Joel Raskin

Fox News reports that Hector Xavier Monsegur, the alleged mastermind of high profile hacks under the alias “Sabu,” was a resident of the Jacob Riis Houses. According to Fox, Mr. Monsegur, an unemployed 28-year-old father of two, was arrested by the FBI in June and became an informant who was instrumental in the capture of other fellow “hacktivists.” Sabu was front and center in numerous recent hacks, including the leaking of information belonging to the security company Stratfor, as well as attacks on PayPal and MasterCard.

Here’s The Local’s latest installment of “Police And Thieves,” your weekly roundup of crime. What follows are the latest reports from Feb. 20 to Feb. 27, sorted by the type of incident. Our map of all of crime since Jan. 15 is at bottom.

Robberies

• As previously reported, a pair of thieves robbed a woman at gunpoint on Feb. 22.
• Two witnesses collared a purse-snatcher after a chase into the subway on Feb. 24. The 25-year-old victim told the police she was at First Avenue and East 10th Street at around 12:15 a.m. when the suspect ran up from behind and tried to grab her purse. When the victim resisted the thief pushed her, ripped the purse from her hand and took off towards the First Avenue L train. As two witnesses gave chase the suspect tossed the purse. The pair then detained the suspect in the subway station until the police arrived. The police said that the suspect had seven prior arrests, including two robberies.
• This guy isn’t much of a pal. A 19-year-old told the police she was chatting with her “friend” in the 10th floor stairwell of the Jacob Riis Houses at around 1 a.m. when he grabbed her bag that she had set down on the floor. The victim gave chase, and on the seventh floor the suspect dropped what appeared to be the receiver of a 9-millimeter Smith and Wesson.
• A man’s wallet was stolen from Phoenix on Feb. 18. The 22-year-old victim told the police he set his coat down on the floor of the bar on East 13th Street at around 1 a.m. By 9:30 a.m. the next day the thief had made a whopping $8,000 in charges on his account.
• A team of burglars ripped off the INA consignment shop on Feb. 20. An employee told the police four women and one guy walked into the store on Bleecker Street at around 3:10 p.m. and then fanned out. The employee noticed some purses missing and said, “Where are the Louis Vuitton bags?” That’s when the quintet took off running. Read more…

Daniel Maurer Hopper House

As anticipated, the Coen Brothers are back in the neighborhood and have been filming “Inside Llewyn Davis” inside of the Isaac T. Hopper Home at 110 Second Avenue all day. Since 1874, the Greek Revival row house, a landmark dating all the way back to 1838, has been home to the Women’s Prison Association, an advocacy and assistance organization for women with criminal records.

Alex Villano, the W.P.A.’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, said the group connected with the Coens after a location scout slipped a flyer under the door of the building between Sixth and Seventh Streets. She gave The Local a hint about what’s being filmed on the third floor, though she couldn’t say which stars were involved because she hadn’t seen any of them: “One of the reasons they really liked the space,” she said, “is that it’s a scene that has a fire escape involved where someone’s coming in and out of a window.” (Spoiler alert!) Read more…

Today the district attorney dismissed the disorderly conduct charge against Jared Malsin, a reporter for The Local and a student at N.Y.U.’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute who was arrested while filming the clearing of Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park in November. “The D.A. said that they learned he was working press,” said Gideon Orion Oliver, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild who represented Mr. Malsin. “In light of that they couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had a criminal intent.”

Warning: If you didn’t enjoy the “Bodies” exhibit and get queasy at Freemans, you probably won’t dig this slideshow either. Photos: Vivienne Gucwa.

It’s been a real challenge finding shrunken heads, human skulls and mounted piranhas in the neighborhood since Obscura Antiques and Oddities closed in January. But search no more: the store selling all things weird opened in its new location at 207 Avenue A, near East 13th Street, on Saturday.

The new digs are nearly double the size of the previous store, meaning that owners Mike Zohn and Evan Michelson have more room to show off their wacky nicknacks, and fans of their reality show “Oddities” have more room to walk around. Read more…

Earlier this week, the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute launched “Blowing Minds: The East Village Other, the Rise of Underground Comix and the Alternative Press, 1965-72,” with a rousing discussion that’s now archived on the exhibit’s Website, along with new audio interviews with veterans of the Other. Over the course of seven weekend editions of The Local, we’ve heard from all but one of the EVO alumni who spoke on Tuesday’s panel. Here now, to cap off our special series, is the story of Peter Leggieri.

Gil Weingourt Left to right: Peter Leggieri, Peter Mikalajunas, and Spain Rodriguez.

From the first day that I began working at The East Village Other, I was overcome by the sense that it was not only a newspaper but a strange and magical ship on a voyage with destiny. It seemed as though each issue printed was a new port of call, and the trip from one issue to the next, a new adventure. Many of EVO’s crew members expressed that same weird feeling – a sense of excitement and creative power.

And what a crew that was! No one was recruited. I don’t recall a resume ever being submitted. They all simply showed up and started working. EVO’s crew might just have been the greatest walk-on, pick-up team in the history of journalism. She was The Other but her staff of artists, poets, writers, photographers and musicians affectionately called her EVO. Her masthead bore a Mona Lisa eye. EVO created a cultural revolution and won the hearts and minds of a generation. She was the fastest ship in the Gutenberg Galaxy.

In the Beginning
I was the anonymous Other, the one editor-owner unknown to the public. I did not party. I did not schmooze with the literati or seek publicity. I had no time for such things. I worked seven days a week, 20 hours a day and, because of law school, I had to be sober. My friend, the poet John Godfrey, told me that I was afflicted with a Zen curse: a hermit condemned to be surrounded by people and events. That was certainly the case for me in the 1960s. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Spotted in Otafuku.

Stephen Rex Brown The sign in context.

During his recent visits to the East Village area, President Obama apparently found time to endorse the Black Boss Coffee at Otafuku. The sign advertising the $2.50 canned drink also declares, “No Mercey For Michelle Backmann.”

An employee at the octopus-balls destination on Ninth Street between Second and Third Avenues said that the sign had been up for a couple of months, and that a customer made it as a joke. “It’s not our biggest seller — it’s pretty strong though,” he said.

But is it stronger than the Obama Coffee from Ray’s Candy Store?

Daniel Maurer Workers did demo work at 74-84 Third
Avenue earlier this week.

Karl Fischer is coming to Third Avenue.

The controversial architect, whose work is becoming an increasingly familiar sight in the neighborhood, is seeking to build a nine-story building at the corner of Third Avenue and 12th Street, documents filed with the Department of Buildings reveal.

A disapproved filing for the new building from January shows that the architect hopes to build an 82,000 square-foot building at 74-84 Third Avenue, which will be Mr. Fischer’s largest by far in the East Village. The building will have a 327-square-foot community facility, as well as 42 parking spaces that will be both indoors and outdoors. Read more…

Daniel Maurer Construction work on the building today.

As recently as yesterday, Kathy Kirkpatrick was holding out hope that Life Cafe would be resurrected in spite of the “For Rent” sign in the window of her iconic restaurant and a simmering dispute between her two landlords (yes, she has two).

“I’m still waiting to see how it plays out,” Ms. Kirkpatrick said. “Things are getting resolved, things are developing — though meanwhile, I wait.”

But today the dispute boiled over and Bob Perl, one of her landlords, said Life Cafe was dead — he could no longer bear trying to negotiate with Abraham Noy, the other landlord.

“I can’t get it done,” Mr. Perl said. “I’m done with Noy – these guys are just impossible.” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Angelica Kitchen

It’s been a while since we last heard from the would-be proprietors of the Superdive space at 200 Avenue A. Now, the just-released Community Board 3 agenda reveals that they will once again seek a full liquor license. Previously, one of the curators of the space told The Local that she hoped to turn it into an art gallery with a full bar that would host special events and workshops. When that idea was pitched last summer it was met with formal letters of opposition from Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and Community Board 3.

A few other items of note from the agenda: Angelica Kitchen will seek a recommendation for a proper beer and wine license after being told to stop its B.Y.O.B. service in December. A couple of meat lover’s spots, Wechsler’s and Prime & Beyond, are aiming to extend into their backyards. A couple of newcomers are vying for new licenses on Avenue C: Bikinis at number 56 and a mystery restaurant at 116 (once Lava Gina and more recently Vibrations Lounge). And Keybar, which met opposition when it went for booze at 14 Avenue B and was last seen planning a Hungarian joint in the Angels and Kings space, now has designs on 134 Orchard Street.

Lastly, after celebrating its seven-year anniversary this month, Luzzo’s is undergoing an (at least partial) change in ownership.

For the full agenda, check out Community Board 3’s website.

Kathryn Doyle

At a planning workshop on Monday night, the Department of Transportation asked residents of the East Village and Lower East Side to help it pare down a glut of suggestions about where it should place bicycles when it debuts its bike-share program this summer – but by the end of the session, its map had only grown denser with recommendations.

At the workshop, sponsored in part by the program’s operator, Alta Bicycle Share – which has launched similar programs in Boston, Montreal, and Washington, D.C. – the department unveiled a map in which its own preferences for kiosk locations were marked in blue and the suggestions of local business owners were marked in purple. The department had divided the map into 1,000-square-foot quadrants. By May, it hopes to decide where each kiosk will be placed – about one per every quadrant, or roughly one every four blocks.

With a multitude of suggested locations and just 600 stations planned in an area that includes Manhattan south of 79th Street and parts of Brooklyn plus satellite locations in the Bronx and Staten Island, the department asked residents to help it identify the worthiest locations and eliminate others. But the workshop’s couple dozen participants didn’t do much to narrow things down. Read more…

Here’s The Local’s latest installment of “Police And Thieves,” your weekly roundup of crime. What follows are the latest reports from Feb. 12 to Feb. 19, sorted by the type of incident. Our map of all of crime since Jan. 15 is at bottom.

Assault

• A early-morning brawl on East Fourth Street resulted in a man being clobbered with an aluminum baseball bat on Feb. 18. The 22-year-old victim told the police he got in an argument with the suspect on East Fourth Street between First and Second Avenues at around 5 a.m., after which the suspect punched him in the face and clocked him with the bat, causing swelling to his face and a cut.

Robberies

• A 21-year-old told the police he was on Third Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets at around 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 17 when he was blindsided and knocked out. When he came to, his wallet and watch were missing.
• A man was clobbered with a rock in the hallway of the Jacob Riis Houses on Feb. 19. The 39-year-old victim said he was in a building on Avenue D near East Seventh Street at around 1:15 a.m. when two men struck him and stole his cellphone and wallet. The victim would not cooperate further with the police.
• A thief confronted a man in a playground of the Jacob Riis Houses on Feb. 18 and stole a whopping $2,300 from him. The 30-year-old told the police he was crossing through the playground on FDR Drive near East 14th Street at around 4:45 a.m. when the suspect punched him in the face and demanded money. The victim said he handed over $40, but the suspect demanded more. The victim then fled into the lobby of a nearby building, where the two wrestled. The suspect — who is said to have brandished a glass bottle — eventually gained the upper hand and stole the wad of cash from the victim’s pocket. Read more…

EMA Photography/Elizabeth Allen. TastyKeish and Bronx Uber Villain

For almost five years, Bondfire has served as a monthly family reunion for New York’s hip-hop scene, but the open mic will end its run tomorrow night at the Bowery Poetry Club.

After starting the event in 2007, musician Ausar Paumam’ki handed the reigns to current co-host Tony Walker, a veteran of hip-hop open mic circuits better know as The Bronx Über Villain. “We made Bondfire warm,” said Mr. Walker. “An inviting, but still no nonsense place where one takes pride in being on our stage. We’re actually a listening, encouraging, true community.”

Co-host TastyKeish (born Keisha Datés) was asked to become a permanent fixture after hosting the first annual all-female Bondfire. She said that the monthly’s non-judgmental vibe meant that it was more diverse than most. “Anyone can come through and rock, and you won’t be scared to come back,” she said, “but you will get some criticism.” Read more…

Tompkins Square Park looked something like Zuccotti Park in its heyday yesterday, as a giant Statue of Liberty puppet shimmied to a beat thrashed out by a cohort of drummers. Next to them were the People’s Library, a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cart, and a “Parents for Occupy Wall Street” station crawling with children.

Activists said the single-day occupation – the third to be organized by the group Occupy Town Square – was part of the movement’s process of reorganizing in the wake of the police eviction of the original Occupy encampment.

“We lost a few things when we lost Zuccotti,” said Jonathan Jetter, one of the event’s organizers. “We lost a place where the movement could come together to network amongst itself.” Read more…

Nancy Naglin Joe Kane

A veteran of The New York Ace, High Times, The New York Daily News and many other publications, Joe Kane describes how he got his start at EVO.

When I first migrated to Manhattan from Queens in 1970, it was with dreams of becoming a working scribe, preferably writing Beat fiction (unfortunately, one of the few things I was born too late for) and/or covering film in some capacity. Instead, I landed a boring temp job typing at a downtown insurance firm. During this time, somewhat happier circumstances led me to Screw, where the magazine’s then-art directors, Larry Brill and Les Waldstein, were going halves with publisher Al Goldstein on a new spin-off tab titled Screw X, a satirical variation on Screw (the height of redundancy, no?)

I auditioned for a writing/editing gig, with no guarantee Larry and Les would even get back to me. But a couple of days later, the phone rang in my East Sixth Street pad with promising news from the pair: Seems my work had been extolled by another of their writers, Dean Latimer, who told them it was “almost as good” (accent on almost) as his own stuff and that they should hire me straightaway.

For me, this was a frankly stunning turn of events. It so happened that Dean, whom I had never met, was already something of a personal hero; his “Decomposition” column and other writings were my favorite sections of The East Village Other. I considered Dean one of the most vivid and versatile writers I’d ever read anywhere, one equally adept at reportage, “think pieces,” memoir, criticism and totally devastating satire. That he had encouraging words for my fledgling efforts cheered me no end, and I resolved to thank my benefactor for his unsolicited largesse. Read more…

Deanne Stillman Rex Weiner, circa 1971.

Rex Weiner co-founded The East Village Other’s successor, the pioneering New York Ace (1972–73) and according to his FBI file, was a founding staff member of High Times. He recalls getting his start at EVO.

My first week aboard The East Village Other, its venerable editor-in chief Jaakov Kohn squinted at the name I’d signed to an article, clutched his blue pencil spasmodically, and curled his whiskered lips in disdain. In an Eastern European accent nearly as impenetrable as the cloud of unfiltered Lucky Strike smoke curling from the butt in his nicotine-stained fingers, he declared, “You look more like a Rex to me!”

The newly minted moniker echoed amongst my new colleagues in the vast, shadowy loft. At EVO you had the name you were born with and the name that EVO gave you: Jackie Diamond was Coca Crystal, Alan Shenker was Yossarian, Jackie Friedrich was Roxy Bijou, Jaakov was “The Arab,” Charlie Frick was Zod, and so on. And so with my next byline I was reborn in 1970, a new decade with a new name, and on my way as a writer, of sorts.

I’d walked out of the clanking elevator into the EVO office that fall, a 20-year-old N.Y.U. dropout from upstate and a Lower East Side inhabitant since I was 17. Two of my closest friends from high school were lost, one to Vietnam and the other to heroin, allowing me to nurse a tragic heart tinged with righteous political outrage. With half a dozen porn novels credited to my name — or pseudonym — for a Mafia publisher, and a handful of poems I’d recited at St. Marks in the Bowery, I thought of myself as an established writer. I appointed myself EVO theater critic, filling a staff vacancy, and felt right at home. Read more…

The moment is almost upon us: on Tuesday, Feb. 28, the panel discussion and party marking the opening of “Blowing Minds: The East Village Other, the Rise of Underground Comix and the Alternative Press, 1965-72,” will take place at 20 Cooper Square. Before you join us for that, enjoy this penultimate weekend edition celebrating EVO. We start with Abe Peck, author of “Uncovering the Sixties: The Life and Times of the Underground Press,” telling us why the alternative paper was different from others. In short: because it colored outside the lines.

CREDIT Abe Peck and Abbie Hoffman.

Starting in the mid-1960s, in the zone between 14th Street and Houston, First Avenue and the Alphabet blocks, a wave of longhairs began joining Ukrainians, Puerto Ricans, and pockets of poets, writers and artists. Ingestive preferences turned the grey streets Technicolor. So what if one of my roomie’s father would tell us, “I moved out of a better apartment in this neighborhood in 1924.” We were self-proclaimed life artists, merrily donating our belongings to local intruders into our happy hovels. We were home.

The East Village was where I experienced the end of grad school and the Army Reserves and the start of a community I could call my own. Where I became closer to Sergeant Pepper than to my master sergeant. Where EVO – The East Village Other – mattered.

The Village Voice was literate, and had the apartment ads. But from 1964 to 1973, hundreds of underground newspapers sprang up in every city and college town, and within high schools, the military and even prisons. They varied, but all provided a bent-mirror image of what the dailies and TV news and Time offered: herbs were fine, sex was cool, the Vietnam War sucked, racism was for losers.

Like The San Francisco Oracle (though not as third-eye-y) or my eventual underground-press homeland, the colorful Chicago Seed, EVO began, in late 1965, to chronicle an urban tribe. “We hope to become the mirror of opinion of the new citizenry of the East Village,” EVO declared in its first issue. Read more…

Natalie Rinn Protestors held a rally before the Community Board’s vote on the N.Y.U. plan.

The ambitious expansion of New York University faced its first formal rejection last night, as Community Board 2 voted unanimously against the plan, saying it would turn Greenwich Village into a construction site for at least 19 years and fundamentally change the neighborhood for the worse.

Not a single person spoke in favor of the plan during over two hours of testimony in the packed basement of St. Anthony of Padua Church on 154 Sullivan Street. After 115 locals, academics and students skewered the plan that would add four new university buildings and 2.5 million square feet of space just south of Washington Square Park, the board cast its vote in opposition to the expansion dubbed “N.Y.U. 2031.”

“We’re here tonight to firmly reject this plan,” said board chair Brad Hoylman. “It’s clear that there is no support for this insidious plan that would destroy the culture of Greenwich Village.”

Cheers went up from the standing-room only audience after the vote, though its impact is limited, given that it is only an advisory opinion. The project will next be considered by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, the City Planning Commission and the City Council, which will ultimately determine the project’s fate. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Captain John Cappelmann at the Ninth Precinct.

Captain John Cappelmann has taken over his new post as the top police officer in the East Village with a bang, arresting three men suspected of a string of nine middle-of-the-night robberies of local businesses as well as a series of apartment break-ins.

In a conversation with The Local that covered his previous experience policing public housing in Northern Manhattan, gang activity in the East Village and the challenges of quality of life enforcement, the new commanding officer of the Ninth Precinct shared a few more details about the bust.

“Burglaries are the biggest crime that we have here, grand larcenies notwithstanding,” Captain Cappelmann said in his office overlooking East Fifth Street. “We normally average about 16 for a 28-day period. So, that would be four a week on average from last year. Now to go almost three days since the arrest without any burglaries, I think we got the right people.”
Read more…