Talk Bronx New York

 Former Co-op City Board President Sentenced To Jail Time For Accepting Kickback Payments

MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that IRIS HERSKOWITZ BAEZ, the former President of the Board of Co-Op City in the Bronx, New York, was sentenced today for accepting approximately $10,000 in kickback payments in exchange for her assistance in steering a Co-Op City painting contract worth approximately $3.5 million.

BAEZ, 59, a resident of the Bronx, was sentenced by United States District Judge RICHARD J. SULLIVAN to six months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release. In addition, BAEZ was ordered to forfeit $10,000. According to the Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court and statements made during BAEZ’s guilty plea and sentencing proceedings:

Co-Op City is a New York State Mitchell-Lama housing cooperative located in the Bronx, New York. As a Mitchell-Lama development, Co-Op City was established for the purpose of providing affordable housing for middle-income residents. To effectuate that purpose, Mitchell-Lama developments such as Co-Op City charge rents that are considerably lower than the rents that qualified residents would have to pay for comparable housing on the open market.

The New York City Housing Authority ( “NYCHA” ) is a New York City agency responsible for, among other things, supervising a Section 8 rental assistance program, which program is regulated and fully funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development ( “HUD” ). As part of the Section 8 Program, HUD pays subsidies, typically in the form of vouchers, for people to live in private housing.

Neither HUD nor NYCHA place any restriction on how Co- Op City can spend the federal subsidies. Accordingly, the housing cooperative was permitted to use the federal funds for capital improvements such as renovations to, and painting of, apartment units. New York State, however, imposes certain regulations on how Co-Op City may spend money on capital improvements, such as requiring — for any job in excess of $50,000 — that Co-Op City put the work out for bid, memorialize the agreement with the bid winner in a formal contract, and subject the contract to approval by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal ( “DHCR” ), which regulates the housing development.

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4 Life Terms 4 The Bronx Hitman

MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that CYRIL SMITH, a/k/a “Nicholas Smith,” a/k/a “Nicholas Wright,” a/k/a “Mark Nicholas Smith,” a/k/a “Zero,” was sentenced on Friday afternoon in Manhattan federal court to four consecutive terms of life imprisonment for distributing narcotics and committing three separate contract murders in the Bronx between 1998 and 2000.

SMITH, 31, was convicted on May 30, 2007, following a two-week trial before United States District Judge DENISE L. COTE. Specifically, the jury found SMITH guilty of the murder of JAMAL KITT, on July 5, 1998; the murder of TERRENCE CELESTINE, on July 30, 1998; and the murder of SANFORD Malone, on February 14, 2000. SMITH was also convicted of three counts related to his distribution of “crack” cocaine and other drugs between 1998 and
2005. According to the evidence at trial:

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