Eric Adams 2021 - Proud to Pay Women MORE

A recent study by the NYC Public Advocate Letitia James documented one of the proudest accomplishments of my borough presidency. Not only has my office led the city in pay equity, we actually pay women 14 percent MORE than men. It's time to pay talented employees what they deserve everywhere!

Click here to read article.

Bronx Jewish Community Council - Volunteer Recognition Breakfast April 22, 2018

RSVP TODAY

BCEQ 2018 Membership Meeting & Environmental Conference

Wednesday, April 11, 2018 from 4 - 7 pm

Manhattan College Leo Engineering 

3825 Corlear Ave, Kingsbridge Bronx.

one block from the Broadway #1 238th Street stop.

Environmental Conference on the:  

Harlem River Watershed Plan, 

Van Cortlandt Park Lake on a Diet, 

Clean Water - Riverkeeper, Inc. v. Pruitt, 

Protecting Parkland - BCEQ v. NYC Pier 5 lawsuit, 

DEP Plans to clean the Harlem River, and Learn Up

Refreshments. Please Register for food.

Bronx Council for Environmental Quality www.bceq.org

Bronx Chamber of Commerce - Promote Your Business @ April 18, 2018 Gala

EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS OR ORGANIZATION!

News 12, BronxNet, Bronx Times Reporter and other media will be covering The Bronx Version of the Academy Awards

Wednesday, April 18, 2018, 5:30-10:30 pm
Marina del Rey Caterers, Bronx NY

RSVP before April 4, 2018 for ticket discounts, sponsorship opportunities

 "First Come First Served"!

Bronx Business Awards 2018 Gala 

Honorees:

The Perez Family, Mastermind, Ltd.; Developer of the Year

Gino's Pastry Shop; Made in the Bronx Award of the Year

Bronx Community College; Institutional Member of the Year

Third Avenue BID; Non-Profit of the Year

D & J Ambulette Services, Inc.; Health Provider of the Year

E.A.T. w/ Culinary Professionals, Inc.; 

M/WBE Company of the Year

Portion of the 2018 Gala Proceeds to benefit

Special Olympics New York

Key Note Speaker

Rob Walsh, Former Commissioner of  NYC Dept. Small Business Services

Mistress Of Ceremonies

Jacqueline Catona Wayans 

TV Host & Producer, "Don't Give Up and Win"

To make reservations, advertise in the Gala Journal, and/or be a Sponsor to the 2018 Gala Celebration. Call Phil Cardone 718-828-3900 or e-mail Phil@BronxChamber.org

Click for Reservations, Journal Advertising & Sponsorships

I look forward to seeing you at the excellent networking event!

Nunzio Del Greco
President and CEO
Bronx Chamber of Commerce

"Network For Business Success"
1200 Waters Place, Suite 106
Bronx, NY 10461
718-828-3900
Nunzio@bronxchamber.org

 

"You never know where your next big deal is going to come from"!

Rep. Engel Calls for the Resignation or Firing of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt

  Congressman Eliot L. Engel, a top member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued the following statement calling for the resignation or firing of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt:

“It is long past time for Scott Pruitt to resign or be terminated from his post as Administrator of the EPA.

“When Mr. Pruitt was nominated, I called him a ‘dangerous and unacceptable choice to lead the EPA’ because his past actions had shown an unyielding disdain for science, a deep disregard for our environment, and a general antipathy for the Agency he was tapped to run.

“Since then, he has shown the consistent contempt for the environment that I expected, but perhaps even worse, he has abused the public trust and trampled on the ethical guidelines that are designed to ensure that the Government’s business is conducted with impartiality and integrity.

“The person appointed to run the EPA should be someone who cares about protecting the health and safety of people all across the country, not someone who wages war on clean air and clean water and puts our climate in peril.  Nothing less than the future of our children is at stake.

“It is time for Mr. Pruitt to go.”

Luchese Crime Family Soldier and Organized Crime Associate Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Illegally Distribute Oxycodone

Defendants Threatened a Brooklyn Doctor and Obtained Fraudulent Prescriptions for More Than 230,000 Oxycodone Pills

  Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Anthony Grado, a member of the Luchese organized crime family, and Lawrence Tranese, an organized crime associate, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.  The proceeding was before United States Magistrate Judge Sanket J. Bulsara.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and James P. O’Neill, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the guilty pleas.

“Luchese family member Grado imperiled our community, threatening a doctor to force him to write prescriptions for oxycodone and then trafficking in the addictive drugs,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “Violent threats to a doctor by Mafia defendants, combined with their trafficking of oxycodone pills, posed an especially serious danger to our community.  As demonstrated by today’s guilty pleas, this Office together with our law enforcement partners will be relentless in the prosecution of organized crime and those who contribute to the opioid epidemic.”

“Organized crime groups and other criminal entities are seizing on the outbreak of addiction plaguing our country to make money,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney.  “It shouldn’t be a shock that members of the Luchese crime family used violence to force a member of the medical community to further their criminal enterprise.  The FBI Joint Organized Crime Task Force is committed to aggressively pursuing these groups to stop them from further contributing to the deadly opioid epidemic affecting our country.”

According to court documents and statements at the plea proceedings, Grado and Tranese conspired with others to distribute oxycodone that they obtained through fraudulent prescriptions written on a Brooklyn-based doctor’s prescription pad.  Grado, a Luchese family member, together with Tranese and their co-conspirators provided the doctor with the names of people for whom the doctor should write prescriptions.  The doctor then wrote prescriptions in those names for medications containing oxycodone, usually without conducting any examination.  Grado, Tranese and their co-conspirators filled the prescriptions and sold the pills.  At other times, Grado held the doctor’s prescription pads himself and either had the doctor write the fraudulent prescriptions at his direction, or completed the prescriptions and later advised the doctor of the details. 

Members of the conspiracy used violence and threats of violence to seize control of the doctor’s prescription pads.  For example, in one recorded conversation, Grado told the doctor that he would make the doctor write “a thousand scripts a day and [expletive] feed you to the [expletive] lions” if the doctor wrote prescriptions without Grado’s approval.  In the same conversation, Grado also told the doctor that if the doctor’s newly ordered prescription pads “go in anybody’s hands,” besides Grado’s, “I’ll put a bullet right in your head.”  During the course of the conspiracy, Grado also ordered one of his associates to stab the doctor, and the associate carried out the order.  Finally, Grado called upon a higher-ranking member of the Luchese crime family to attend a “sit down,” or meeting, to resolve issues related to the pill distribution scheme.

When sentenced, the defendants each face up to 20 years in prison, as well as forfeiture and a fine of up to $1 million.

The Defendants:

ANTHONY GRADO

Age:  54

Monroe Township, New Jersey

LAWRENCE TRANESE

Age:  55

Brooklyn, New York

Correctional Officer Arrested For Taking Bribes To Smuggle Contraband Into The Metropolitan Correctional Center

Correctional Officer Victor Casado Took Bribes from a Federal Inmate in His Custody in Exchange for Smuggling Contraband into the Jail

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Ronald G. Gardella, Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (“DOJ OIG”), announced today the unsealing of a criminal Complaint in Manhattan federal court charging federal correctional officer VICTOR CASADO with taking bribes in exchange for smuggling contraband into the Metropolitan Correctional Center (“MCC”), a Manhattan detention facility that houses federal inmates.  CASADO was arrested this morning and will be presented today before Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “As alleged, correctional officer Victor Casado had a duty to ensure the safety and security of the Metropolitan Correctional Center and federal inmates in his care.  Instead he allegedly abused the trust placed in him by taking bribes to smuggle contraband to federal inmates.  Casado now transitions from Justice Department employee to defendant.”  

FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said:  “As alleged, Casado served as a gateway for the introduction of contraband into a federal prison. Not only did his actions violate federal laws and prison protocol, but they posed additional risks for other prison guards who would be responsible for removing these items if found and disciplining those who were in possession. Casado’s alleged crime is a serious offense that will be me with just scrutiny.”

DOJ OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Ronald G. Gardella said:  “The DOJ OIG takes allegations of contraband smuggling into our federal prison system very seriously.  We will continue to vigorously investigate such allegations and work with our law enforcement partners to identify and bring to justice any Justice Department employee involved in a smuggling scheme.”

According to the allegations in the Complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court[[1]]:

CASADO has been employed as a correctional officer at the MCC since 2012.

On multiple occasions in 2016 and 2017, CASADO smuggled cellphones, alcohol, over-the-counter medications, and food into the MCC in exchange for bribe payments.  These bribes were funneled to CASADO by non-incarcerated relatives or associates of the inmates, either in cash or by wire transfer.  For example, on multiple occasions, CASADO received bribes from an inmate (“Inmate-1”), transferred by one of Inmate-1’s attorneys, totaling more than $45,000 in exchange for smuggling alcohol and cellphones, among other contraband, into the MCC for Inmate-1.  Additionally, CASADO also requested and received thousands of dollars in payments from another inmate (“Inmate-5”), which were delivered to CASADO by Inmate-5’s relatives and a paralegal who worked for him.  Inmate-5 paid CASADO at CASADO’s insistence, ostensibly to fund travel by CASADO to the Dominican Republic.           

CASADO, 35, of the Bronx, New York, has been charged in the Complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and to introduce contraband into prison, which carries a maximum prison term of five years; one count of bribery, which carries a maximum prison term of 15 years; one count of introducing contraband into prison, which carries a maximum prison term of one year; one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years; and one count of honest services wire fraud, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years.  The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge. 

Mr. Berman praised the investigative work of the FBI and the DOJ Office of the Inspector General in this investigation.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

 [1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.

Frank Mercedes Sentenced To Life In Prison Plus 10 Years For Hiring Contract Killers In 1999 Murder

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that FRANK MERCEDES was sentenced today to life in prison plus 10 years for murder in connection with a drug conspiracy, murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire conspiracy, and use of a firearm resulting in death, in connection with his role in the murder of Richard Diaz, 28, in Manhattan in 1999.  MERCEDES was convicted after a one-week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Sullivan, who imposed today’s sentence.

U.S. Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Frank Mercedes callously ordered the murder of someone who had stolen from his drug business.  As a result of that order, 28-year-old Richard Diaz—an innocent man who had nothing to do with Mercedes’ drug trafficking—was brutally killed in the summer of 1999.  Today’s proceeding is a reminder that this Office will never stop working to obtain justice on behalf of those affected by this type of senseless violence. We hope that today’s sentence, almost 20 years after Mr. Diaz’s death, brings some small measure of peace to Mr. Diaz’s family.”

According to the evidence introduced at trial, other proceedings in this case, and documents previously filed in Manhattan federal court:

FRANK MERCEDES, a/k/a “Jabao,” ran a significant drug enterprise in Upper Manhattan in the late 1990s.  In the summer of 1999, MERCEDES hired three men, including Jose Luis Gracesqui, a/k/a “Muffler,” to kill one of his drug customers (the “Intended Victim”) after the Intended Victim and a number of his associates stole heroin and money from MERCEDES.

On the night of July 19, 1999, after tracking the Intended Victim for days, Gracesqui and another member of the crew saw the Intended Victim in a car and followed the car through Manhattan.  When the car with the Intended Victim stopped at a red light, Gracesqui approached the passenger’s side window and began shooting.  The shots hit both the Intended Victim and Richard Diaz, who was driving the car.  Mr. Diaz was able to drive a short distance to the Henry Hudson Parkway, until he lost consciousness and died.  The Intended Victim sustained serious injuries, although he survived.  Shortly thereafter, MERCEDES met with Gracesqui and the other members of the hit team to pay them tens of thousands of dollars for committing the murder. 

MERCEDES, 51, from the Dominican Republic, was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences, to be followed by a consecutive term of ten years.

Gracesqui was previously convicted in January 2016 of charges relating to his role in the murder of Richard Diaz, and also is currently serving a life sentence. 

Mr. Berman praised the investigative work of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, which comprises agents, detectives, and investigators from the DEA, the New York City Police Department, and the New York State Police.  Mr. Berman also thanked the Special Agents of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.