discussing the knock-out game prior-to punching him in the face on 18th Avenue. Held also in connection with the assault are the...

A rash of violent anti-Semitic attacks in Brooklyn, New York recently left a local rabbi wondering if the wave of assaults is part of a game of “Knock out the Jew.” Those were the words that Rabbi Yaacov Behrman had for CBS New York this week when he weighed in on a string of recent incidents that have taken Brooklyn by storm. The CBS affiliate reported that the New York Police Department is now investigating the series of crimes - at least one of which was captured on a surveillance camera. In that incident, Behrman said a local Jewish man...

Brooklyn Rabbi: Gang Of Teens Playing Disturbing Game Of ‘Knock Out The Jew’ Activists, Victims' Families Say 8 Incidents Not About Robbery, But About Hate November 12, 2013 6:28 PM NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The NYPD is looking into a series of attacks on Jews in Brooklyn. At least one attack was caught on surveillance tape. Some of the assaults may be part of a disturbing game, CBS 2’s John Slattery reported on Tuesday. Police have yet to connect all the incidents, but released surveillance video that shows one group attacking a Jewish man. The video shows from a few...

A man kicked out of his indie rock band shot three of his bandmates to death in their Brooklyn apartment early Monday and wounded a fourth before killing himself on the roof, police said. The band members were all from Iran but had come the United States in the past few years seeking more musical freedom. It wasn't immediately clear why the ex-member snapped, police said. The shooting happened shortly after midnight in a row house in East Williamsburg, an industrial neighborhood home to mostly warehouses where artists can rent cheaper space than in trendier parts of the city.

Obamacare Restrictions Lead Brooklyn Couple To Consider Divorce 'We Would Save Thousands Of Dollars If We Got Divorced,' Woman Says November 6, 2013 5:23 PM NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — From website crashes to long holds on calls, the issues involved with the unveiling of the Affordable Care Act are well documented. But now, could it be breaking couples up? CBS 2’s Don Champion spoke to one Brooklyn couple on Wednesday who said they may be forced to get a divorce to get health insurance. Nona Willis Aronowitz and Aaron Cassara’s love affair began at a party in 2008. “We kissed...

A mass stabbing in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, has left three people dead and three others fighting for their lives Sunday morning, according to authorities. Authorities got the call just before 11:00 p.m Saturday for a multiple stabbing inside an apartment on 57th Street and 9th Avenue.

The president visited the Pathways in Technology Early College High School in Crown HeightsPresident Barack Obama praised Brooklyn on Friday for being forever "cool" and noted that it has drawn generations of immigrants seeking better opportunities, which he said should inspire the nation's approach to education. Obama spoke at the Pathways in Technology Early College High School, known as P-Tech, which he praised for graduating students with a high school diploma and an associates degree. The school opened in 2011 in a rough stretch of Crown Heights. "What's going on here at P-Tech is outstanding, and I'm excited to see...