It’s still hard to figure out what exactly is going on. But Banks seems to be toast. Banks never had money problems. Maybe the IRS is interested. Overall, the best summary to date is by Lenny Levitt in NYPD Confidential.
Along with connections to Da Mayor, the white elephant in the room is the “special consideration” given to the Hasidic community. It’s an open secret in the NYPD that Hasids and some of the Orthodox community are treated very kindly. Why? Because they got, as they say in Chicago, clout.
In 2013 DeBlasio won the Democratic primary (and hence the general election) by 101,503 votes. He avoided a runoff by 5,623 votes. Fewer than 700,000 votes were cast. Yes, in a city of 8.5 million, local elections are decided in an off-year with less than 10 percent of total residents voting. Meanwhile, there are 15,000 Satmars whose leaders offer their votes as a block. Most voted for deBlasio.
Don't the Hasidim have their own police?
Sort of. And last I checked, two of them! (You know, the one they call on and they one they would never call — sorry, that's sort of the punchline to a good old jewish joke)
I blurbed this good book by Matthew Shaer book: amazon.com/gp/product/B00DNL3DFW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1
And I was interviewed here: matzav.1on1dev.com/abc-news-reports-on-shomrim-patrols/