Residents are calling on themselves, their neighbors, law enforcement, politicians and the media to find a way to use those documents to bring criminal charges of fraud against those involved in approving and constructing the high-density housing project Chestnut Ridge.
MAMAKATING — Residents of the Village of Bloomingburg and the surrounding Town of Mamakating are calling for action — from everyone.
Two weeks after developer documents describing a secret long-term plan for Bloomingburg were published, residents are calling on themselves, their neighbors, law enforcement, politicians and the media to find a way to use those documents to bring criminal charges of fraud against those involved in approving and constructing the high-density housing project Chestnut Ridge.
About 70 people gathered at Mamakating town hall Thursday night for a Rural Community Coalition meeting, where they discussed the recently published documents and what further actions can be taken to get justice for what they believe were crimes committed against their community.
RCC President Holly Roche said the documents, which described a long-term plan to build 5,000 homes for Hasidic families in Bloomingburg and take control of the village government, don’t help the RCC build a new civil case against developers Shalom Lamm and Kenneth Nakdimen and the former government officials who approved Chestnut Ridge.
But she said she hopes the documents will be a tipping point for a criminal investigation.
The FBI raided Lamm’s Bloomingburg offices in 2014 and has interviewed local residents as recently as last month. Sullivan County District Attorney Jim Farrell has also stated he is looking into the allegations of fraud and corruption in the village, but no charges have been brought and several civil lawsuits against the developers have been dismissed.
At Thursday’s meeting, residents signed letters addressed to Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther and state Senators John Bonacic and Bill Larkin asking the representatives to make public requests of the state comptroller’s office to open an investigation into the Bloomingburg situation.
A protest was scheduled for Monday, May 16, from noon-4 p.m. at the Sullivan County Courthouse. Residents want to call out law enforcement for their lack of action, and again ask their local politicians to help bring attention to the issues.
“There really should be a public shaming,” Roche said.
Roche reminded the community to be vigilant, and pay close attention to any land deals or business partnerships that could pave the way for fraud. The community is in a better position now to stop any fraud before it occurs, Roche said.
Richard Joel, President of Yeshiva University – 212-960-5300 president@yu.edu
Yeshiva University is the premier Modern Orthodox rabbinical seminary in the world. Thousands of Y.U. students have become ordained rabbis through Y.U. Many of them lead prominent synagogues and Orthodox institutions.
Unfortunately, some Y.U. rabbis have a very long history of either failing to protect Orthodox children and adults, supporting convicted child sex predators, failing to defrock abusive rabbis and ignoring the pleas of victims for help, as will be shown below.
1) Y.U. was sued by 34 former students alleging that Rabbi GeorgeFinkelstein,Rabbi Macy Gordon and Rick Andron sexually abused them over the course of many years. The case was dismissed not due to lack of evidence or witnesses willing to testify, but on statute of limitations grounds.
A report commissioned by Y.U. at a reported cost of $2.5 million confirms that abuse took place in many Y.U. locations, by numerous individuals and over the course of many years.
The summary report states –
“The Investigative Team has concluded that multiple incidents of varying types of sexual and physical abuse took place at YUHSB during the relevant time period. This conduct was carried out by a number of individuals in positions of authority at the High Schools at various times throughout the period covered by the Investigation, including, in certain instances, after members of the administration had been made aware of such conduct. In addition, the Investigative Team found that, during the relevant time period, sexual and physical abuse took place at other schools comprising the University as well.”
The Y.U. lawsuit was thrown out due to New York’s disgracefully short statute of limitations (courtesy of the Catholic Church and Agudath Israel).
In Judaism, there is no such thing as a statute of limitations. Criminal acts are never forgiven without the offender begging forgiveness from each and every victim and fully compensating the victims for their lifetime of pain, therapy and the damage that they suffered.
Ironically, the world’s most prominent Modern Orthodox rabbinical seminary uses secular law to skirt the Torah and Jewish values because of a statute of limitations that Torah law does not recognize.
Despite Y.U.’s own damning report –
No one was fired over the scandal.
Victims, to my knowledge, have not been compensated for the harm they suffered.
Y.U. will not publicly identify the molesters.
Y.U. will not name the rabbis and officials who covered up the abuse.
Former Chancellor Rabbi Norman Lamm has publicly admitted that he allowed Y.U. molesters to be hired by other Jewish institutions and he did not warn them.
Contrast Y.U.’s rabbis’ actions with an entirely secular university that had a similar sex abuse scandal – Penn State. In the Jerry Sandusky case, university officials lost their jobs, Penn State was severely sanctioned and Sandusky went to jail for at least 30 years for the sexual abuse of students that went on for years. Penn State has already paid $60 million in compensation to 26 victims and may pay more.
Instead of hiding behind its lawyers, it’s time that Y.U. displays humility, compassion, leadership and a commitment to adhering to Torah law.
Y.U. needs to reach out to each and every victim, apologize, beg their forgiveness and amply compensate them for their lifetime of suffering.
In addition, Y.U. needs to publicly identify every person it believes to be a sex offender and warn the communities in which the offender lives and works about him.
2) After Y.U. president Richard Joel made 2 public declarations that Y.U. was safe, Y.U. hired a convicted child sex offender,Akiva Roth, to teach Hebrew.
3) Rabbi Matis Weinbergwas alleged to have abused numerous Y.U. students in Israel. Y.U. terminated its study abroad program in 2003 because of Weinberg but does not say what Weinberg is believed to have done to Y.U. students. I personally warned Y.U. rabbis about Weinberg 22 years prior to these events. They knew of abuse allegations against Weinberg for decades and yet Y.U. students were still sent to a yeshiva where Weinberg had access them.
4) Rabbi Marc Gafniwas once a Y.U. rabbinical student and he also ran a teen outreach program from a Y.U. office. He has publicly admitted to having sexual relations with Sara Kabakov when she was 13. She alleges that she told several Y.U.-ordained rabbis about Gafni and that they either ignored her or defended Gafni.
Judy Mitzner alleges that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Gafni when she was a minor. She claims that she reported the abuse to Y.U. and that nobody did anything to protect her or stop Gafni.
“So, what is wrong here? Why did Yeshiva University (who heard my story at the time directly from me, and stories from others) permit Mordechai Winiarz (aka Marc Gafni) to continue his employ as the director of the then Jewish Public School Youth Movement?”
(From Judy Mitzner’s blog)
5) Rabbi Baruch Lanneris a former Jewish school principal and youth group leader. He is also a convicted child sex offender who was protected for years by Y.U.-ordained rabbis. Even after he served 6 years in jail, he was allegedly welcomed into the home and synagogue of Y.U.’s high school principal, Rabbi Michael Taubes.
6) Evan Zauder is a convicted child sex offender who was a rabbinical student at Y.U. Before his sentencing (he received 13 years), 50 individuals sent letters to the judge requesting leniency for Zauder.
Some of the letters were sent from prominent Y.U. staff including:
Rabbi Ezra Schwartz, Rosh Yeshiva of RIETS;
Rabbi Kenneth Brander, Vice President of university and community life;
Dr. David Pelcovitz, professor of psychology and special assistant to Y.U. president, Richard Joel.
Letters were also sent to the judge by prominent rabbis including:
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Congregation Bnei Yeshurun of Teaneck, New Jersey;
Rabbi Reuven Taragin, Dean Yeshivat HaKotel (Rabbi Mordechai Elon, Yeshivat Hakotel’s former Rosh Yeshiva, was convicted of child molestation);
Rabbi Baruch Taub, Rabbi Emeritus of Beth Avraham Yosef of Toronto Congregation.
No one sent letters to the judge voicing support for Zauder’s victims or advocating for a jail term commensurate with Zauder’s crime. Nothing tells victims of Orthodox child sex offenders that rabbis don’t give a damn about them like the Evan Zauder case.
7) Rabbi Barry Freundel is a world-renowned, Y.U.-ordained rabbi. He was also my rabbi in Washington, D.C. Freundel is currently serving a 6 1/2 year sentence after being caught secretly video-recording 150 women over the course of several years as they undressed to go into one of the most sacred places in Judaism – the women’s mikva (ritual bath).
I can’t think of one rabbi who has done more to damage and traumatize thousands of Orthodox women around the world than Freundel. There are women who refused to use the mikva (causing tremendous marital strife) after reading about Freundel’s disgusting betrayal of his rabbinic power. Women Freundel converted publicly questioned whether they even wanted to remain Jewish anymore.
Yet Y.U., to my knowledge, has not revoked his ordination. For that matter, I am not aware of any rabbi who has sexually abused women or children who has had their ordination revoked by Y.U.
Even the Catholic Church, as horrible as they have been (and still are) in protecting molesters, defrocks molester priests. In a recent 10-year period, the Catholic Church defrocked 848 molester priests and censured another 2,500. I have never heard of a single rabbi, anywhere, whose ordination was revoked due to him being a sexual predator.
Y.U. President Richard Joel, the $2.8 million man
According to The Jewish Forward, Richard Joel, Yeshiva University’s president, reportedly told a man who complained to him that he was molested at Y.U., “[I] told him to get on with his life…”
Also, according to The Jewish Forward, in 2014 (the year that the Y.U. lawsuit was dismissed on statute of limitations grounds), Richard Joel received a compensation package of $2.8 million. This made him by far the highest paid executive of any Jewish non-profit. His previous year’s salary was $900,000. Also in 2014, Y.U. ran a deficit of $150 million. Nice work if you can get it.
Bottom Left – Allure Marketing Group from Allure website, Bottom Right, Shalom Braunstein
The High Finance of the Nursing Home Business and the People Who Profit at the Expense of the Elderly-Part I.
Contributors – May 8, 2016
Following the articles we did on Joel Landau and Allure, we received a series of emails providing us with additional information including numerous LLC’s registered at similar addresses as those of several nursing homes. We received information on nursing homes with horrendous reviews but profitable business models. We received a multitude of documents and emails regarding the high stakes game of the nursing home business.
We will be publishing this in pieces. We will begin with a letter from one contributor and Allure, Joel Landau and his partners, think Rivington…
Dear LM,
I’ve been on a personal mission to counter the dismaying government sponsorship of harm to the disabled elderly in assisted living residences as well as nursing homes in NY. The revolving door of predatory property owners masquerading as long term care operators keeps me at it… Apropos of the much appreciated investigation by Comptroller Stringer of the mishandling of the Rivington Nursing Home property churn, I did some more investigation of the Allure Group . There are any number of malefactors…but sadly & as a Jew, I’ve seen the enabling of mostly Hasidic property owners masquerading as long term care operators by the either ignorant OR co-opted Dept of Health and the bought and paid for legislators who write impotent legislation-and who allow insufficient vetting and end up certifying the worst owners of these places.
I want both the Department of Health and Governor Cuomo to be held to account. I want both the Aging and Health Committees in Albany to be accountable to the vulnerable aging-an enormously growing part of our population. These vulnerable elders are the DOH’s obligation to protect-and not their campaign contributors via the nursing home lobby group Leading Age/Hinman Straub who pay to play.
The churning of the homes of the frail and frightened must stop. It is another moral imperative as is the outrageous abuse of children. Jackals must be stopped…and certainly when they call themselves Jews-we must, as you are doing, call them out.
The New York State Department of Health continued to allow this group to flourish. The City Agency (DCAS) has a cavalier attitude towards the most vulnerable. DCAS ended up sponsoring the diminution of a long term care facility even as the Mayor promoted his Zoning for Quality and Affordability initiative which purports to incentivize developers to build more residences for the aged and infirm.
New York Post: Lobbyist James Capalino arranged for a DCAS restriction to be waived, allowing a nursing home
NYC Nursing Homes:
Hamilton Park Nursing
Linden Center for Nursing
Hopkins Center for Nursing
King David Center for Nursing
Crown Hts Center for Nursing
Bedford Center for Nursing
Harlem Center for Nursing
(Grandell Rehab-Solomon Rubin –CFO)
(Beach Terrace Care Solomon Rubin –CFO)
St Joachim and Anne Nursing
Nostrand Center for Nursing and Rehab aka NNRC Properties LLC (formerly CABS Nursing)…bought by Allure for $15,600,000 & now being converted into condos in Bed-Stuy, Brklyn
NJ:
Norwood Terrace Health Center
Landau is owner of :
InteliMed
E-Z Bill Inc
Care to Care LLC
199 Lee Ave Suite 182
Brooklyn, NY 11211
The following includes reviews from families of loved ones impacted by sub-par oversight and failure by the DOH to report/enforce and prevent more acquisitions by Allure Group…Landau and the Rubins
1) Hamilton Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
(formerly Victory Memorial Hospital)
12/2/2015-Jessica F. “This place deserves to be shut down as the operation is still a disgrace. For affected families, I urge you to let your voice be heard so families don’t suffer the consequences of keeping a loved one here. This place will just bill insurance and drain your bank account for little to no services rendered.”
2/13/2015 “Please do not send your loved ones here! The staff is negligent and administration is by far subpar. They will not report status updates about the well-fare of their residents and nurses are extremely rude, (watch out for Miriam!). I have witnessed three deaths in the unit in the course of three weeks and have seen the staff run codes. I’m a physician with a loved one who needed care and they literally drag their feet during emergency situations. Respiratory therapy does not suction patients regularly either and aids will throw family out of the room when they need to move the patient. Tactless and disrespectful and no professionalism training among the staff. This place may be up and running today, but it should not be operating in a developed society. Deserves to be investigated. I would give it no stars. Sad place, really. “
7/24/2015-Nancella R. “WARNING: WARNING: WARNING: WARNING: WARNING: WARNING: WARNING: DO NOT PLACE A LOVED ONE IN HAMILTON PARK NURSING & REHAB CENTER UNLESS YOU WANT THEM TO DIE!!! Hamilton Park has a beautiful facade, but don’t let that fool you, they are criminally negligent! This place is truly a place you leave someone to die.
My mother-in-law was in there for 3 weeks (as a rehab patient) and they did as little as possible. They didn’t respond to calls for help, knowingly left stained sheets with feces on the floor and I actually have pictures. I witnessed them ignore cries for help… The PT was a joke. The staff was nonexistent, the administration is incompetent! PT gave her 30 minute “phone-in” sessions which basically reversed all the progress she made in Acute Care over at Methodist. She was supposed to have daily MD visits, that didn’t happen. Hamilton Park actually didn’t give her vital medicines prescribed to her by her neurologist at Mt. Sinai and they charged our insurance company for services that were never rendered. If it hadn’t been for my father-in-law never leaving her side, I seriously think they would have left her to die.
To make matters worse…. Upon release Hamilton Park’s social worker, Lana, promised care as per her discharge orders from a doctor she met only a few times. One paper, the orders looked good, but in reality there was no fulfillment of their orders. Hamilton Park contracts home care through a sham company names Arch HealthCare and their subsidiary Empire Home Health Care Services. They didn’t provide any of the care she was promised. For 2 weeks, she was left to rot at home. They provided zero advocacy. Once it became obvious, we would receive no care, our family stepped in and took the bums off the case. Now (VNS) Visiting Nurse Services is managing her care at home. BTW, I highly recommended VNS!
WARNING: Stay clear away from Hamilton Park Nursing Home, Arch Home Health Care and Empire Home Healthcare Services!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They are criminally negligent and my family is in the midst of filing a lawsuit! DO NOT SEND ANYONE THERE!!!
Whoever has the audacity to write a good review for this place must be sadistic and they must work there. Seriously, shame shame shame!!!!
If I could rate this facility with less than one star, I would. “
2) Linden Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation (formerly Ruby Weston Manor)
Dec 24, 2015 “One star is one star too many for this facility. My computer won’t allow zero stars to be processed. The staff needs to be completely retrained in the nursing and nurses aides programs. The neglect and unprofessionalism is disgusting. This place should be under strict scrutiny and be completely re-staffed with caring professionals that know how to do their job! In reference to L. Garcia.Thankfully he became so much more sick in there when he entered, he had to go to the hospital. He was saved. Imagine that!!!!!!!”
3/26/2016 -Lavitta C. “This place needs to be re-vamped. Everytime my relative would go out to hospital. No one knew which hospital, if she was back and good luck getting anyone the phone on the actual units. It smells terrible, like urine and feces. Patients are just there. no one returns phone calls! I would not recommend this place
3/10/2015 -Ellen J. Watch out for this place. Since the new owner assumed responsibility for this nursing home (previously run as Bishop Mugavero run by the Catholic church), they have been spending more money on redecorating than adequately trained staff. They constantly have too few staff during the evenings, weekends and holidays. Hallways smell of urine or feces. The disposable underwear of residents are not changes as often as they should. I am also very worried whether an appropriate evacuation could be handled in case of fire. They only have 3 slow moving elevators and door for gate in garden is locked.”
Hopkins property location on Dean St–per ACRIS- is owned by KFG Operating I LLC /Hopkins Ventures LLC (Marvin Rubin is 30% owner) located at 141-16 72nd Ave Flushing,
NY where the following LLCs are also located: LOCATED at 141-16 72nd Ave…Flushing, NY
11/29/2015 – by SANDY for SGRNC LLC “Staffing on each floor has been more than cut in half. Today my mother was given a pastrami sandwich which was green molded. Only 2 doctors are in house and only twice a week so at most times there are no doctors available to see patients. Patients are now sent to the ER for minor complaints such as a fever. When it was the Sephardic Home there were many more nurses and aides. The quality of care is very poor.”
Officials: Yeshiva in Ramapo shut down due to unsafe conditions
“A trash-ridden yeshiva in Ramapo that was shown on FiOS1 News last month has now been shut down by building inspectors.
An orange sign was posted on the doors of this yeshiva Thursday, after a second inspection by Ramapo officials deemed the building unsafe.
Building inspectors took notice of the compound, which was hidden from the main road behind a patch of trees, back in April, when it was being used as a matzo factory. It was damaged, and laden with trash and debris.
After an initial inspection, town officials said clean up or get out.
According to Ramapo fire officials, in a second inspection Tuesday, inspectors decided the conditions were still too unsafe and plastered the shutdown notice on the doors.
This property on 33 Forshay Road has been cited for numerous safety violations in the past, including no building permit, certificate of occupancy, or fire safety equipment, according to The Journal News.
This move comes after New York State recently called on Ramapo to ramp up their enforcement of fire prevention and building codes, and demanded that they provide all documentation of previous inspections and results.”
Former dissident of Kiryas Joel community, Joseph Waldman, reviewed two alleged sex abuse tapes provided by school staff to former members of the Hasidic community and from them to social media and Blaise Gomez of News 12.
Waldman thanked Blaise Gomez for making public his response on behalf of the Kiryas Joel community.
In the spirit of presenting both sides of this issue, here is the full audio interview with Joseph Waldman.
Also here is some background information on Mr. Waldman from a NY Times article published in 1992:
QUOTE – In 1990, Waldman, a sixth-generation Satmar, was the only challenger to the Grand Rabbi’s public school slate. Mr. Waldman lost but got a surprising 673 votes.
Soon after, his children were expelled from the Grand Rabbi’s yeshiva, though they were good students. The Grand Rabbi’s lawyer claimed they were banned because of dissident behavior before the election, but a State Supreme Court Judge rejected that. Only after the Grand Rabbi was cited for contempt and fined were the children readmitted.
Several dozen dissidents had been excommunicated and banned from the Grand Rabbi’s synagogue, which is also the village’s public polling place. Dissidents circulated a petition saying that because of past violence, the polls should be moved to a neutral site. Ben Zion Friedman, a dissident, says he twice was assaulted while praying at the temple, his glasses and hat thrown off.
Two followers of the Grand Rabbi were charged. David Eckstein, the synagogue treasurer, says people were told to ignore Mr. Friedman, but “one couldn’t absorb that and threw him out.” Mr. Friedman did not vote in Tuesday’s primary, he says, because he feared voting at the temple.
About 150 Hasidim signed the petition. The Grand Rabbi sent letters ordering them to retract or be excommunicated. All but 15 retracted, signing a form letter from the Grand Rabbi, which said they had mistakenly supported the original petition without reading it.
Mr. Waldman refused to recant. In May hundreds of the Grand Rabbi’s supporters gathered on Mr. Waldman’s lawn, breaking windows. Ten troopers dispersed them. END QUOTE
ABRAHAM EISNER AND THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA BUSINESS… Let’s forget about his Mortgage Fraud Cases
Cuomo’s backer, Abraham Eisner, is no center to controversy. In 2012 he singed off on a settlement for $3.5Million after “federal prosecutors alleged that the company had charged higher interest rates and fees on mortgages to minority borrowers than whites with similar profiles. The company denied discrimination.”
Rational minds would think that Governor Cuomo would want to keep his distance from a person with that background. Quite the opposite. Eisner and Cuomo seem to have gravitated toward one another and an Eisner contribution to Cuomo may buy him more than a few “dime bags.”
Eisner wants into the medical marijuana business. It would appear that Governor Cuomo is in for helping him to do just that.
Cuomo liaison quietly pushes marijuana bid
Cuomo backer says he is confident he will win state license
…Now, on the heels of the legal setback, Eisner has entered the state’s blossoming medical marijuana business, emails show.
The state is expected in the coming days to issue five licenses among 43 total applicants. Eisner has been working on behalf of a company formed in March, New York Medical Growers, that is registered to the law firm of a Brooklyn attorney, Joseph Klein.
It’s not entirely clear what Eisner’s role is in the company. Eisner hung up whenreached by the Times Union on his cell phone. Klein referred questions to an Albany lobbying firm working for the company, Hill and Gosdeck, which did not return request for comment.
Despite Eisner’s legal troubles, Cuomo and Eisner remain on good terms. Eisner toured Israel with Cuomo on his solidarity trip to the country in August. And the New York Times described Eisner last year as Cuomo’s “unofficial consultant” to the Jewish community. Eisner gave Cuomo a $10,000 campaign contribution last November, campaign finance records show.
During Cuomo’s 2010 campaign for governor, The Jewish Daily Forward profiled Eisner’s relationship with Cuomo, and noted that the “ultra-Orthodox fixer appears to have accompanied New York gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Cuomo on all four of his early October visits to Brooklyn’s Hasidic rebbes.”
A spokesman for the state Department of Health did not return a request for comment concerning whether Eisner had been in touch with the department about the bidding.
Emails provided to the Times Union show Eisner, on behalf of New York Medical Growers, has in recent days been courting an Israeli marijuana supplier called Tikun Olam Medical Cannabis, the largest producer of medical marijuana in a country on the forefront of the world’s cannabis industry. Having such a supplier could be a major bonus in the competition for the five licenses.
Eisner has been in frequent contact over email with Tikun Olam despite the fact that the company has publicly announced that it has an exclusive agreement to supply a rival bidder, Compassionate Care Center of New York.
Tikun Olam’s CEO, Aharon Lutzky, told the Times Union that Eisner had approached the company about working as the supplier to New York Medical Growers, but the Israeli supplier was already exclusively working with Compassionate Care Center, a biopharmaceutical company.
Still, Eisner has continued contacting Lutzky, subsequently helping set up a meeting for Tikun Olam with a top Israeli official, emails show.
Eisner said in a June 21 email to Lutzky that “after we get” our marijuana license in New York, he looked forward to touring Tikun Olam’s facility in Israel with “other members of our team.”
Lutzky, however, told the Times Union the exclusive agreement with Compassionate Care Center would remain intact regardless of the outcome of New York’s bidding process.
All of the 43 bidders had to submit a $10,000 nonrefundable application fee, and a $200,000 registration fee that will be returned to those that don’t end up winning. Medical marijuana is expected to become available in January.
TAJ PATTERSON, COPS PREMATURELY CLOSED CASE, WILL HE FINALLY GET JUSTICE?
Taj Patterson is a member of LM’s Wall of Courage. He endured abuse at the hands of a group of Hassidic men. Many who knew of the story believed at the time that the cops were “paid” to drop the charges. Apparently Zahra Patterson, who has been indefatigable in her efforts to bring Taj justice, knew the same thing. Perhaps he will get justice yet…
EXCLUSIVE: NYPD nearly ended probe into vicious assault of gay black man because cops prematurely closed the case
Patterson suffered savage injuries — a broken eye socket and a torn retina that has left him permanently blind in one eye.
Investigators knew the license plate number of one of the assailants and even had four witness statements, according to records obtained by The News.
But within 24 hours, cops in the 90th Precinct classified the attack as a misdemeanor and inexplicably marked the complaint “final, no arrests, CLOSED,” records show.
It was only after the dogged efforts of the victim’s mother that the case was reopened and five men subsequently arrested.
The new details about the investigation emerged as the NYPD is facing a federal corruption probe focused in part on a member of the Borough Park Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer patrol, accused of bribing cops with cash and other gifts.
“The Patterson case demonstrates a disturbing disparity in access to justice between Taj Patterson’s community and the Orthodox community, which flows directly from the NYPD’s high-ranking collusion with the vigilante Shomrim patrols,” said Patterson’s lawyer, Andrew Stoll.
Patterson told The News he was shocked that cops initially closed the investigation.
“I think they saw this black kid . . . and they might have seen the Jewish guys and thought he must have done something wrong because the Jewish guys wouldn’t do anything wrong,” Patterson said.
The NYPD didn’t answer specific questions posed by The News. Instead, a police spokesman issued a general statement.
“The hate crime task force investigated this incident and effected several arrests during the course of the investigation,” the statement read.
Patterson, a fashion student at New York City College of Technology, was walking to his Fort Greene home after a night of partying when he was ambushed.
Among the witnesses who came to Patterson’s aid was a 58-year-old MTA bus driver.
“That wasn’t a misdemeanor,” the driver said.
“They were actually stomping and kicking him,” added the witness, who asked to remain anonymous. “One of his eyes was closed and so swollen. He was saying, ‘My eye. I can’t see.’ ”
In the days after the attack, Patterson and his mother, Zahra, searched for information about the police investigation. They went to two police stations before they were directed to the 90th precinct stationhouse where the Pattersons were given a copy of the police report and told the investigation was closed.
The report inexplicably stated there was only one attacker and noted that Patterson was “highly intoxicated, uncooperative and incoherent.”
The Pattersons were stunned. Taj had been beaten into unconsciousness. How could he possibly provide details to the police immediately afterward?
“You can’t just close the case and leave him half-dead and blind on the street,” said Zahra Patterson, 54. “You can’t do that.”
Zahra reached out to a friend with media contacts. News stories followed. Investigators showed up at Patterson’s house a few days later.
The five suspects — Abraham Winkler, 39; Aharon Hollender, 28; Mayer Herskovic, 21; Joseph Fried, 25, and Pinchas Braver, 19 — were indicted in April 2014 on felony gang assault charges after a probe by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.
Charges have been dismissed against Fried and Hollender. The others are expected to appear in court in 10 days.
“If his mom wasn’t as persistent as she was, this would have gone absolutely nowhere,” said another Patterson lawyer, Amy Robinson.
Former Chancellor Rabbi Norman Lamm has publicly admitted that he allowed Y.U. molesters to be hired by other Jewish institutions and he did not warn them.
LOSTMESSIAH 