Bribe cop – I got paid off in dolls and balls
HE SOLD HIS badge for Barbies and baseballs.
Former NYPD Sgt. David Villanueva, a longtime supervisor in the department’s License Division, testified Tuesday that he accepted greenbacks and goodies from John Chambers and other gun expediters to speed up the permitting process.
Villanueva — who in February 2017 pleaded guilty to accepting illicit gifts — took the stand against Chambers in Manhattan Federal Court, where the self-described “top firearms licensing attorney in New York” is now on trial facing bribery charges.
Chambers, 63, is accused of giving the ex-cop a steady stream of gifts, including an $8,000 watch, Broadway tickets, special edition Barbie dolls, signed baseballs and an autographed photo of Mickey Mantle.
Villanueva also got a Paul Picot watch – which prosecutors have valued at $8,000.
He also testified he pocketed some $20,000 from gun expediter Alex (Shaya) Lichtenstein, who pleaded guilty in November 2016 to bribing cops. THE CITY TORE a statue of a controversial 19th century gynecologist from its perch in Central Park Tuesday — less than a day after it was deemed unfit to remain in the iconic space.
The Public Design Commission on Monday voted unanimously to relocate the statue of J. Marion Sims to Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery because the doctor — once hailed as the father of modern gynecology — had experimented on enslaved women.
The Parks Department wrapped the statue in a blue blanket and put it on a flatbed truck, removing the monument from its spot near E. 103rd St. where it had stood for more than 80 years.
“Take it down! Marion Sims is not our hero!” more than two dozen people cheered. “Off with his head!” one person cried.
The removal was “long overdue,” said former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who was at the statue’s takedown.
“This individual is considered the father of gynecology, but he practiced and basically tortured enslaved women,” she said. “I feel that my ancestors can rest,” she said, noting that Sims did “inhumane things” to black women.
The statue will soon be installed on a low base next to his grave in Green-Wood Cemetery, officials said.