I remember the Co-Op City strike in 1976. I used to watch Eyewitness News with Roger Grimsby and the other tall, lanky guy. There was Storm Field as the weatherman, Gloria Rojas being something that only Gloria could be and Warner Wolf doing (BOOM) sports.
I was nine and had no clue what a co-op was, let alone why a co-op was on strike. Was I that big a nerd? Apparently.
Investigators Say Fraud Ring Staged Thousands of Crashes
By PATRICK HEALY
New York Times, August 12, 2003
"Law-enforcement officials said today that they had cracked an insurance-fraud ring that staged thousands of car accidents and then employed its own network of doctors, acupuncture therapists and fake medical clinics to bilk an insurance company out of $48 million.
Prosecutors and insurance experts said the ring was the largest of its kind ever broken in New York State. A grand jury on Long Island has issued 567 indictments, 86 of which were made public at a news conference here today.
Those indicted included doctors, psychiatrists, chiropractors, dentists and nearly 20 bogus health-care clinics that were set up as part of the scheme to defraud
State Farm Insurance, the Suffolk County district attorney, Thomas J. Spota, said. "It's one of the biggest busts in the nation in terms of its breadth, its scope and the dollars involved," said Robert Hartwig, the chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group. "We're talking about bringing down an entire network. It's analogous to bringing down a drug kingpin."
Mr. Spota said the ring used "runners" and "crash dummies" in cars that would cut in front of other cars, often driven by women with children or by elderly people, slam on the brakes, and cause a crash.
The authorities said the investigation dates to 2001, when they received word from insurers who noticed the same names were popping up over and over on insurance claims. One runner was involved with about 1,000 accidents.
Although tales of insurance fraud are well known in New York, Suffolk County investigators and prosecutors said this network, which traces its roots to the heavily Russian Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, was especially large and complex.
Mr. Spota would not link the series of frauds to Russian organized crime, but an insurance-fraud lawyer familiar with the case said the fingerprints of organized crime appeared to be all over it. Some profits from the frauds were channeled to businesses in Russia, while others were funneled into a Swiss bank account and withdrawn by Russian citizens, the authorities said."
Co-op City didn't happen until they destroyed the amusement park that owned the land it was built on.
Back in the 60's that was a horror scenario. Especially since across the river in NJ, Palisades Park was next to go. :-(
When you're 9 years old, you really have much more important stuff on your mind than this.
No apology is necessary!
CA....