Brooklyn

Published on: September 24, 2012

Court Hears Motion for Summary Judgment Case

by Stephen Bilkis

A motion was filed by the defendant for summary judgment of the case in its favor. The plaintiff is a Swiss bank that filed a case against the New York Company who committed bank fraud, particularly, fabricated and sold the promissory notes of the bank amounting to $5 million. The Swiss bank further alleged that the notes sold by the company defendant was part of a global fraud scheme to raise funds in favor of an Italian food conglomerate as payments of loan by the former to the latter.

The bank fraud was conducted through issuance of the notes by one of the company’s subsidiary in Uruguay, which was then sold to a defendant’s affiliate where the Swiss bank purchased the promissory note. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the note is with attachments of a guarantee of payment executed by the subsidiary company and a side letter from the affiliated company. The letter contained a certification that the proceeds of the notes will be used to finance the expansion of the Italian food conglomerate and for the upgrade of its industrial plants at various South American countries.

However, during the time of the purchase of the notes, the food conglomerate financial conditions were worsening and the governments of Brazil and Italy conducted criminal investigations of the Italian food conglomerate financial structure due to the financial distress status of the company and such became a public knowledge. The notes purchased by the plaintiff matured in 2004 but have not been repaid. One of the issued notes was then sold to the bank’s affiliate. The Swiss bank also filed a claim on the notes in the bankruptcy proceedings commenced by Italy against the Italian food conglomerate.

Published on: September 18, 2012

Defendant Contends That Dendants

by Stephen Bilkis

On September 24, 2005, Police Officer Frantz Demorin of the 47th Precinct was on uniformed patrol with his partner, Police Officer Merritt, traveling southbound on Bronx Boulevard in the Bronx. Officer Demorin was driving the patrol car and his partner was seated in the front passenger seat. As he approached the vicinity of 3308 Bronx Boulevard, Officer Demorin observed a parked vehicle with two individuals inside of it. Officer Demorin testified that the neighborhood was a “high prostitution and narcotics” area. Officer Demorin pulled up alongside the vehicle, with the passenger side of the patrol car next to the driver’s side of the vehicle, and asked the occupants what they were doing and whether they lived in the area. Officer Demorin had this conversation with the occupants “through his partner through the other car”. Officer Demorin testified that he did not recall “exactly what the answer was”.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said that, after making this initial approach and inquiry, Officer Demorin and his partner exited their patrol car and approached the vehicle on foot. Officer Demorin testified that they approached the car on foot “just to make a common inquiry”. When asked the nature of this inquiry, Officer Demorin replied, “as to what they were doing in the area, if they lived in the area”. Officer Demorin testified further that he made this inquiry “because of the nature of the area it’s a high prostitution and drug crime prone location”. He added that he was trying to find out “if any illegal activity was afoot”.

Officer Demorin walked around to the passenger side of the vehicle where a female passenger was seated and his partner approached the driver’s side. Officer Demorin testified that from where he was positioned on the passenger side of the vehicle, he was able to observe the driver, subsequently identified as the defendant, make a sudden “downward” gesture with his hand.

Published on: September 14, 2012

Court Discusses Plain View Doctrine

by Stephen Bilkis

This involves a drug crime case where the court concluded that the warrantless seizure of the package by the police officers to the defendant was proper.

The police obtained a search warrant for 2130 East Tremont Avenue, Apartment 7E, in Bronx County in conjunction with a long-term narcotics investigation, during which undercover officers had purchased large amounts of cocaine from occupants of the subject apartment on several prior occasions. The police searched the apartment and recovered a large amount of currency, narcotics, a gun and several forms of drug paraphernalia from inside the apartment. Police officers stationed outside the building recovered drugs wrapped in a paper towel, which had been thrown out of a window by one of the occupants of the apartment. A New York Criminal Lawyer said that after hearing a knock on the door, the police opened the door and defendant entered the apartment. Defendant raised his hands in the air, and a brown paper package fell out from underneath defendant’s jacket to the floor. Upon opening the bag, police officers found a baggie containing half a kilo of cocaine and defendant was arrested for cocaine possession.

Defendant moved pre-trial to suppress the physical evidence recovered by the police.

Published on: September 11, 2012

Claimant Claims She was Incarcerated too Long

by Stephen Bilkis

The claimant who is now 54 years old, has a long history of drug abuse and a lengthy criminal history, consisting primarily of drug crime offenses. Lapidus dropped out of school in the seventh or eighth grade because she was having problems at home, and began using speed and heroin as a teenager. Following a stay in a rehabilitation facility in the late 1970s, the claimant was able to stop using drugs for a period of about nine years. However, toward the end of 1987, after both of her parents became seriously ill and passed away, Lapidus began misusing the valium pills which had been prescribed to her for depression and insomnia. Her drug use then escalated to include heroin possession.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said that on November 14, 1987, the claimant was arrested with a codefendant, on charges, of assault, burglary, and robbery. At the time of this offense, the codefendant was her boyfriend. The victim of the offense was a former boyfriend had ended a relationship with several months earlier. A Bronx Criminal Lawyer said that, two days after her arrest, claimant was arraigned in the Criminal Court of the City of New York and released on her own recognizance. She and the codefendant were subsequently charged, in a 12-count indictment, with multiple offenses including assault in the second degree. When the claimant failed to appear for arraignment on the indictment, a bench warrant was issued. Codefendant was thereafter arraigned on the indictment on April 5, 1988, and he alone proceeded to trial in December 1988. At the conclusion of the codefendants trial, the jury found him guilty of assault in the second degree and, he was sentenced to an indeterminate term of 1½ to 4½ years of imprisonment. Although the claimant did not participate in the trial and was not tried in absentia, a part clerk mistakenly recorded on the court file jacket that she had been found guilty of the identical charge and sentenced on the same date as codefendant. This incorrect information was entered into the court’s computer system, and was reported to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (hereinafter DCJS), the agency responsible for maintaining the criminal histories of individuals arrested in this state. Thus, the purported 1989 assault conviction became part of the claimants criminal record.

In the years following her arrest for the assault of her former boyfriend, claimant was arrested 14 additional times, and convicted of a number of misdemeanor offenses and violations. On August 25, 1997, claimant was arrested and subsequently indicted in New York County for criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree (drug possession). Following a jury trial, she was convicted of the charged offense. Prior to sentencing, the People filed a predicate felony statement alleging that on January 9, 1989, Lapidus had previously been convicted of the felony of assault in the second degree in Kings County. When the claimant appeared for sentencing on the New York County indictment on January 13, 1998, she was arraigned on the predicate felony statement, and advised of her right to controvert any of the allegations in the statement and to challenge the constitutionality of her alleged prior conviction. However, when asked if the allegations set forth in the predicate felony offender statement were true, claimant answered “yes,” and stated that she did not wish to challenge the constitutionality of her prior conviction. She was then adjudicated a second felony offender and was sentenced, in accordance with the prosecutor’s recommendation, to a term of 4½ to 9 years of imprisonment. The sentence imposed was the minimum permissible term for a second felony offender convicted of a class B felony.

Published on: September 3, 2012

Defendant Moves to be Resentenced Pursuant to Drug Law Reform Act of 2009

by Stephen Bilkis

Defendant was convicted of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree and on November 19, 2002 given an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment with a term of 2-6 years.

The People assert that the Defendant engaged in the sale of $350 of cocaine to an undercover police officer on two occasions and that on later date cocaine and drug paraphernalia were recovered from the apartment where the sales took place. In addition to the instant offense, Defendant was convicted of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Seventh Degree (drug possession) and sentenced to time served in 2002, convicted of Invalid Use of a Credit Card with Intent to Defraud and sentenced to time served in 1999 and convicted of Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree and sentenced to four days in jail in 1998.

The Defendant was initially released to parole supervision on the instant offense on July 17, 2003. Parole violation warrants were issued for the Defendant. In these warrants, it was alleged that the Defendant had used cocaine and marijuana, failed to report to his parole officer on multiple occasions, left his approved residence and failed to attend two programs required by the Division of Parole. A Bronx Drug Crime Lawyer said that, the Defendant was re-incarcerated for a parole violation and continued to be in prison at the time the instant motion was filed. Defendant has been punished for one disciplinary infraction while in prison. That was a Tier 3 infraction on December 26, 2008 for violent conduct; fighting and disorderly conduct for which he received 30 days of keep lock time.

Published on: August 1, 2012

Defendant Moves to Suppress Physical Evidence

by Stephen Bilkis

The Facts:

An NYPD Officer, a nine-year veteran, investigates drug sales in lower Manhattan. He has made 500 narcotics-related arrests.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said that on 28 February 2010, the officer and his partner entered the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) building. They were there to conduct a vertical floor-by-floor patrol of the premises during which the officers search for loiterers, drug users, people consuming alcohol and trespassers. In housing projects, unlike police procedures applicable to private apartment buildings, officers may question anyone they encounter to determine whether they are on the premises lawfully. Sometimes, at his discretion, the officer requires that purported residents provide identification or a key. Such individuals must prove that they are not trespassers and persons claiming to be legitimate visitors must also supply corroboration.

Published on: July 26, 2012

Defendant Charged with White Collar Crime

by Stephen Bilkis

Ideal Steel Supply Corporation is the plaintiff in this case. The defendants in the case are Marshall H. Beil, et al. the case is being heard in the Supreme Court of the State of New York located in Queens County. Judge Peter Joseph Kelly is presiding over the hearing.

The defendants have moved for an order to have the complaints made against them by the plaintiff dismissed.

Case Background

Published on: July 15, 2012

Court Hears Case Involving Wire Fraud

by Stephen Bilkis

The plaintiffs in this case are Michael and Mary Marcantonio. The defendants in the matter are Michael Picozzi, III, Viola, Benedetti, Azzolini & Morano, LLC, Project Real Estate, Inc., and John McHugh. The case is being heard in the Supreme Court of the State of New York located in Nassau County. Judge Michele M. Woodard is hearing the case.

Case Information

In the first motion sequence the defendants Michael Picozzi, III, and Viola, Benedetti, Azzolini & Morano, LLC have moved to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that there is no cause of action stated.

Published on: July 12, 2012

Plaintiff Alleges Racketeering Crimes

by Stephen Bilkis

Arlene Lichtenstein for herself and as the Administratrix of the Estate of Irwin Lichtenstein, deceased, is the plaintiffs in the case. The defendants in the case are Alfred Polizzotto, Florence Polizzotto, Sol Cohen, Al Gallo, and Rosemary whose last name is not known. John Doe 1, 2, and 3 are also defendants in the matter. The case is being heard in the Supreme Court of the State of New York located in New York County. Judge Peter Tom is overseeing the case.

The defendants have moved to have the amended complaint against them dismissed. They state that the complaint does not state a cause action as determined by the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

The plaintiff is accusing the defendant Alfred Polizzotto of converting the assets of the plaintiff and the assets of the Estate of Irwin Lichtenstein for his own personal benefit and use. The plaintiff states he was acting in concert with the other defendants in the matter.

Published on: July 1, 2012

Defendant Claims that His Plea Was Not Voluntary

by Stephen Bilkis

The respondent in the matter is the People of the State of New York. The appellant of the case is Edwin W. Jones. The case is being heard in the Second Department, Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said this is a case of appeal made by the defendant in regard to a judgment that was made by Judge Kahn in the county court of Suffolk County. The judgment was made on the fifth of January, 2006. The defendant, Edwin W. Jones, was convicted of manslaughter in the second degree, leaving an incident scene without reporting the incident, and operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs.

The defendant pled guilty to the charges and the imposing sentence.