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A gun violence prevention advocate has been arrested in a major drug and guns bust after being snared in a two-year investigation dubbed 'Operation in Plain Sight'. Michael Rodriguez, 49, was arrested in his home in Yonkers, New York on July 26 after cops seized a cache of illegal contraband including over a kilo of cocaine, three pistols and a shotgun. The activist was also found with $165,000 in cash and $50,000 in jewelry, and is accused of orchestrating a major trafficking ring all while acting as executive director of Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence. Rodriguez was among 15 people...

A Yonkers police sergeant who did little to stop two men from pummeling a victim as he slumped to the ground has been placed on modified duty, the city’s police force revealed Sunday.In a series of tweets, Yonkers police condemned the apparent lack of action from sergeant Amy Kielb while two brothers punched, kicked and grappled with another man Oct. 25 — all caught on surveillance video. The footage, obtained by The Post, shows Kielb getting out of a double-parked cruiser and saying something to the brothers, but not physically intervening. “The Yonkers Police sergeant who initially responded has had...

Sarah Lawrence College sex-cult leader Larry Ray was convicted Tuesday afternoon on all counts by a Manhattan jury — ending a yearslong prosecution launched after the fiend’s tyrannical abuse of a group of young people was exposed in a magazine article. Ray, 62, faces life in prison when he is sentenced by Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Liman later this year. Throughout the monthlong trial, prosecutors and victims painted Ray as a calculating predator who asserted control over a group of college students and others to enrich himself as the leader of a criminal organization he dubbed “The Ray Family.”

A black man has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime after he was caught on video punching a 67-year-old Asian woman more than 125 times and stomping on her as she tried to get into her Yonkers apartment. Tammel Esco, 42, was arrested at the scene and taken to Westchester County Jail on Friday at around 6.15pm. Esco, who spent time in prison for assault and criminal sale of a controlled substance, allegedly yelled a racial slur at the woman when she walked by him on her way home. Surveillance footage shows the victim fiddling with her...

He’s not so tough now. Cops have arrested the monster who they say repeatedly kicked a cowering elderly woman in the head aboard a Bronx subway train — as callous straphangers did nothing more than pull out their phones to record the beatdown. But the suspect, restaurant worker Marc Gomez of Yonkers, is denying he kicked the woman — even as he insists she came at him with a knife. **SNIP** Gomez 36, was charged with felony assault and ordered held in lieu of $30,000 bail after prosecutors said he has a misdemeanor conviction and an open gun possession in...

As New York City considers the future of the monument at Columbus Circle, others are taking more direct aims at tributes to the controversial Italian explorer. For the fourth time in ten days, a statue of Christopher Columbus has been vandalized. This time, it happened in Yonkers.

Here’s story about a church closure with a happy ending —and a church transformation that you don’t hear about very often: A Yonkers Roman Catholic church shuttered last year in a parish consolidation will celebrate its rebirth Saturday  as an Eastern Rite congregation.The Rev. Sunny Mathew, 43, the new congregation’s pastor, said the move to Yonkers realizes a longtime dream for his parishioners, who began their congregation in 1984 in New York City. Most Holy Trinity Church at 18 Trinity Plaza will be occupied by St. Mary’s Malankara Catholic Church, an Indian congregation that for 17 years worshiped in the chapel at Salesian High School in New Rochelle.“It...

If all you knew about racial violence came from the protestors at a Manhattan Sunday brunch, you would know that black people are victims of relentless white violence. In the real world, black mob violence and black-on-white crime are astronomically out of proportion. Especially in schools. Especially directed at teachers. Especially this week in Monroe, Yonkers, Little Rock, and Buffalo. Let’s start in Monroe, Louisiana. Facebook videographer “Tanglewood Hard Hitta” transports us into the middle of a few dozen black teenage girls fighting and screaming. Teacher’s aide David Payne was trying to break it up when Ryan Marquez Gix took...

YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) — A commuter train that derailed over the weekend, killing four passengers, was hurtling at 82 mph as it entered a 30 mph curve, a federal investigator said Monday. But whether the wreck was the result of human error or brake trouble was still unclear, he said. Asked why the train was going so fast, National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said: "That's the question we need to answer." Weener said the information on the locomotive's speed was preliminary and extracted from the Metro-North train's two data recorders, taken from the wreckage after the Sunday morning...

Your heartwarming story of the day: Anthony Nicodemo, the head coach for the Saunders High School basketball team in Yonkers, started to think about coming out of the closet after Jason Collins announced that he was gay in April. Last month, the 35-year-old went to an LGBT sports conference where he heard Collins speak firsthand. It was then that, despite his apprehensions about the reaction of his players and the risk of losing his position, Nicodemo resolved to finally come out. At a team meeting yesterday, he told a group of past and present players that he was gay. The...

Yonkers, NY––Blake Jennings, lead guitarist at St. Therese Parish in Yonkers, New York is outraged over what he calls “years of concerts being interrupted by the Mass.” The 56-year-old accountant and father of three has played with his band at the 9:30 Folk Mass since 2009. “Our fans love us,” Jennings said, after Sunday Mass. “You can see it in their eyes…the way they droop down, lazily closing as we play…as if their entering into some kind of ecstasy. Or the way some in the parish are so moved they just can’t stand another moment of joy, and simply walk...

Neighbors of the Montclair couple accused of being Russian spies painted the woman as a friendly, involved mother who recently completed an MBA while her husband stayed at home and kept to himself. But they also questioned how helpful the couple could have been to the Russian government if they were indeed spies. Moscow sent Cynthia and Richard Murphy to infiltrate government circles — to befriend political movers and shakers, including a prominent New York financier with high-level political connections, officials said. But neighbors said the husband seemed to rarely leave the home — outside of walking the girls to...

<p>WASHINGTON — Ten Russian intelligence officers have been arrested for allegedly serving as illegal agents of the Russian government in the United States, the Justice Department announced Monday.</p>

YONKERS (WABC) -- One firefighter was killed and two others injured after they were forced to jump from a third alarm fire in a Yonkers house. Firefighter Patrick Joyce, a 16 year veteran described as "fearless," was pronounced dead after leaping from the burning building.

I’m thinking we should move to South Carolina. No, not me and the family. The whole city of Yonkers. In June 2008, longtime Yonkers manufacturer Stewart EFI left the city, taking with it a few hundred manufacturing jobs. Then, a few weeks ago, the Precision Valve Corporation, one of Yonkers’s largest employers and a company founded in the city, announced that it was moving to the Palmetto State. Precision Valve vice president Bob Reto explained the relocation delicately: “The decision was driven by the need to operate under the greater efficiencies afforded in South Carolina.” Mayor Phil Amicone, by contrast,...

Nicolas Fernandez New York, Nov 6, 2008 / 01:34 pm (CNA).- At the age of 25, Nicolas Fernandez had all of the qualities needed to be a great policeman and his future in the force looked promising.  However, during his daily work he discovered he needed different weapons to help the “troubled souls” he encountered, so he decided to become a priest.Born on Staten Island of an Irish mother and a Spanish father, Fernandez has begun his six year-long formation at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers.  He had been serving as a police officer for two years when, inspired...

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This sent to me last night by an overjoyed Megan B., of Hyde Park, New York: "Hello! I’m a long time reader of your blog and I wanted to give you some more details on the papal youth rally, which I was able to attend today. First of all, it was absolutely amazing. It was like a giant 4th of July fireworks event, or county fair (including long lines for food!) One of the things they didn’t show on TV (I don’t know if they mentioned it) was that there was also a prayer chapel and confessions available. The...

YONKERS, N.Y. - Suburban New York police say a drunken driver had a suspended license and had marijuana in her car. Oh, they also say she didn't have any pants on. Yonkers police say 22-year-old Long Island resident Angelica Buchanan was found Saturday standing bottomless in a street near her car. They say she was so drunk she had to be hospitalized. Police say she claimed she wasn't wearing pants because she needed to use the bathroom. They've charged her with driving while intoxicated, unlicensed operation of a vehicle and marijuana possession. A telephone message left at her family's Rockville...

PART 1 - PopeTrip '08: The Plans, v.2.0 Even behind the scenes, the good souls of Ecclesiastical Officialdom have taken a warming of late to the line that "Nothing is confirmed until the Holy Father signs off on it." And who could blame 'em? Especially in this pontificate of detail and deliberation, no one would, of course, ever deny that. Yet, as with everything across the Tiber, plans for a papal visit don't just drop out of the sky -- Papa Ratzi having bigger things to do than book flights and all. And so, earlier this week the head of...