Free Republic

Police are searching for a group of three young men involved in at least three random assaults over a roughly four-hour span in Brooklyn Tuesday, and they're hoping surveillance photos will lead to arrests. The first incident in the crime spree happened just before 4:30 p.m. in front of 2428 East 27th Street in Sheepshead Bay, where an 81-year-old man was walking when an unknown individual approached and asked, "Where is the B44 bus?" As the victim began to give directions, the individual punched him in the face before fleeing southbound, on foot, along East 27th Street towards Avenue Y.

  Jessica Mazzone is recovering from operation by Dr. John Boockvar.   Writhing in pain inside a dilapidated hospital in the Dominican Republic, Brooklyn native Jessica Mazzone didn't think she'd ever walk again.  The 28-year-old flight attendant had fallen three stories from a hotel balcony on the eastern tip of the island, snapping her spine and shattering her left leg.  Local doctors insisted they had to operate on her at the hospital. A journey to the U.S. would almost certainly leave her paralyzed, Mazzone was told. Her family feared the worst until a relative suggested they contact a famed surgeon who...