Will feds step in to save DC?
Then came story after story of stabbings, gang violence, and even a shooting on the Metro.
My proposal went back on the shelf. NY Post contributor Bethany Mandel shares this story.
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NBC News
4 hours ago
- NBC News
Trial opens for U.S. fugitive accused of faking his own death to avoid rape charges
SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of faking his death and fleeing the country to avoid rape charges faced an alleged victim in court Monday as a jury trial in Utah began. The man known in the U.S. as Nicholas Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, is accused of sexually assaulting two women in Utah in 2008. Prosecutors are trying the cases separately, with the first set in Salt Lake County. Rossi, 38, was arrested in Scotland in 2021 — a year after he was reported dead — when he was recognized at a Glasgow hospital while receiving treatment for COVID-19. He lost an extradition appeal after claiming he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who had never set foot on American soil and was being framed. Prosecutors say they have identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used over the years to evade capture. Rossi appeared in court in a wheelchair, wearing a suit and tie and using an oxygen tank. The woman identified him from the witness stand, saying he's 'a little bit heavier, a little bit older' but mostly looks the same. District Judge Barry Lawrence helped clarify for the jury some of the twists and turns of the case, explaining that different people may refer to Rossi by different names. The defense and prosecution agreed it's factual that Rossi was in Utah in 2008 and had a relationship with the alleged victim that year. Prosecutors painted a picture of an intelligent man who used his charm to take advantage of a vulnerable young woman. He raped her when she pushed back against his attempts to control her, said Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Brandon Simmons. The woman, who the judge asked not be identified publicly, described a whirlwind relationship with Rossi that began in November 2008 while she was recovering from a traumatic brain injury. The two began dating after she responded to a personal ad Rossi posted on Craigslist and were engaged within about two weeks. The woman described being asked to pay for their dates, cover Rossi's rent so he wouldn't be evicted from his apartment and take on debt to buy their engagement rings. Then, the relationship spiraled quickly, with Rossi 'becoming controlling and saying mean things to me,' she testified. The couple got into a fight in which Rossi pounded on her car and used his body to block her from pulling out of the parking garage. She finally let him inside and drove him home but said she had no plans of continuing a relationship. She agreed to go into his house to talk, but he instead pushed her onto his bed, held her down and 'forced me to have sex with him,' she testified. The woman described lying still, paralyzed with fear. 'I was a little bit more of a timid person back then, and so it was harder for me to stand up for myself,' she said. Dismissive comments from her parents convinced her not to go to the police at the time, she said. She did, however, try to bring Rossi to small claims court over the engagement rings but dropped the case. Rossi's lawyers sought to convince the jury that the alleged victim built up years of resentment after Rossi made her foot the bill for everything in their monthlong relationship, and accused him of rape to get back at him a decade later when she saw him in the news. Rossi will also stand trial in September over another rape charge in Utah County. Rossi grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and had returned to the state before allegedly faking his death. An obituary published online claimed he died on Feb. 29, 2020, of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma. State police, along with Rossi's former lawyer and a former foster family, cast doubt on whether he was dead. A year later, hospital staff in Scotland recognized his tattoos from an Interpol notice and alerted authorities. He was extradited to Utah in January 2024. 'This case is like an old puzzle from the thrift store,' said MacKenzie Potter, one of Rossi's attorneys. 'It's 13 years old, not all the pieces are there, some pieces are from a different puzzle. And when you start going through everything, you're not going to get a complete picture.'
New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
NYC designer Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra finalized a divorce months before untimely death on Montauk boat
NYC designer Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra was found dead on a Montauk boat just months after finalizing a divorce from her husband, according to court documents. The 33-year-old Irish-born beauty was in the middle of uncontested, or mutually agreed-upon, divorce proceedings with her husband Sam Ryan as recently as April, according to New York County Supreme Court filings. The filings indicate the couple's marriage ended just months before Nolan-O'Slatarra was found dead on a boat docked at the upscale Montauk Yacht Club around midnight last Tuesday — with a naked man seen belligerently begging bystanders to help her. Advertisement 3 NYC designer Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra was found dead on a Montauk boat just months after finalizing a divorce from her husband, Sam Ryan. Instagram/Dylan Grace In another recent legal bout, Nolan and Dylan Grace, who co-owned East x East swimwear together, were sued in 2022 by Out East Accessories, a Manhattan luxury eyeglass outlet, according to a lawsuit. The pair was accused of stealing $34,000 from a company bank account, as well as the entire eyewear inventory, the complaint alleged. Advertisement The suit also claimed the duo locked the owners out of their bank account, emails and social media accounts by changing the password. The lawsuit was resolved as the sides settled in July 2022, according to court records. 3 The chaos unfolded around midnight, when two bystanders were awakened by screaming and saw the alleged owner of the Ripple boat, dashing down the dock in a panic. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post Cops said there was no evidence of violence done to Nolan-O'Slatarra's body, but have not ruled out foul play and have not released details of the department's investigation. Advertisement The chaos unfolded around midnight, when two bystanders were awakened by screaming and saw the alleged owner of the Ripple boat, dashing down the dock in a panic. 'We were sound asleep,' the eyewitness, who asked not to be identified, told The Post. 'We heard someone shouting, stuff bouncing off the side of the boat. He threw sunscreen at our boat trying to wake us up,' he said. 'He was running up and down, naked, screaming, 'Do something!'' Suffolk County police said the bystanders tried to resuscitate the popular designer before first responders arrived — but it was too late and Nolan-O'Slatarra was pronounced dead. Advertisement The 911 caller and his pal, regulars at the yacht club, did not recognize Nolan-O'Slatarra. The blue-eyed beauty hailed from the small town of Carlow, just over 50 miles outside Dublin, she said in an interview last year with the Irish Independent. 3 Nolan and Dylan Grace were accused of stealing $34,000 from an Out East Accessories company bank account in 2022. Instagram/Dylan Grace Studious and driven to succeed, she earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and management from University College in Dublin and went on to earn a master's degree in digital marketing at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, also in Dublin, in 2014. 'I always knew I wanted to be successful, that I was money-driven, business-driven, and that fashion is a tough industry and it would be a slow road,' she told the Independent. At just 26, she was vice president of client experiences for an Irish-based retail marketing agency — and bored with her career, she told the outlet. In 2021, she launched East x East and a fashion accessories company, Duper. Advertisement The companies' success was enough to allow Nolan-O'Slatarra to spend her summers in the Hamptons, where she was able to mix business with pleasure. An attorney for Nolan-O'Slatarra was not on file.
Miami Herald
6 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Pope Leo calls for release of gang hostages in Haiti amid changes on security front
Pope Leo XIV is calling for the release of eight hostages in Haiti, including a 3-year-old boy and a longtime Irish missionary who remain in captivity after being abducted from a mountaintop orphanage by armed gangs in the middle of the night. 'I make a heartfelt appeal to all responsible parties to release the hostages immediately,' the pope said. The pontiff's heartfelt appeal came Sunday during a prayer service where he condemned the widespread 'violence of all kinds, human trafficking, forced displacement and kidnappings' in the volatile Caribbean nation. The comments marked the pope's first public acknowledgement of the unraveling situation in Haiti, where some of his ancestors were from, since the U.S.-born pontiff became the Catholic Church's first American pope in May following the death of Pope Francis in April. During the prayer service, in which he also highlighted other global conflicts, the pope called on the international community to provide tangible support to help create the social and institutional conditions 'that will allow the Haitian people to live in peace.' A week ago Sunday armed gangs breached the Saint-Hélène Orphanage in Kenscoff, an expansive rural enclave in the mountains above Port-au-Prince that has been under constant attack since the start of the year. Once inside, gangs grabbed Gena Heraty, an Irish national who has been working in Haiti since 1993, along with other adults and children. The orphanage is affiliated with Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, NPH International, which confirmed the abductions on its website. The charity was founded by Father William Wasson, a Catholic priest, and serves vulnerable children in nearly two dozen countries across Latin America and Haiti. The kidnappings once more brought Haiti's rise in gang violence to the forefront. In Haiti, Saint-Hélène's orphans include children with disabilities from other orphanages that were attacked. 'The situation of the Haitian people is increasingly desperate,' the pope later said in a post on X. On Friday, the new head of Haiti's beleaguered Transitional Presidential Council, Laurent Saint-Cyr, said the climate of fear, violence and instability that reign inside the country has made life unbearable for the population of nearly 12 million. This includes more than 1.3 million who have been forced to flee their homes, of whom nearly 500,000 are children. Haitians are demanding only one thing, security, Saint-Cyr said, as he announced the firing of the head of the Haiti National Police, Rameau Normil , after 13 months and 20 days on the job. He was replaced by André Jonas Vladimir Parison, the former head of security for the National Palace. The change in leadership of the police came amid growing frustration with the force's failure to rein in armed gangs that now control about 90% of Port-au-Prince and are expanding elsewhere. Last year, more than 5,600 people died in Haiti in gang-related violence, according to the United Nations, and already this year, the country has logged more than 4,000 deaths. EarIier this month, the U.N. announced that more than 1,500 Haitians had been killed between April and June, while hundreds of kidnappings and rapes continue to be documented. At the same time, members of the powerful Viv Ansanm gang coalition had pillaged and/or burned at least 410 residences and other buildings, including six schools, health centers and local nongovernmental organizations during the period. Normil first served as director of the Haiti National Police in August 2019 when he replaced Michel-Ange Gédéon. He was fired in November 2020 and then brought back in June 21, 2024, replacing Frantz Elbé. But his tenure was marked by questionable arrests, too much territory lost to gangs, poorly executed police operations, a combative personality and a slow pace in recruiting new cops. Normil also faced questions over corruption and competence after the disappearance of a hotel manager and U.S. veteran, Patrice Miot Jacquet, who was working with a private military contractor in Port-au-Prince and disappeared along with police-issued weapons. But the most damning criticism Normil faced was the loss of 18 territories in 10 months to increasingly powerful gangs despite having more resources at his disposal than Elbé.. Despite that support, the police continued to face issues as Normil failed to effectively coordinate with the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission, cast aside qualified senior officers over accusations they were not loyal to him or were after his job, and his officers became overwhelmed while facing better armed gangs. Paraison, known for his 'warrior' approach to fighting gangs as he defended the National Palace earlier this year, has the confidence of most of the ruling presidential council but faces tough scrutiny as he takes on mired in corruption and human rights abuse allegations. Saint-Cyr called on Paraison to prove himself as a man of action, telling him 'to take all necessary measures to restore security' with the support of the Haitian Armed Forces and the Kenya-led mission. 'Rally your valiant... officers, earn their trust, intensify operations on all fronts, secure vulnerable areas, consolidate the territories we control, and liberate one by one those territories where our compatriots can no longer live in peace,' Saint-Cyr said 'Fear must change sides.'
