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      2 N.Y.C. Fire Department Chiefs Arrested on Bribery Charges

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      The officials, who oversaw safety inspections, are accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars in connection with building projects.Two high-ranking New York Fire Department chiefs were arrested early Monday on federal bribery and corruption charges that accuse them of taking nearly $100,000 apiece in a scheme to expedite safety inspections, people with knowledge of the matter said.The two chiefs, whose homes and offices at Fire Department headquarters were searched by federal agents and city investigators in February, are expected to appear in United States District Court in Manhattan later on Monday, the people said.The chiefs — Brian E. Cordasco, 49, and Anthony M. Saccavino, 59 — were responsible for overseeing safety inspections on building projects. Neither man could immediately be reached for comment Monday morning. It was unclear whether either had retained lawyers in the matter, which has been under investigation since last summer.There is no indication that the case is related to any of the four separate federal corruption investigations swirling around Mayor Eric Adams, his campaign and some of his most senior aides. The inquiry focused on the mayor is being conducted by the same agencies that investigated the chiefs, however, and also relates in part to fire safety inspections, several of the people said.The charges against the chiefs are likely to increase the pressure on Mr. Adams and his administration as it faces a welter of corruption investigations that led last week to the resignations of two top officials in three days.Tracking Investigations In Eric Adams’s OrbitSeveral federal corruption inquiries have reached into the world of Mayor Eric Adams of New York, who faces re-election next year. Here is a closer look at how people with ties to Adams are related to the inquiries.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Eric Adams’s Chief Counsel, Lisa Zornberg, Resigns Amid Federal Investigations

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      The stunning departure of Lisa Zornberg, the chief counsel to Mayor Eric Adams of New York, was announced late Saturday as federal investigations into his administration expand.Mayor Eric Adams’s counsel and chief legal adviser, Lisa Zornberg, abruptly resigned — a major departure from the administration announced late Saturday night as the mayor and his inner circle face an onslaught of federal investigations.Ms. Zornberg, a former senior Manhattan federal prosecutor in the office that is currently conducting three separate corruption investigations into the mayor and some of his senior aides, has been a fierce defender of Mr. Adams over the past 10 months. She encouraged New Yorkers not to rush to judgment after the first investigation — into the mayor’s campaign fund-raising — came to light.“It has been a great honor to serve the city,” she wrote in a brief letter to the mayor on Saturday. “I am tendering my resignation, effective today, as I have concluded that I can no longer effectively serve in my position. I wish you nothing but the best.”Ms. Zornberg’s resignation was stunning, not only because of her position and the highly sensitive moment at which it came, but because of its suddenness and because it was effective immediately, allowing no time for a transition to a new counsel.Her departure came two days after the police commissioner, Edward A. Caban, resigned at the request of City Hall after federal agents took his phone in one of four criminal investigations that involve members of the administration and the mayor himself. The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, where Ms. Zornberg worked, is conducting three of the inquiries, two of which on Sept. 4 led to the seizure of phones from several top officials. The U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn is conducting the fourth.Tracking Investigations In Eric Adams’s OrbitSeveral federal corruption inquiries have reached into the world of Mayor Eric Adams of New York, who faces re-election next year. Here is a closer look at how people with ties to Adams are related to the inquiries.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Charles Biasiny-Rivera, Champion of Latino Photography, Dies at 93

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      A New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, he helped start a collective that brought recognition to Hispanic photographers and illuminated life in the city’s barrios.To Charles Biasiny-Rivera, who worked as a street photographer in the barrios of New York City in the early 1970s, his craft was a matter of trust as much as eye.“You really do have to understand that when you enter a neighborhood, the neighborhood sees you as a stranger, because they know everybody, so you don’t want to become noticed,” he said in a 2022 video interview. “So you hang out a little bit,” he added, “smoke some cigarettes, say good morning, good afternoon to people.“If you created a rapport with them,” he said, “they wouldn’t be peering at you all the time. For those peeking from windows, “the shades would go up, the shades would go down.”A photograph by Mr. Biasiny-Rivera taken in 1974 at Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem. (The school closed in 1982.) The image was shown in the 2021 exhibition “En Foco: The New York Puerto Rican Experience, 1973-1974,” at El Museo del Barrio in Manhattan.Charles Biasiny-Rivera/Collection El Museo del Barrio, New York CityAs an aspiring photographer of Puerto Rican descent, Mr. Biasiny-Rivera saw street photography as one of the few paths open to him at a time when the handful of Latino photographers he knew were struggling to make a mark in the field. He spent the rest of his career working to change that.Mr. Biasiny-Rivera died at 93 on Aug. 10 at his home in Olivebridge, N.Y., a hamlet in the Catskill Mountains. His wife, Betty Wilde-Biasiny, said the cause was complications of lung cancer.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      After a Bruising Debate, Trump Is Warmly Embraced in Lower Manhattan

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      This is a tale about two sides of the same street.A little after 10 a.m. on Sept. 11, way down on the tip of Lower Manhattan, a Chevrolet Suburban was pulling into the firehouse at 42 South St., which belongs to Engine Company 4, Ladder 15.The men of 4-15 look after Wall Street; the massive emblem hanging inside their firehouse depicts the statue of the Charging Bull, wreathed in flame. On this day, they wore their best class A suits, all crisp navy and patent leather, and crowded around the Chevy. A door opened and out stepped former President Donald J. Trump. The firefighters lined up to shake his hand, to give him a pat on the back.Mr. Trump made the rounds. “Hey, fellas, I didn’t see you over there,” he said, turning to shake the hand of one particularly awe-struck firefighter. “Mr. President,” said the firefighter, “great job last night.”Mr. Trump thanked him, paused and then added, “We had three-on-one.”He was talking about his televised debate, the night before, with Vice President Kamala Harris. To Mr. Trump, his opponents also seemed to include the two moderators from ABC News, who he said treated him unfairly.“There was three-on-one,” he repeated.What was that tone in his voice? Not quite ashamed, or embarrassed, exactly, or even sullen — but resigned, perhaps. Resigned to the fact that he had been bested by Ms. Harris. She had called him a “disgrace” to his face, several times, with more than 60 million people watching. She had hit him where it hurt, taunting him about the people who leave his rallies early. Perhaps what was most devastating was the fact that it all seemed to work — he had taken her bait, allowed himself to get knocked off course, and now even his friends on Fox News seemed to think he got played for a sucker.But inside the firehouse, he was still a champion.“They were going at you,” the firefighter chuckled. “You did a great job, though.” He stuck out his hand for another shake. Mr. Trump took it again, and thanked him again.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      City Hall Seeks New York Police Commissioner’s Resignation

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      Edward Caban has faced increasing pressure since last week, when federal agents searched the homes of top officials in the Adams administration and confiscated electronic devices.Mayor Eric Adams’s administration is seeking the resignation of Edward A. Caban, New York’s police commissioner, less than a week after agents seized the commissioner’s phone in one of several federal investigations that have engulfed City Hall, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.Commissioner Caban has been under growing pressure to step aside since last Thursday, when news broke that federal agents had taken his cellphone, as well as phones belonging to several of the highest-ranking officials in the Adams administration.The mayor, a retired police captain who served on the force with the commissioner’s father and was close to him, appointed Mr. Caban in July 2023, making him the department’s first Latino commissioner.But the seizure of the phone belonging to the man in charge of the nation’s largest police force sent shock waves through the agency’s headquarters and City Hall. Agents last week also seized the phones of the first deputy mayor, Sheena Wright; her partner, Schools Chancellor David C. Banks; the deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks III; and a senior adviser to the mayor, Timothy Pearson, a retired police inspector who is one of the mayor’s closest confidants.The mayor’s own phones were seized in a separate earlier investigation.None of the people have been charged with a crime, but the raids buffeted the administration of Mr. Adams, which was already reeling from other legal problems. They include a federal inquiry into whether Mr. Adams and his campaign conspired with the Turkish government to collect illegal foreign donations in exchange for pressuring the Fire Department to sign off on a new high-rise Turkish consulate in Manhattan, despite safety concerns.It was not clear whether Commissioner Caban would actually resign. The Police Department did not immediately offer a comment.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A Judge’s Decision to Delay Trump’s Sentencing

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      More from our inbox:Risky Covid Behavior‘Glorious’ Outdoor Dining in New York CityA Librarian’s FightDonald J. Trump, the first former American president to become a felon, is seeking to overturn his conviction and win back the White House.Doug Mills/The New York TimesTo the Editor:Re “Judge Pushes Sentencing of Trump to After Election” (front page, Sept. 7):I must disagree with the hand-wringing of my liberal colleagues who lament the fact that Donald Trump won’t be sentenced for his conviction in the hush-money case until after the election.Your article notes that the public will not know before they go to the polls “whether the Republican presidential nominee will eventually spend time behind bars.”With all due respect, so what? The former president was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Those who recoil at the idea of their president being a convicted felon won’t vote for him; those who support him will not change their minds based on the severity of the sentence.Other than being used as a talking point on the left (“he got four years in prison!!”) or on the right (“he got probation — I told you it was no big deal”), what could a sentence now possibly achieve?While no one, including Donald Trump, is above the law, this case is unique in our history. The sentence must be viewed as judicially sound, and for that it cannot become a partisan football, especially this close to an election.Eileen WestPleasantville, N.Y.To the Editor:Donald Trump’s lawyers have consistently maintained that his trials should not go forward because it may affect the 2024 election. Their many motions have contributed to delaying three of the four trials he faces. They have now persuaded Justice Juan Merchan in New York to put off sentencing in the fourth, justified by the judge because of the unique circumstances and timing surrounding the event.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Man Plotted to Kill Jews in New York on Oct. 7 Anniversary, U.S. Says

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      A 20-year-old Pakistani citizen was arrested in Canada after plotting to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish center in New York, according to the Justice Department.A Pakistani citizen was arrested in Quebec this week and accused of plotting to kill “as many Jewish civilians as possible” in New York City on or near the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israelis, according to a Justice Department complaint unsealed Friday.Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, who lived in Canada, tried to cross the border with the intention of traveling to New York, where he planned to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn, in support of the Islamic State, prosecutors said.“New york is perfect to target jews,” he wrote to an associate, according to the filing, adding, “We could rack up easily a lot of jews.”He also boasted that his plan would be “the largest Attack on US soil since 9/11,” the filing said.Mr. Khan was taken into custody by Canadian authorities on Wednesday after trying to enter the United States from Ormstown about 12 miles north of the New York State border. He changed vehicles three times en route to the border, perhaps to evade detection, prosecutors said.The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, also mentions an unnamed associate, but it was unclear whether that person was in custody, at large or an informant.Mr. Khan is charged with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, ISIS, and faces up to 20 years in prison.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More