Bronx Man Convicted Of Murder-For-Hire Conspiracy, Drug Trafficking, And Firearms Offenses

 

Sydney Scales Caused at Least One Drug-Related Shooting 

 Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that a jury returned a guilty verdict yesterday against SYDNEY SCALES, a/k/a “Moe Black,” a/k/a “Sid,” on five counts in a Superseding Indictment, including charges of murder-for-hire conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy, a firearms offense, and two counts of distributing crack cocaine.  SCALES is scheduled to be sentenced on November 18, 2021, by U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who presided over the 11-day trial. 

U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “Sydney Scales was the leader of a violent drug operation that peddled drugs and brought guns and violence to our streets.  Scales caused at least one drug-related shooting, and he hired a hitman in an attempt to murder rival drug dealers who were having a barbecue in front of a neighborhood barbershop.  We continue our daily work with our law enforcement partners to keep our communities safe by vigorously investigating and prosecuting acts of violence and drug trafficking.”

According to the Superseding Indictment and the evidence at trial:

Between in or about 2016 and in or about 2019, SCALES participated in a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, powder cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and marijuana in the Bronx and elsewhere.  SCALES also used, carried, and possessed firearms, which were brandished and discharged, in connection with the narcotics conspiracy, and aided and abetted such firearms offenses.  For example, the Government offered evidence that on December 1, 2016, SCALES caused a shooting at rival drug dealers standing in front of a convenience store located next to the entrance of the West Farms subway station.

In addition, in or about June 2017, SCALES conspired to commit murder for hire, agreeing to compensate another individual in return for locating and killing at least one rival drug dealer. 

SCALES, 42, was convicted on five counts: (1) conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine, powder cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and marijuana, which carries a mandatory minimum prison term of 10 years and a maximum prison term of life; (2) murder-for-hire conspiracy, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years; (3) using and carrying firearms during, and possessing firearms in furtherance of, the narcotics conspiracy, which carries a mandatory consecutive prison term of 10 years and a maximum prison term of life; and (4) two counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, each of which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years.  SCALES was acquitted of one count of murder in furtherance of drug trafficking and one count of murder using a firearm.

The statutory maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant would be determined by the judge.

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of Homeland Security Investigations and the New York City Police Department.

149 Days and Counting The Red Sox Are at Fenway

 

I cut enough ribbons during my almost eight years in office. This one was in the South Bronx for an affordable housing building with 15% MIH in it for Homeless people. Just look to my right to see three of those homeless people who will now have a place to call home. A mother and her two children. The boy on my far right is Councilman Salamanca' son. 

I will be in Maine and then Massachusetts. Yes that is where Boston is with my favorite baseball team the Boston Res Sox. Tomorrow night the Red Sox open a series with the Rays at Fenway. I picked a great week to go on vacation the Red Sox are at home the rest of the week. That allows me to think about running for governor now that it looks like Friday the 13th is not only a series of movies, but it could be the start of the Impeachment Trial of King Cuomo. 

ICNA Relief, 49th Precinct, Essen Health Care, and Empire, Book Bag and School Supply Giveaway

 

Sunday the Islamic Circle of North America Book bag and school supply giveaway in front of the 49th Precinct was to run from one to three PM. There were enough book bags, and packets of school supplies to go with them, for one-hundred and fifty children that were almost gone by Two O'clock when the rain began cutting the bookbag and school supply giveaway short. There was also a special treat, large bags of paprika flavored chips also given out. Detective Jay Sturdivant, 49th Precinct Community Affairs officer, represented the 49th precinct. 

ICNA Relief set up outside the front of the 49th Precinct house for its Book Bag and School Supply Giveaway 

Empire set up the School Supply part of the giveaway, While Essen Health provided the Book Bags.

There was also a table with bags of chips to take home, provided by ICNA Relief.

The ICNA Relief team with Detective Sturdivant and former Judge candidate Yadhira Gonzalez-Taylor (far right).     

Governor Cuomo Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress During COVID-19 Pandemic - AUGUST 8, 2021

 

42,973 Vaccine Doses Administered Over Last 24 Hours    

11 COVID-19 Deaths Statewide Yesterday 

 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combatting COVID-19.   

"Our comeback is a testament to our resilience, but the reality is the Delta variant continues to be a serious threat, especially for the people who are still unvaccinated," Governor Cuomo said. "The best way to protect ourselves and the progress we've made against COVID is for everyone to take the vaccine as soon as possible. If you still need to get your shot, you can do so at any vaccination site in the state - with no fees and no questions asked."    

     

Today's data is summarized briefly below:   

• Test Results Reported - 113,265  
• Total Positive - 3,467  
• Percent Positive - 3.06%  
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 2.91%  
• Patient Hospitalization - 1,162 (+41)  
• Patients Newly Admitted - 201  
• Patients in ICU - 239 (+7)  
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 88 (+5)  
• Total Discharges - 187,716 (+164)  
• Deaths - 11  
• Total Deaths - 43,139  
• Total vaccine doses administered - 22,591,466
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours - 42,973  
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days - 295,782
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose - 73.6%  
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series - 67.5%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 76.4%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 69.2%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose - 61.7%  
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 56.3%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 64.1%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 57.7%  

Councilman Mark Gjonaj's NYC Moving Forward Week in Review - 8/6/2021

 

Dear Friends,

I hope you and your families are doing well, as the Delta variant is continuing to spread, COVID-19 cases are increasing throughout NYC and right here in our neighborhoods-Throggs Neck/Country Club has had a 6.12% positivity rate over the last seven days. It is imperative that we encourage our family and friends to get vaccinated. Please find a vaccination site near you at https://vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/locations

This week I was proud to continue the tradition to co-sponsor two great National Night Outs with the NYPD 49th and NYPD 45th Precincts as we further forge the great relationship between the police and community.

Our Summer Concerts are back this weekend and we hope you can join us on Saturday, August 7th at the Hammond Cove with the music of Twin Gold!

We are proud to present an extensive District 13 Bookbag Giveaway series between August 10th and August 31st around our neighborhoods. Please follow us on our social media, check the Week in Review or call our office for locations and times.

Team Gjonaj is glad to be able to update and help you in person at our Mobile District Office Hours at the local libraries. This week we were at the Allerton Library and we look forward to visit with constituents at the Pelham Bay Library this upcoming week.

Please remember we are here for you, contact my office with issues or concerns at 718-931-1721 or email at MGjonaj@council.nyc.gov.

Sincerely,

NYC Councilman Mark Gjonaj

District 13, Bronx

Two Myanmar Citizens Arrested In Plot To Injure Or Kill Myanmar’s Ambassador To The United Nations

 

 Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jacqueline Maguire, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Dermot Shea, Police Commissioner of the City of New York (“NYPD”), announced the arrests of PHYO HEIN HTUT and YE HEIN ZAW for conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.  HTUT and ZAW were charged in two separate complaints and will be presented later today in the U.S. District Court in White Plains before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause.

U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, Phyo Hein Htut and Ye Hein Zaw plotted to seriously injure or kill Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations in a planned attack on a foreign official that was to take place on American soil.  We commend the tireless work of our law enforcement partners at all levels of government to ensure the safety of foreign diplomats and officials.”

FBI Acting Assistant Director Jacqueline Maguire said: “Time was of the essence when we received information about a threat to Myanmar’s Ambassador to the United Nations.  I would like to thank our Westchester Safe Streets Task Force and each of our partner law enforcement agencies that worked quickly and diligently to track down the men allegedly hired in this plot to harm and potentially kill a foreign diplomat on U.S. soil.  Our laws apply to everyone in our country, and these men will now face the consequences of allegedly breaking those laws.”  

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said: “As alleged in today’s federal charges, these defendants reached across borders and oceans in designing a violent plot against an international leader on United States soil.  But our NYPD investigators and prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York worked relentlessly with our law enforcement partners to bring them to justice before any harm could be done.”     

According to the allegations in the two Complaints filed today[1]:

Between at least in or about July 2021 through at least on or about August 5, 2021, HTUT and ZAW, citizens of Myanmar currently residing in New York, conspired to injure or kill Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (the “Ambassador”).  During the conspiracy, HTUT communicated with an arms dealer in Thailand (the “Arms Dealer”) who sells weapons to the Burmese military, which overthrew Myanmar’s civilian government in or about February 2021.  In the course of those conversations, HTUT and the Arms Dealer agreed on a plan in which HTUT would hire attackers to hurt the Ambassador in an attempt to force the Ambassador to step down from his post.  If the Ambassador did not step down, then the Arms Dealer proposed that the attackers hired by HTUT would kill the Ambassador.

Shortly after agreeing on the plan, ZAW contacted HTUT by cellphone and transferred approximately $4,000 to HTUT through a money transfer app as an advance payment on the plot to attack the Ambassador.  Later, during a recorded phone conversation with ZAW, HTUT discussed how the planned attackers would require an additional $1,000 to conduct the attack on the Ambassador in Westchester County, and for an additional payment the attackers could, in substance, “finish off” the Ambassador.  In response, ZAW agreed, in substance, to pay the additional $1,000 and to try to obtain the additional money.

HTUT, 28, and ZAW, 20, both citizens of Myanmar, are each charged in separate complaints with one count of conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, which comprises special agents and task force officers from the FBI, NYPD, United States Probation Office, New York State Police, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Westchester County Department of Public Safety, Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, and the police departments of Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Greenburgh, White Plains, Peekskill, Ramapo, and Clarkstown.  Ms. Strauss also thanked the Pelham Manor Police Department and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service for their assistance in the investigation.

Ms. Strauss said that the investigation is ongoing, and asked any individuals with relevant information to contact the FBI at (800)-CALL-FBI.

The charges in the Complaints are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the texts of the Complaints and the description of the Complaints set forth in this release constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.

150 Days and Counting

 

Let's see now, to become governor of New York what do I need? I'm going to need a lot of money, but my developer friends can help me, after all I gave them the keys to the city, I can always give them the keys to the state. I am going to need union support, let's see, the UFT, DC37, 32 BJ, what other unions do I need?

What do I have to look out for. Challengers, Kathy Hochul, she will become the governor if Cuomo is ousted or calls it quits, but she is weak or she would have been the acting governor already. That State Senator from Riverdale Alessandra Biaggi told Errol Lewis that she is looking at higher office. Tish James the AG that did the investigation of Cuomo, I can say she did it to run for governor. Then there are a couple of other people I have to think about, well let me try to enjoy the coming week off, and see how I can build my image using the Homecoming concerts. 

New York State Announces $35 Million In Construction Financing To Facilitate Supportive Housing Developments

 

Rendering of 1325 Jerome Avenue (formerly 1331 Jerome Avenue) - GF55 Partners; The Doe Fund

The State of New York has announced a sixth round of funding for the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative, an ambitious plan to create or preserve over 100,000 affordable and at least 6,000 supportive housing units. For this round, the state will release $35 million in financing aimed at creating at least 1,400 supportive housing units.

Abbreviated as ESSHI, the initiative was founded in 2016 and has provided operating funds for more than 5,400 units of supportive housing. The State intends to develop a total of 20,000 units over the next 15 years.

In the New York City area, projects financed by the initiative include 1159 River Avenue and 1325 Jerome Avenue in The Bronx and Dayspring Commons and Hudson Hill in Yonkers.

“New York State is leading the nation in the development and preservation of supportive housing, and these safe, stable, and secure homes are giving people with mental illness the support they need to live successful and productive lives in their own communities,” said Office of Mental Health commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan. “The Governor’s ESSHI program has been a tremendous accomplishment that has helped thousands of individuals and families, and I’m proud of the role OMH has played in its success.”

Aerial rendering of 1159 River Avenue – Urban Quotient

To ensure the maximum benefit of this investment, the state adhered to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “Continuum of Care” model that engages localities and not-for-profit providers in developing and implementing data-driven strategies to address homelessness in specific populations. This includes victims of domestic violence, runaway and homeless youth, at-risk veterans and their families, formerly incarcerated individuals, the intellectual or developmental disabled, those living with HIV or AIDS, and individuals suffering from substance abuse.

“For the past six years, the governor’s Empire State Supportive Housing initiative has been providing New Yorkers with developmental disabilities the opportunity to live independently within their communities with the right services and supports to meet their individual needs,” said NYS Office for People With Developmental Disabilities commissioner Dr. Theodore Kastner. “[We are] pleased to join our partner agencies to support this initiative once again this year to provide even more people with developmental disabilities the opportunity to be thriving, active members in the center of their communities.”

The request for proposals for the funding awards was developed by the governor’s ESSHI Interagency workgroup, which includes representatives from seven state agencies that serve homeless, at-risk, and other vulnerable New Yorkers. Awards will provide up to $25,000 per unit per year for service and operating funding needed to operate permanent supportive housing units.

Applicants are expected to secure separate capital funding to finance the development and construction of proposed housing projects. Awarded funding may be used to provide rental assistance and services to eligible target populations to ensure their housing stability.