The Bank of America on the corner of 6th and Warren in Hudson was reportedly robbed today. As noted by 3rd Ward Supervisor Ellen Thurston, this same building was the target of a bank robbery gone bad in the Robert Wise movie Odds Against Tomorrow, starring Harry Belafonte and Ed Begley. (Belafonte is said to have lived at Curtiss House with his daughter during the filming, and later had a house in the Chatham area.)
Driving in the 800 block last Thursday night, two men wandered into the street and wouldn't budge in response to the car horn. One then pointed an object—roughly 1.5-2 feet long and later identified by a source as a machete—at the other. At this point a U-turn back up the block seemed the wise move.Buried amid the news breaking this afternoon that Quintin Cross has surrendered to authorities—six weeks to the day since his disappearance—is an interesting tidbit: Cross is being represented by New York City defense attorney Susan Tipograph.
Tipograph’s legal resumé includes clients deemed by some to be political prisoners, for example a member of the Weather Underground. Operating in some of the same territory as the celebrated William Kunstler, her causes are more likely to be covered by publications such as The Village Voice and The Nation than in the pages of The Register-Star.
Tipograph was also the law partner and former officemate of the radical attorney Lynne Stewart, who was disbarred and sentenced to over two years in prison for her controversial representation of Egyptian cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman. Stewart’s initial prison term for conspiracy and assisting terrorists was extended to 10 years in 2005, after it was further alleged that she had perjured herself at trial. (Stewarts’ supporters believe that she was a victim of post-9/11 hysteria, while others agree with the courts that she stepped over a bright line between merely representing an unpopular client and actual collaboration in crimes.)
So how would Cross wind up represented by Tipograph, who isn’t exactly known for handling small-time burglary cases?* In the middle of the last decade, Tipograph was a presence locally at Time and Space Ltd. on Columbia Street, in connection with various panels and documentary films. I recall meeting her there several times, and this blogger writes that she learned about TSL from Tipograph:
I’d heard tell, via the fabulous lefty lawyer Susan Tipograph, of an interesting performance/film/art/activist center in Hudson, NY...
This leads to the conjecture that Cross conceivably may have connected with Tipograph through someone involved with TSL. Among other connections there, Cross was photographed blowing kazoos on the steps of City Hall with TSL directors Linda Mussmann and Claudia Bruce less than two weeks before it was burglarized. Was Cross in touch with TSL or its directors during the six weeks he was missing? Or, as his recent Facebook postings** about social justice might suggest, did he just happen to find Tipograph on his own?
* ... Though she did recently represent a woman charged with scamming an elderly man with dementia out of his money.
** Cross’s Facebook page has been very active again since last Friday, including posts about “snitches and bitches” and what appears to have been a preview of his surrender: “touch down monday what u want swine lol,” along with other slang references to law enforcement such as “ham and bacon.”
According to a solid source (who owns a police scanner), the Bank of Greene County branch on Fairview Avenue on Greenport (where I have an account, darn it) was the target of a robbery attempt this afternoon by one or more suspects on foot.
FOX News, CBS6 in Albany and Mid-Hudson News each reported early this morning that Jamont McClendon, one of two suspects wanted in connection with the break-in at City Hall two weekends ago, was arrested at a State Street apartment.
The building where McClendon was reportedly arrested is a 15-unit apartment complex at 229B State Street. County Assessment records indicate that 227-235 State Street is owned by Housing Resources. Lieutenant Paolino, who had predicted the HPD would “find them” within Hudson’s 2.17 mile area, has had half of his prediction proven correct.
According to Fox, “Police say [he] resisted arrested when officers showed up at the apartment.” The other suspect, Quintin Cross, remains at large.
McClendon, who has had many brushes with the law in the past few years, has remained active on Facebook since the time the Hudson Police Department sent out its Wanted Persons bulletin—posting new pictures and comments as “JaySun DaGreat.” At least one of those posts pointed to someone with whom he’d had a recent phone conversation. Cross (or someone using his account) has also been spotted online, but has taken his Facebook page down twice since disappearing shortly after his initial questioning by the HPD.
McClendon’s name, it turns out, has appeared regularly in the police blotters published over the past two years by the Hudson Valley Newspaper chain. A search of online archives indicates that he was arrested at least nine times during that period, for a variety of (mostly) minor offenses.
Below is a summary of this string of arrests and charges lodged against McClendon, whose place of residence alternates shifts during this brief period between Hudson, Catskill, Stuyvesant and Kinderhook:
• McClendon (then “of Hudson”) was arrested in August 2010 by Officers Pierro and Newkirk upon a bench warrant issued the previous month, when McClendon was alleged to have fled from officers. On the 11th, he allegedly fled again “near Fifth and State streets after being told he was under arrest.” Pursued on foot, he “allegedly jumped fences and ran through yards in the 400 block of Long Alley. Patrols responded and were able to flush him out.” He then was charged with both failing to appear and two counts of resisting arrest.
• State Police arrested McClendon (for the moment still “of Hudson”) on Nov. 21st for “false personation” after “allegedly giving police a fake name while being interviewed for a a criminal mischief complaint on Healy Boulevard in the town of Greenport.”
• In the New Year, McClendon (now said to be “of Catskill”) was arrested again, this time on January 5th by HPD Officer Keyser on a charge of “third-degree criminal trespass for allegedly going onto High Rise property when there was a Hudson Housing Authority notice of trespass” dating back to December 2010.
• State police charged McClendon (still “of Catskill”) on February 17th with another count of resisting arrest plus one of “criminal mischief: intent to damage property.” Arraigned in Catskill Town Court, he was “remanded to Greene County Jail in lieu of $1,500 bail.”
• On March 25th, McClendon (“of Catskill”) was arrested yet again, this time by HPD Officer Rowe on a charge of “petit larceny for allegedly stealing $150” from an unidentified person.
• Just six days later, on March 31st, McClendon (now said to be living in Stuyvesant) was arrested by County Sheriff Hofstetter and turned over to the State Police on a warrant “charging him with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle from the Stuyvesant Town Court as he was being released from the County Jail on unrelated charges.”
• McClendon does not appear again in the blotter until the Fall (now identified as living on “Sunnyside Road in Kinderhook”). On October 7th, he was issued an appearance ticket in Hudson by Officer Hodges “for disorderly conduct of fighting with violent behavior… at the intersection of Second and State streets.”
• 10 days later, McClendon (evidently back living in Hudson) was arrested on October 17th by Officer Sweet. He was issued a new appearance ticket on charges of “disorderly conduct of unreasonable noise, disorderly conduct of refusing to move on, and open container.”
• The following month, McClendon (again identified as resident of State Street in Hudson) on the 13th by the HPD's Officer Nero on a charge of “resisting arrest, disorderly conduct of fighting with violent behavior and two active warrants for disorderly conduct on Oct. 21 and resisting arrest on Oct. 25.” The HPD indicated that they were called to Wunderbar on a tip that McClendon was there, “at which time he actively resisted patrol. He was arraigned by Judge Portin and remanded to county jail in lieu of $5,000 cash bail or $5,000 bail bond.”
Note that the police blotters published online in the Catskill Daily Mail, unlike those of its sister publication The Register-Star, carefully and appropriately state that “a charge is not a conviction,” that “all persons listed are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,” and that charges lodged “can be amended or dismissed.”
UPDATE: Quintin Cross’s Facebook page, referenced in the post below earlier today, disappeared this afternoon.
Some further notes on yesterday’s astonishing news:
(1) A bulletin issued yesterday by the Hudson Police Department stated that former Alderman Quintin Cross and a friend, Jamont McClendon, are “wanted persons” sought “by the City of Hudson Police for Burglary in the 3rd degree in connection with the March 19th Burglary at City Hall, 520 Warren Street.”
According to New York State Penal Law, third degree burglary is a “D” felony offense which may carry up to a seven year sentence. A legal explanation of the offense can be found here.
(2) Alexandra Field of CBS6 in Albany interviewed HPD Chief Ellis Richardson in his office on Tuesday. Of particular interest is the news (also reported by the Register-Star) that the Hudson Police had interviewed Cross before his disappearance.
Richardson: “These two individuals are... you know, the ones we want to talk to.”
Field: “Police spoke to Cross after the City Hall burglary, but they don't know where he is anymore.”
Richardson: “Early indications are... uh, in the interview process... was that, uh, he was not responsible for this. Um... Of which, you know, we, um... let him go.”
Field: “And now you can't find him.”
Richardson: “We’re looking for him, yes.”
This raises the obvious (if uncomfortable) question of why Cross was “let go” initially, only to have police issue a bulletin shortly thereafter seeking him and McClendon.
Various reports have indicated that Cross may have been spotted on surveillance video cameras (which, ironically enough, were installed in City Hall in the wake of the credit card scam which ultimately led to his imprisonment several years ago). Inquiring minds then can’t help but ask: Had this videotape been reviewed when the police interviewed Cross? If so, why was he let go? And if not, what other evidence prompted them to interview him at all?
WTEN ran its own piece on the story which includes this statement from the HPD chief:
Richardson: “These two particular individuals, uh, if they aren’t directly involved, certainly could provide some information leading to those persons that are.”
(3) A source who has been reliable in the past tells this site that some computer equipment may have been found on the rear roof of City Hall after the break-in, but it should be emphasized that this cannot be confirmed. If true, that could indicate that someone had hoped to steal the equipment, but decided it was either too difficult or too risky to carry it off.
(4) There are also several indications that the Columbia County District Attorney’s office may have already prepared or even filed an indictment of Cross, but again at this point that is likewise unconfirmed.
(5) Cross (or someone using his account) continues to be active on Facebook while being sought by the police. As noted previously, a birthday message was sent to the proprietor of a local business Tuesday around 1 pm. Today, Cross’s timeline also showed he’d added two new friends—though those could be responses to old requests—and also was listening to music on the online site Spotify:
On Facebook, Cross lists Albany, not Hudson, as his place of residence.
(6) The photo of Cross issued by the HPD does not appear to be terribly current, as its subject looks considerably more haggard than in recent months.
Bear in mind that this is a developing story, with many rumors flying around, and many sources eager to provide details but few willing to go on record. And of course, in our country everyone is innocent unless proven guilty.
The Albany Poker League, a/k/a APL or the Albany Poker League Penthouse Club, was busted last week, with four youngish local men arrested. The Times-Union broke the story, but Fox 23’s coverage was a bit more colorful. WYNT’s story is here, and WTEN’s here.
Located not in a penthouse but a warehouse, APL wasn’t a well-kept secret. The club had t-shirts, hats, and also advertisements on the web. Word of it had filtered all the way down to Columbia County, making it less-than-credible that its existence only recently came to the local authorities’ attention, as has been claimed. (The investigation hardly required its undercover Hold ’Em ringer.)
Meanwhile, the Albany metro area has more than its share of underground bars, after hours joints and the like, which operate with seeming inpunity. Someone surely must have been turning a blind eye to APL as well for the past three-plus years, and it seems telling that the State Police conducted this Colonie bust, not Town or County officers. (This blog post indicates that APL was already going strong in 2008; one of APL’s ads described itself as a social club which “has been running for about 10 years.”) A longtime Albany resident tells me that last she checked, a similarly-sized poker room could be found in the upstairs room of a bar often frequented by off-duty local cops. Bill Kennedy, eat your heart out.
Of course, both casual and organized poker games have always been held around these parts. There are several high-stakes games said to have been running for decades around Hudson, even as its more infamous craps and numbers rackets have faded. A friendly game which survived for most of the past decade in the back of a local bistro finally broke up, after the congenial, low stakes atmosphere was cancelled not by The Man, but due to the incursion of a number of hotheaded 20somethings.
But amateur poker games really started proliferating all over the country in the past 5-6 years, driven by the national broadcast of big stakes tournaments, followed by the inevitable celebrity saloon tourneys. Even non-gamblers can appreciate the appeal of imagining you’re living a scene from a spaghetti western. Plus the recent indictments of top online casinos such as Full Tilt also seems sure to spur the creation of even more such realspace games to fill that gaming void.
Generally “home poker games” are deemed quasi-legal or at least tolerated, so long as the host does not take a “rake” from the table or any other remuneration for hosting. Individual players are rarely if ever prosecuted, and the penalties for operations which skirt these legal lines are rarely adequate to deter card fans. The State seems to limit enforcement to those operations which cut into legal casino business, or have the potential to attract organized crime syndicates. For any big city, even a cursory Google search will turn up dozens of poker rings operating in the wide open, with only the occasional bust put on for show. APL may have crossed a line by collecting entrance fees and taking a share of each pot; or maybe they just failed to pay off the right people. Estimates of their monthly take run from $40,000 to $400,000 a month, with $10,000 seized on the day it was shuttered, so it can't have been for lack of ready cash.
A retired judge of my acquaintance is of the opinion that the four are unlikely to face serious fines or fees, unless the State can find some broader racketeering or tax charge to level at them. If it’s held down to Class A misdemeanors, which are all that have been charged at this point, $1,000 and a year in jail would be the maximum, he says.
While the APL Four’s fate is decided, in all likelihood someone else will fill the vacuum for their patrons, who according to Fox’s report report were still pulling up to the club’s door for several days after the bust.
UPDATE: Despite the arrests detailed above, word is that APL is back—but no longer taking a “rake,” making the games more or less legal, or at least less likely to be busted up again.
Spraypainted in purple and yellow sometime during the holiday weekend, a* racist graffito materialized on the pavement along a rural stretch of Old Route 82 in Taghkanic, close to the Livingston line.
At least one neighbor reported it to the police early on Saturday. Reports are that it remained untouched all day, but by Sunday brunchtime someone had attempted to partially erase it. (Click here if you really must see a photo of the defaced pavement before it was somewhat covered over; due warning, this includes graphic language.)
Unfortunately, whoever tried to remedy the vandals' crude message appears both to have run out of steam, and also followed the lines of the letters too closely, so that the offensive words remain legible. Lightly resurfacing the whole defaced area would be a more thorough fix.
The two-color, large-scale design would suggest that this took the offender(s)—pimply teenagers, one would suspect, from the childishness of both the act and the handwriting—a fair amount of time to create... Maybe someone saw them in the act. A canvass of area stores to see who was buying purple and yellow spray paint also seems in order.
* UPDATE: Two other neighbors now report a second incident of similar vandalism on County Route 10 near Taghkanic-Churchtown Road, verified in person. These call for a certain type of people to “go to hell,” along with “pigs too.” The second grouping has been mostly covered up, but is still discernible.
UPDATE #2: A barn in the same area was also vandalized; some details can be read here.
