Category: Newsday

Two Suffolk County judges violated court rules designed to promote transparency and limit cronyism while awarding at least $600,000 in fees and expenses to political power broker Gary Melius and a network of his associates, a Newsday investigation has found. Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Thomas Whelan appointed Melius and his associates to serve as property… Continue reading The Insiders

Santia Williams needed help. Her 250-pound ex-boyfriend, Jason Jenkins, had snatched their baby from her arms, violating a judge’s order to stay away. After taking off with the girl, Jenkins threatened to kill the 2-month-old and himself. Williams made at least four calls to Suffolk County police over the next week. Recordings of the July… Continue reading Unprotected

Edward Walsh, the Conservative Party’s Suffolk County chairman and a county correction lieutenant, has risen to positions of power and influence despite incidents that could have derailed his career. Civil service and sheriff’s records from Walsh’s background check show in 1988 he tested positive for the barbiturate phenobarbital in a failed bid to work for the NYPD… Continue reading Brushes with the Law

Major League Baseball ignored repeated warnings that records they sought in the Alex Rodriguez Biogenesis scandal had been stolen and that they were not to purchase them, according to Florida investigators and an April police report obtained by Newsday. MLB investigators bought Biogenesis records anyway, and a Boca Raton police detective investigating the theft noted… Continue reading MLB’s Biogenesis Tanning Salon Caper

A Suffolk County Supreme Court justice backed an effort by Gary Melius to seize control of a private company at the same time the politically influential developer sought to name a close associate of the justice -- state Independence Party chairman Frank MacKay -- to the company's board of directors. Justice Thomas Whelan granted Melius'… Continue reading Castle shooting reveals judicial conflict