By LUKAS I. ALPERT
Posted: 5:08 am
August 23, 2008

He was more Gargamel than Papa Smurf.

The man who helped bring the Smurfs to America was busted yesterday for allegedly trying to shake down his son-in-law – a deep-pocketed executive at a top private equity firm – for $11 million, authorities said.

Stuart Ross, 71, of Aventura, Fla., was charged with unleashing a campaign of harassment against his son-in-law David Blitzer, a senior managing director at the Blackstone Group, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced.

Ross’s 79-year-old New York attorney, Stuart Jackson, was also charged with attempted grand larceny for his role in the scheme. Both face up to seven years in prison.

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by TERI THOMPSON and NATHANIEL VINTON

A multi-agency narcotics strike force tapped the cell phone conversations of Spanish Harlem boxer Edgar Santana as part of its year-long investigation into an alleged cocaine conspiracy, which prosecutors say used the U.S. Postal Service to ship multiple kilograms of the drug from Puerto Rico for distribution in New York City.

An indictment unsealed yesterday by the New York Special Narcotics Court contains references to numerous “coded and cryptic” phone conversations. Santana appears to have been recorded in mid-November brokering a deal between two acquaintances for a kilogram of cocaine.

Santana, a junior welterweight with a 24-3 record, remained in police custody after his arraignment yesterday. The 29-year-old’s next bout, scheduled for an August 6 broadcast on ESPN, is in jeopardy but has not yet been canceled.

A large contingent of the boxer’s friends and family were in the courtroom as Santana entered his not guilty plea to charges of conspiracy and sale of a controlled substance. Twelve others were named in the indictment.

Following the arraignment Santana’s family huddled in the marble hallway to discuss meeting the bail levied on the fighter – a $150,000 bond and $75,000 in cash. Santana’s lawyer, Dan Ollen, said collecting such amounts would cause hardship for the family.

“Mr. Santana couldn’t hide from the law even if he wanted to.” Ollen told the court. “He is a world-famous boxer. He’ll be the main event on a fight card on ESPN. He’s very active in the community in Spanish Harlem.”

Santana is accused of brokering a deal in November 2007 between Angel Colon, the alleged ringleader of the conspiracy, and Tommy Caraballo, whose lawyer Frank Ortiz said was one of Santana’s childhood friends.

According to the indictment, tape of a Nov. 12 phone call reveals Caraballo agreeing to purchase one kilogram of cocaine from Colon. The indictment states that Caraballo picked the drugs up the next day near Second Ave. and East 101st St., having agreed in exchange to pay an undisclosed sum to Colon by passing the money to Colon through Santana.

But as Caraballo came away with the kilo of cocaine in Nov. 13, he was intercepted by the New York Drug Enforcement Strike Force – an investigation unit that combines resources of the DEA, FBI, NYPD, New York State Police and other agencies.

Caraballo was arrested and the cocaine was recovered from his vehicle, the indictment said. Caraballo was indicted in November, but was reindicted yesterday along with other alleged conspirators.

In another recorded conversation on Nov. 14, Colon allegedly asked Santana if the fighter had heard anything from Caraballo since the previous day’s transaction. Colon then asked Santana to pay Colon for he cocaine. It is not clear of the two realized at that point that Caraballo had been arrested.

On Nov. 15, according to the indictment, Santana told Colon in yet another “coded and cryptic” conversation that Santana would indeed pay Colon, which Santana allegedly did at 8:12 that evening.

The Daily News was the first to report Friday on the arrests of Santana, Colon and other alleged coconspirators. A DEA source told The News that $450,000 and at least a kilogram of cocaine were recovered.

Colon’s lawyer, Matt Myers, said no drugs or significant cash were found at his client’s home Friday, but that several cell phones were confiscated.

Colon’s bail was set at a $2 million bond and $1 million in cash. There will be a surety hearing in the next three days to make sure that the bail money doesn’t come from ill-gotten gains.

Source: New York Daily News

Attorney for the defense of Mr. Colon: Matthew D. Myers

Pro Boxer Edgar Santana Busted As Part Of Alleged Major Cocaine Ring

By Teri Thompson, Michael O’Keeffe And Nathaniel Vinton
Daily News Sports Writers

Updated Friday, July 18th 2008, 4:58 PM
(Originally published on July 18 at 10:12 a.m.)

Edgar Santana, the junior welterweight boxer often billed as “The Pride of Spanish Harlem,” was arrested Friday as part of an alleged international cocaine distribution ring busted by the New York Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor and the New York Office of the DEA.

Santana, 29, was picked up at his home at the George Washington Carver Houses on 102nd St. in Spanish Harlem in the early morning hours Friday. Friends and acquaintances were stunned.

“Everybody has been blindsided by this whole thing because it’s just not something that you would think Edgar could be involved in,” said Ernesto Dallas, Santana’s manager for the last six years.

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By Matthew Lysiak and Elizabeth Hays
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Monday, February 18th 2008, 1:57 AM

A Brooklyn agency that’s supposed to help the disabled spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money on fancy cars, flat-panel TVs, business trips and a $100,000 no-show job for the director’s close friend, a report charges.

Despite the scathing findings, the Sunset Park group’s longtime executive director, Seibert Phillips – who lied about his education credentials and allegedly let his son, who lives in Atlanta, rack up nearly $18,000 in gas charges on an agency credit card – is still at the agency.

Most of the board members at the Evelyn Douglin Center for Serving People in Need (SPIN) are also still in place – even though many are longtime Phillips cronies who failed for years to rein in the lavish spending.

“[Phillips] should not be there. He should be in prison,” said Tara Cernacek, a former staffer who was fired after she blew the whistle on Phillips’ alleged graft in 2006, sparking the investigation.

“I’m shocked, outraged that they received little more than a slap on the wrist,” she said.

The report’s findings, obtained exclusively by the Daily News, were sent to state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes two weeks ago – although Cernacek first complained in the fall of 2006.

State officials have allowed Phillips and board members to stay on at the agency, which gets about $14 million in federal, state and city funds to run adult residential homes and children’s programs for the developmentally disabled.

The report, issued by the state Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, charged that Phillips’ conduct is “another example of fraud, waste and abuse in the mental hygiene system.”

Phillips, who founded the group in 1996, said he was a certified social worker with a bachelor’s degree from York College and a master’s from Fordham – and both claims were found to be untrue.

Among the report’s findings:

n In 2006, Phillips gave himself a salary of nearly $300,000 as the head of SPIN and its sister group, the Evelyn Douglin Center for Children’s Services – far more than top managers earned at similar nonprofits.

n Phillips gave SPIN staffer Carlos Ortiz – with whom he was having a “personal relationship,” the report stated – a $100,000-a-year, no-show job, a $51,000 company car and health and pension benefits. Reached by The News, Ortiz had no comment.

n On Staff Day 2005, the agency doled out more than $60,000 for 11 flat-panel TVs, 34 iPods and other gifts.

n A dozen top staffers got luxury cars – from Phillips’ $51,475 GMC Denali to property manager Raymond Wynne’s $62,370 Lincoln Navigator. “This appears to be well in excess of what is necessary and inconsistent with proper stewardship of taxpayer funding,” investigators wrote.

n Phillips and two colleagues spent $11,634 on a two-day conference in Chicago, where they paid $3,502.73 for lodging, including room service.

n Phillips’ son, who lives in Atlanta, allegedly racked up nearly $18,000 in gas charges on an agency credit card.

Phillips denied the findings.

SPIN’s board said in a statement it was “extremely troubled” by the report and that Phillips had resigned in November. He is serving as a consultant to ease in the new executive director, Charles Archer – a longtime board member and friend of Phillips.

Phillips is slated to leave at the end of February.

The state office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities – which oversees SPIN and similar agencies – said it allowed board members and Phillips to stay so services “would not be disrupted.”

By Laura Italiano

An alleged cyber-sicko accused of posing online as a co-ed to trick college women into sending him their nude photos has hired a top forensic shrink to prove he’s just a harmless nerd.

Chubby Hunter College student Elvin Chuang, 20, of Brooklyn, is trying to avoid a possible 16-month prison sentence on charges of identity theft, coercion, fraud and general larceny.

He’s hoping an examination by forensic psychologist N.G. Berill, scheduled for Monday, will convince a Manhattan judge that he isn’t really dangerous and shouldn’t be jailed at all.

Berill has consulted on numerous high-profile criminals, including serial killer Joel Rifkin, LIRR mass murderer Colin Ferguson and Abner Louima torture cop Justin Volpe.

“We’re hoping he’ll find my client is not a predator, but is more or less doing this as a college prank” said his lawyer Matthew Myers.

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