Mob prince Alphonse (Allie) Persico, who is serving life for the 1999 rubout of then-underboss William (Wild Bill) Cutolo, has been linked to the gangland-style slayings of two high-flying penny-stock promoters who were killed that same year in a Colts Neck, N.J. mansion where one of the men lived, Gang...

Tevye the Milkman, the working stiff Jewish Everyman from the shtetls of Russia, may not be one of Broadway's sexiest characters, but he certainly has been one of its most enduring. And one actor more than any other has embodied the role of the tradition-bound, world-weary, rich-man obsessed song and...

This week I had the pleasure of experiencing JetBlue and JFK's Terminal 5 - both of which I had heard great things about. Terminal 5 was a great deal more pleasant than many air terminals, feeling loungeier than the hospital mise en scène of Heathrow (minus their Terminal...

Each of John Gotti Jr.'s previous three trials has ended in a hung jury. Insiders say the jury may yet again be deadlocked. As a criminal defense attorney who has followed the case and once represented Peter Gotti, I'm apt to conclude that the defense strategy to not allow Junior...

Give it up for Ragtime, a sweeping, ambitious revival that, with the election of Barack Obama, carries added resonance. The musical, an adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's novel about early 20th-century America, is moving, stirring and not to be missed. Real historic figures, like anarchist Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit...

How bad is it up there in our capital? Are you trying to follow the story of our state budget, but find New York politics to be needlessly complex and boring? I'm writing three opinion pieces that describe what's happening in Albany with the budget, its severity, its media coverage,...

As the foreclosure crisis has unfolded, it's become clear that blacks and Hispanics were much more likely to get high-cost mortgages than whites with similar incomes buying similarly-priced homes. But according to a new study, there's more to the link between high-cost loans—which are the most likely to lead to...

Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 23, 2009 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.

1. Quick Hits

Perfect NFL 10's. The Colts and Saints are now 10-0.

Unprecedented. Jimmie Johnson wins his 4th straight NASCAR driving title.

Nate Robinson of the Knicks fired a 3...

So Rudy Giuliani is apparently not running for governor and is dithering about whether to try for the Senate.

We've lived through this melodrama before.

A decade ago, after months of indecision following his battle with prostate cancer and his split from wife Donna Hanover, he backed out...

There have been many post-mortems over the last few weeks about how Michael Bloomberg, the New York City mayor, could spend more than $90 million, breaking all spending records except for presidential campaigns, and yet manage to win only 50.6% of the vote.

Despite saturation advertising on TV, radio,...

In this Week 11 Preview podcast, Greg and Dan discuss this weekend's DO OR DIE game against the Atlanta Falcons with Atlanta's own COUSIN MICHAEL. In addition to analyzing what the Falcons may have in store for the Giants, the three still feel compelled to talk about the infamous Bill...

TGIF everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 20, 2009 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.

Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants wins the National League Cy Young award for the 2nd straight year.

Starting today, baseball free agents are free to sign with any team....

This talk was given on Saturday, Nov 14, 2009, at the symposium called "The Arts and the Economic Crisis," organized by the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University.

Let me begin with an invocation, in the form of some numbers. $21 billion in economic impact. 160,000 jobs....

The Rudy Giuliani brand has deteriorated so much that it's hard to imagine an elective office for which he might be suited.

But the image of Rudy running for governor did have its fascination. For all his self-promotion as an expert on leadership, his real talent is for...

It's not often we get to see video surveillance of a crime in progress, but that's one of the many fascinating things you'll find on the website of the Philoctetes Center for the Multidisciplinary Study of the Imagination. It's Bernie "the perp" Madoff during a round-table discussion titled "The Future...

Tough-guy enforcer Rudy Giuliani, and touchy-feely David Paterson are in unlikely and violent agreement: making Manhattan Ground Zero for the Khalid Sheik Mohammed trial is a very bad idea.

As the Times put it, "Giuliani said the trial would give 'an unnecessary advantage to the terrorists' and pose...

My commute is far from gruesome. I've seen worse - hiking up hills in Aberystwyth or cross-country marching at 8AM to an early-morning class in University Park, PA were far worse.

However, short and sweet as the morning PATH journey is, it lacks the stability of my own two...

Happy Thursday everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 19, 2009 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.

Mike Scioscia is named the American League manager of the year. Jim Tracy of Colorado wins the NL award. The Rockies immediately announce a new 3 year contract for Tracy.