Some guilty, some go free

Armed robbers go down: Despite the heat the Magistrate Court took this week about not giving suspects a fair shake, it's always amazing how many of them wind up pleading guilty. A few the DA decided not to prosecute for whatever reason (missing witness? sloppy police work?), but in only one case in the recent batch below from Criminal District Court did the judge find the defendant not guilty:

• Renaldo Nickles Jr., now 21: Who, along with his 14-year-old cousin, went on a robbery rampage in the French Quarter in April, 2008, has pled guilty to 4 charges, after they were reduced to "attempted" armed robbery from "armed robbery with a firearm."

After the case slogged through the court for 16 months, Judge Frank Marullo Jr. sentenced him to 8 years of hard labor.

Among the robberies Nickles is believed responsible for from 4.3.08 to 4.11.08 were at these locations:

• Bienville and Burgundy streets
• 900 block of Chartres Street
• 1100 block of Bourbon Street
• 900 block of Ursulines Street
• 900 block of St. Philip Street

• Michael Newton, 24: Not to be outdone by Nickles' week-long spree, Newton managed to pull 3 heists in 12 minutes while riding his bicycle through Faubourg Marigny last October.
  

For that caper, and 3 other robberies he pled guilty to, Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson sentenced him to 10 years and 1 day in prison.

The Marigny robberies he committed in the early morning hours of 10.19.08 were at:

• Chartres and Marigny streets;
• Burgundy and Franklin streets;
• Burgundy and Spain streets.
  

How'd he get out?: The wages of sin must pay pretty well. Herbert Brown 3rd (pictured), one of two 17-year-olds arrested for allegedly robbing a couple of guys on Dauphine Street by Washington Park on the "Night Out Against Crime," managed to post his $150,000 bond 8.24.09 and go free until his court date in early October.

His buddy, Keith McCrary, is still sitting in OPP unable to come up with $150,000. Both were charged with armed robbery with a firearm for the incident 8.6.09.

Unarmed robbers get it too: Crooks convicted of so-called simple robbery (no weapon used, but often more violent) had their days in court too:

• Amora Collins, 18, pled guilty to snatching the wallet from the hand of a guy while he was trying to get money from the ATM at Bienville and Royal streets on 5.15.09.

Judge Ben Willard gave her a 5-year suspended sentence and 5 years probation, ordering her to stay out of the French Quarter during her probation.

• Tyrell J. Eli (top), now 20, Brandon M. Roussell (middle), 19, and Christopher M. Simon (bottom), 21, pled guilty to 2 counts each of simple robbery when the charges were reduced from 1st-degree robbery. They were arrested 4.17.09 after robbing 2 men in the early morning hours in the 1400 block of Canal Street (think Canal Street Hotel). One of them knocked one of the victims to the ground and another put his hand inside his shirt, acting like he had a weapon. They then made the victims empty their pockets.

Judge Karen Herman sentenced Eli and Simon to only 4 months in jail, then gave them credit for time served going back to the date of the crime--meaning they were free to go.

(Simon, however, managed to attract an auto theft charge in August, to which he pled not guilty 9.21.09--so he continues to sit in OPP.)

Roussell's sentencing was postponed to 9.30.09, pending a pre-sentencing investigation.

• Wayne D. Jones, 49, after sitting in jail for nearly 14 months after swiping a woman's purse, finally pled guilty to the charge after the DA agreed not to charge him as a multiple offender.

Judge Laurie White sentenced him to 6 years in prison.

Jones grabbed the purse in the Clover Grill, 900 Bourbon St., in July last year--and then left without paying his $13.25 dinner check.

• Andrew Norris, 23, in another pursesnatching case that seemed to go on forever, pled guilty to that charge and to carrying a concealed weapon.

Judge Darryl Derbigny sentenced him to 2 years on the pursesnatching charge and 6 months for the concealed weapon--to be served at the same time. (What message does that send? If you're going to rob someone, you might as well carry a gun since the penalty's not going to be any greater?)

Norris was charged for grabbing a woman's purse in the 1000 block of Iberville in the wee hours of 11.28.08 after he asked her for money and she offered him a dollar.

More guilty: Other guilty pleas:

• Terry Brown, 36, pled guilty to illegally carrying a firearm after the DA let him off the hook for being a felon in possession of a firearm, a much more serious charge, as you might imagine.

He was arrested 7.5.09 by 8th District detectives Jason Giroir and Claude Daniel who were investigating suspicious activity at St. Philip and Royal streets.

Judge Darryl Derbigny, who hands out some of the wimpiest sentences at Tulane and Broad, sentenced Brown only to "time served," the time he spent in OPP from when he was arrested in July to when he went to court 9.3.09. So Brown is roaming our streets again.

• Donnie J. Nelson, 28, who allegedly stabbed a white guy in the neck who was trying to break up a fight between his friends and a black gang on Bourbon Street in June last year, knew a good deal when he saw one.

When the DA reduced the charge from aggravated battery to aggravated assault, he pled guilty and Judge Darryl Derbigny (yeah, that one) gave him a 6-month suspended sentence.

• Raynell Walsh, 33, needed a more lenient judge. He pled guilty to aggravated battery for slashing another black man with a boxcutter during an argument at Bourbon and St. Louis streets last April.

Judge Karen Herman, who's new to the bench and hands out some of the toughest sentences at Tulane and Broad, gave Walsh 4 years in prison.

• Allen Stribling, 30, who had as many as 19 charges lodged against him when he was arrested early last May, finally pled guilty to 7 charges before Judge Robin Pittman, who sentenced him to a total of 6 years in prison.

He had been charged with snatching a purse from a woman's shoulder at Esplanade Avenue and Decatur Street while riding by on his bicycle. That specific charge was dropped by the DA.

Only one NOT guilty: Hard to tell what this was really about; a lovers' quarrel, a jealous husband, who knows?

Last December, just days before Christmas, James J. Hernandez 3rd got out of his car at Burgundy and Conti streets in the early morning hours and allegedly took a pistol out of the car's trunk and pointed it at guy there. Then he calmly put the pistol back in the trunk and was about to drive off when the police arrived.

They charged him with aggravated assault and then with violating a protective order--pretty serious stuff since it commanded a $100,000 bond for him to get out of the slammer.

When all was said and done in court at the end of August, Magistrate Rudy Gorrell found Hernandez not guilty of both charges.

And some go free: Some suspects wind up going free for various reasons: The DA "refuses" the case because there's not enough evidence to support the charges; the DA "nol pros" the case because of sloppy police work or missing witnesses. (It would be nice if District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro let us know why.)

These went free for various reasons. It doesn't mean so much that they weren't guilty, only that it couldn't be proven:

• Kyron Nelson, 23, was charged with attempted 1st-degree murder after he and an accomplice allegedly drove by a man standing outside of Harrah's Casino in June and gunned him down.

The DA refused the charge against Nelson, but a charge of attempted 2nd-degree murder against his alleged accomplice, Rivers Jacques, 24, is still pending as best we can tell (we could actually tell if Sheriff Marlin Gusman could figure out what buttons to push on his computer to make it work).

• Natasha Eiden, 18, who was charged with armed robbery in June after allegedly luring drunks into the alley so her boyfriend could rob them, had those charges refused by the DA.

Her alleged accomplice is still at large for all we know. He was described as a black dude, in his 20's, 5'10" tall, weighing 160 pounds, with short hair, a light complexion and cleanshaven.

• Willie L. Cruell 3rd, 20, who allegedly slashed a friend with a knife near Harrah's Casino last year just before Thanksgiving, may have benefited from having friends in high places.

He was released from Central Lock-up on his own recognizance on the order of Judge Darryl Derbigny (remember him?). The DA reduced the initial charge of aggravated battery to simple battery in April even though his friend's injury was enough to send him to the hospital. Then the DA nol prosed that charge in August.

• James Gibeault, 59, kind of an old coot in the neighborhood, may have been late getting his morning eye-opener at Cafe Rose Nicaud on Frenchmen Street when he allegedly pulled out a hammer and swung it at one guy and threw it at another.

The DA nol prosed 2 charges of aggravated assault against him.

• Alemseged Zaray, 29, had charges of aggravated battery and simple battery against him refused by the DA.

He allegedly threatened 2 black guys waiting at the bus stop around 6:30 a.m. 7.14.09 at Carondelet and Canal streets with a broken glass bottle.

Justice done?: If you'd like to comment on any of these cases to the judges involved, you'll find email links to each judge in the column on the right.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler

Is that all there is?

Good news if true: We're being asked to believe there have been only 11 robberies (or attempts) in the first 2 weeks of this month. That seems like a ridiculously few, but if true it's a whole lot better than it's been in recent memory.

What makes it hard to swallow is Big Chief Riley's well-known penchant for fudging the figures to make it look like there's less crime than there actually is.

For instance, his crime maps report only 12 robberies in the 8th District (French Quarter, Marigny Triangle, CBD) for all of August of this year. But Maj. Edwin Hosli, commander of the 8th District, reported 20 incidents in that time. That's not like just missing one or two--that's missing 40% of them!

That's why we stopped listing the crime stats on NOcrimeline.com--the figures just couldn't be believed. He's claiming there have only been 3 murders in the 8th District this year, when in truth there have been 5.

You do know, don't you, that Riley expunged the murder of Wendy Byrne from his crime map?

It will be interesting to see what happens to Riley when the FBI catches up with him for fibbing on the figures he reports to them.

Some good news: Of the 2 robberies reported in the past week, cops nabbed the perps in each case:

• Friday (9.11.09): A 25-year-old white guy sitting in his car on Dumaine Street near Royal Street around 10:40 p.m. was robbed by a young black punk who pulled a gun and demanded the victim's money and car keys. The perp took off in the car but was apprehended a short time later.

Arrested was Darrel Jenkins, 19, who was charged with carjacking and is being held in OPP on $75,000 bond.

• Saturday (9.12.09): Two white men, one 33 and the other 37, were walking in the 1200 block of Chartres Street (near Le Richelieu Hotel) around 2:30 a.m. when they were robbed by 2 black thugs who pulled guns and demanded their money.

Detectives showed a photo line-up to the victims and one suspect was positively identified as Derrick Head, 19. 8th District detectives issued an arrest warrant, charging Head with armed robbery. 1st District cops collared Head 2 nights later in the 1300 block of Touro Street (a couple of blocks the other side of St. Claude Avenue) and booked him into OPP. He is being held on $150,000 bond. His accomplice is still at large.

More good news: Another young punk, who allegedly stole a man's cellphone last May, was due to be arraigned today (9.15.09) after being caught by 8th District detectives early last month.

Joseph Davis, 18, was arrested 8.9.09 after detectives issued a warrant for him following a robbery 5.29.09 in which a white guy standing in the 600 block of Bourbon Street (between Toulouse and St. Peter streets) taking pictures with his cellphone around 11 p.m. had his phone snatched.

Davis was picked out of a photo line-up by the victim and police issued a warrant for him on 6.19.09. He is being held in OPP on a $50,000 bond.

Not so good news: No word yet on whether the DA will level felony battery charges against the Gretna police chief's son who was charged last month with misdemeanor battery after allegedly knocking a tourist senseless near the French Quarter.

According to police, Brett Lawson (pictured) got into an argument with a 21-year-old Texas kid here for a bachelor party in the 700 block of Canal Street (between Bourbon and Royal streets) around 3 a.m. on 8.22.09. Lawson allegedly threw a punch to the man's head which knocked him out, leaving him lying on the sidewalk in a pool of blood. The victim was taken by ambulance to LSU Interim Public Hospital where he was in a coma for 4 days out of the nearly a week he spent there.

Lawson fled the scene but was called back to it by friends who remained there until police arrived. When Lawson--who has more connections than a home entertainment center (father Gretna police chief, uncle major in the Gretna police department, he an aide to Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts)--returned to the scene with his uncle in tow to speak with the 2 cops investigating the incident.

The officers wrote him a ticket for simple battery and let him go. (A few days later, a municipal court judge set a bond for Lawson at $10,000 and ordered him to stand trial on 10.15.09.)

Citizens began questioning how Lawson could get off so easy for what appeared to be such a serious crime. A couple of cops we know tried to explain the different degrees of battery.

They said "simple battery", the misdemeanor Lawson was charged with, is when you push or slap someone, for instance, but cause no bodily harm. "Second-degree battery", which they think would have been appropriate here, is a felony in which serious bodily injury, such as unconsciousness, occurs.

They said investigating officers are the ones who make the decision on what to charge, unless it's a complicated case, in which a ranking officer, such as a sergeant might be consulted and make the call. Or it could be turned over to the district's detectives for more investigation to determine the appropriate charges.

Now the wait is on to see what the DA decides.

(By contrast, a guy with no apparent political connections was jailed Sunday after he threw a plate during an argument with his wife in a hotel room on Canal Street and hit her on the arm. There's no indication she suffered any great injury, but he was charged with aggravated battery and held on $20,000 bond. Justice is not blind, it's oblivious.)

Speaking of oblivious: After one of the bloodiest outbursts of violence in New Orleans' recent memory in which 12 people--including a 4-year-old girl--were gunned down in an 11-hour period on Friday and Saturday, the Times-Picayune reported that the mayor and police chief "did not immediately respond to requests for comment."

What would they have said but the usual: "Gosh, that's a bad situation. We'll have to look into it."

For starters, how about a police chief who's on the case when something of this magnitude happens?

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler

Danger lurks everywhere

You think robbers aren't dangerous?: With no fanfare and a report that didn't come in until 4 days later, 8th District detectives last Saturday (9.5.09) arrested the guy they think knocked over the Jimani Lounge & Restaurant a month ago.

After arresting Alton Kennedy, 31, for that armed robbery, they found he was also wanted for the murder of the proprietor of the Midtown Hotel, 3900 Tulane Ave., on 8.30.09. He was booked with 2nd-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, and armed robbery with a firearm. He is being held in OPP on a bond over $1 million.

Kennedy is believed to be the same dude who went into Jimani, 141 Chartres St. (corner of Iberville Street) on 8.13.09 just before 10 p.m., waved a semi-automatic pistol, and demanded the bartender hand over the money from the cash register.

What is scary is that an employee of Jimani reported Kennedy returned to the bar the same night he allegedly killed the motel keeper. When the employee saw a gun in his waistband, he quietly slipped out to the strip club across the street and called the cops. By the time they arrived, Kennedy was long gone.

Add to the rampage: After the robbery rampage early Sunday (9.6.09) morning in the Lower French Quarter and Marigny Triangle, there was another one in the same vicinity Sunday night, though the robbers were on foot and not in a SUV.

A white man walking in the 800 block of Esplanade Avenue (between Bourbon and Dauphine streets near Port of Call) around 11:18 p.m. was accosted by 2 black thugs. One pulled a pistol and demanded the victim's money. He complied and the robbers fled on Esplanade toward N. Rampart Street--presumably on foot since the report makes no mention of a vehicle that was prominent in the morning muggings.

One robber was described as 18 to 22 years old, 5'11" tall, weighing 140 pounds, and wearing a dark blue T-shirt. The other perp was described only as having hair in a short twist style.

Too much alike, yet...: At about the time the robberies were being pulled off in the French Quarter and Marigny Triangle on Sunday (9.6.09) morning, 2 thugs committed a more violent robbery in the Marigny Rectangle.

In that robbery, at about 4 a.m. (between a robbery at 3:30 a.m. in the 1100 block of Burgundy Street and one at 5:09 a.m. at Royal and Ursulines streets), the 2 victims (the 5th District report doesn't give their race, ages, or sex) were accosted as they walked on Chartres Street by 2 masked black dudes who got out of a parked vehicle as the victims neared Marigny Street.

One perp was armed with a large black rifle and demanded the victim's money. Before they could comply, one of the perps struck one of the victims in the face with his fist, breaking the victim's nose. (In 2 of the Quarter/Triangle robberies, the robbers fled when the victims either screamed or said he had no money--no one was injured.)

The victims surrendered their wallets and the robbers fled in a black or gray Kia SUV. (In the Quarter/Triangle robberies, the vehicle was described as a gray or silver SUV, but no make was reported.)

Both robbers were described as about 20 years old and 5'5" tall, one weighing about 150 pounds and the other 160 pounds. Both covered their faces with a dark-colored bandana, leaving just their eyes exposed.

Same guys? Hard to say. A vehicle involved in all robberies. But handguns, not a rifle used in the Quarter/Marigny rampage. Robbers in the Quarter/Triangle fled when victims resisted; in the Rectangle they turned violent. Let's hope the cops sort it out before another one of us becomes a victim.

Simpler: Police did manage to nab 2 culprits who grabbed a wallet on Tuesday (9.8.09) about 3:30 p.m. from under the arm of an Asian woman walking in the 600 block of Toulouse Street (between Royal and Chartres streets).

Charged with pursesnatching were Steve Hollins (right), 18, and Darrien Johnson (left), 17. Johnson is being held in OPP on $10,000 bond; Hollins bond was set at $20,000, perhaps reflecting his arrest the end of April for possession of a stolen auto. He was supposedly wearing an ankle bracelet to keep track of him in that case.

The police weren't so lucky (yet) in apprehending the black guy who grabbed a white woman's purse as she was sitting on a bench in the 300 block of Magazine Street on Sunday (9.6.09) around 9:05 a.m.

He fled to a SUV parked on Natchez Street and took off. The vehicle was described as a late 1990's Chevy Suburban with dark tint on the rear windows. The robber was described as 6'2" tall, weighing 250 pounds, with a medium complexion, wearing a white T-shirt and khaki shorts.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler

Robbers on a rampage

4 armed robberies in 2½ hours: Talk about decadence, a pair of bandits in a SUV terrorized the French Quarter and Marigny Triangle early this morning (Sunday 9.6.09), robbing 5 early morning revelers.

• 3:30 a.m.: In the first incident, the SUV (described in a subsequent robbery as "gray or silver") pulled along side a Hispanic man walking in the 1100 block of Burgundy Street (between Gov. Nicholls and Ursulines streets). The 2 black bandits got out of the vehicle and pulled guns, demanding the man's money. The victim complied and the robbers got back in their getaway car and fled toward Esplanade Avenue.

The robbery was not reported to the NOPD until 5:20 a.m., by which time the bandits had struck again. To think: if it had been reported right away, police might have been out looking for the bad guys and have prevented the subsequent heists.

• 5:09 a.m.: What police believe were the same 2 culprits approached a white guy at Royal and Ursulines street and pulled guns on him, demanding his money. When the would-be victim started screaming, the dastardly duo fled to the gray or silver SUV and fled toward N. Rampart Street.

• 5:45 a.m.: The same SUV pulled along side a white man near Dauphine and Kerlerec streets in the Triangle. The 2 black boys again got out of the SUV, pulled their guns, and demanded the man's money. When the victim said he didn't have any money, the would-be robbers quietly got back into their vehicle and left the scene.

• 6:00 a.m.: The robbers in the SUV came upon 2 white guys walking in the 1400 block of Dauphine Street (just off Esplanade Avenue in the Marigny Triangle). Again, they pulled their guns, demanding money. The victims complied and the robbers got back in the vehicle and fled.

The cops said both robbers were 17 to 21 years old, 5'6" tall, with a thin build, wearing a dark ball cap, dark shirt and dark shorts.

That means either they're identical twins and their mama dresses them alike, or the police really don't have a description of one of them.

Nor do they have a description of the SUV, other than it's "gray or silver". You'd think that after 4 robberies, someone might be able to tell you what make and model it was, give you a license number, or other identifying characteristics.

But wait, there's more: There haven't been many other robberies reported by the 8th District lately, but there have some:

• Saturday (9.5.09): A white man walking in the 700 block of Commerce Street (between Notre Dame and Julia streets in the CBD) around 3:15 a.m. was held up by a Hispanic guy and a white guy. One slugged the victim with his fist and the other put his hand inside his shirt, making like he had a weapon. They took the victim's money and fled on foot.

The Hispanic fella was described as 5'6" tall, weighing 150 pounds, thin build, with a goatee, and wearing a black jacket and blue shorts. The white guy was 5'8" tall, weighing 175 pounds, clean shaven, with dirty blond hair, and wearing a white tank top and blue jeans.

• Sunday (8.30.09): A 21-year-old Hispanic man and his brother were walking in the 1000 block of Iberville Street (between Burgundy and N. Rampart streets) around 4:30 a.m. when a gang of 6 to 8 black dudes hit them up for a cigarette. When the victim refused, an argument broke out. The brothers (no, the Hispanics, not the blacks) got in their car and tried to flee.

The gang opened fire on the car and the 21-year-old realized he'd been shot in the upper right leg. He drove himself to the hospital for treatment.

• Saturday (8.29.09): A white woman was in a bar at 165 Bourbon St. (that faux cowboy honky tonk on the corner of Iberville? The police don't say) around 12:33 a.m. when a Hispanic guy grabbed her purse from her wrist and fled the scene. Two of her friends pursued him until police caught the 22-year-old suspect.

Neither court records nor OPP have a guy by the name of the one 8th District cops said they arrested. Often suspects give a phony name, but usually when they're fingerprinted at Central Lockup they can determine his real name. You'd think the NOPD would be more concerned to know who the guy really is; how can a cop testify in court against the guy if he doesn't know his name?

• Thursday (8.27.09): 8th District officers on patrol around 1:27 a.m. apprehended 2 black dudes who were beating a white man lying on the ground in the 400 block of Dauphine Street (between Conti and St. Louis streets) and going through his pockets.

They attempted to flee, but officers arrested Toarrius Carter (right), 28, and Maurice Charles (left), 27, and charged them with simple robbery. Both have prior convictions for sex crimes. Each is being held in OPP on $50,000 bond a piece.

• Tuesday (8.25.09): A white guy who thought he had made a new friend was accosted by the Hispanic man he had met earlier in the evening. The incident took place in the 700 block of Dumaine Street (between Bourbon and Royal streets) around 3:40 a.m. The assailant put his hand inside his shirt, implying he had a gun and demanded the man's money. When the victim told the guy he didn't have any money (making friends to all hours of the night will do that to you), the suspect fled on foot.

The would-be robber was described as 5'11" tall, weighing 165 pounds, and wearing a white T-shirt and white pants.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler

Smile, you're not on camera

Camera? What camera?: All this hubbub about whether a camera caught a Marigny Triangle robber on tape and whether the camera was the city's or a private citizen's just adds to the disillusionment about the NOPD's ability to fight crime and reinforces Big Chief Riley's incompetence in running the department.

Okay, the NOPD admits, the picture of the presumed robber we gave the media wasn't from a city crime camera. But we have a picture of the suspect, the NOPD claims, from the nearest crime camera--more than 5 blocks from the robbery scene at La Peniche restaurant at Dauphine and Touro streets 8.14.09. Huh? You'll have to tell us, NOPD, how you link this guy to the robbery.

The picture the NOPD did release came from the camera of a private citizen living near Burgundy and Touro streets, a block away from the crime scene. He said he called the 8th District NOPD to alert them that he had a photo of the suspected robber from his own surveillance camera. The detective investigating the robbery rushed right over--arriving 4 days later.

That's unusual for Det. Sean McElrath, one of the 8th District's better detectives. And it's unusual that he hadn't already found the private surveillance camera, since Maj. Eddie Hosli, commander of the 8th, has had a standing order for officers to immediately canvass the neighborhood around any crime scene for any crime cameras that may have caught an image of what went down.

Even so, the private picture the NOPD released still begs the question: How did you link this guy, who's walking down the street, to the crime? Reports had the robber fleeing on a silver-colored bicycle--would he have ditched it only a block away and the police never found it?

By the way, the NOPD hasn't been able to identify the robber--who's also suspected in the robbery of Marigny Perks coffee shop a week later--and he's still on the loose. Maybe you'll see him the next time you sit down in a quiet little hideaway restaurant somewhere in the Marigny.

Consider this: You've probably heard by now that Lt. Gen. Russel Honore--whom Mayor Ray Nagin hailed as a "John Wayne dude" when he came to save New Orleans after Katrina--is moving back to Louisiana from Atlanta where he retired after leaving the Army.

There was talk maybe Honore had political aspirations here in his home state. Honore downplayed that, but Nagin boosted it by saying, "Oh, man, I'll support that guy any way he goes!"

Back in 2005, Nagin noted, "He came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving...he's a guy who can get some stuff done."

Well, Ray, isn't that the kind of guy we need to straighten out the NOPD? Even if it's for 8 months? Remember, this is the guy who told his troops, "You're looking at your calendars--I'm looking at my watch." Imagine what he could do to kick some ass in the NOPD and get it on the right track before the next mayor gets to install his own guy. Or keep Honore.

Ray, what would be wrong with a little chat with Riley that would go something like this: "Hey, Warren, old buddy, maybe now would be a good time to go and do some fishing or golfing, and get away from all the slings and arrows hurled your way by the Times-Picayune and NOcrimeline. You've done your time and you've got your full pension of $172,000 a year--you can probably get by on that. We've got ole Russel who could step in for a little while and take the heat."

Nagin, who loves Honore to death, would finally have an accolade to leave office with if he made Honore police chief. Think about it, Ray.

Drug bust delights neighbors: As drug busts go, it was no big deal for the 8th District NOPD. But for neighbors near 1008 Dauphine St., across from Matassa's Market, at St. Philip Street, it was a solution to a long-time problem.

One neighbor said "there were multiple undercover and uniformed cops involved, and many arrests." But the 8th District reported only 2 arrests there 8.13.09 by Ofc. Brandon Ludwig and Ofc. Blake Terrell.

Rickie Dufrene, 55, was charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana and for possessing prohibited drug paraphernalia. A 43-year-old white guy, whose identity can't be confirmed in court records, was arrested for prostitution.

Dufrene was out on $7,000 bond before we got the report and got his picture from OPP.

Nevertheless, one neighbor who said the site "has been a regular harbor for criminal activity. Previous tenants have included Russian prostitutes and a meth lab," was overjoyed. "It was nice to see the 8th District took our complains seriously enough to take action."

Oops: When we reported a guy who was found unconscious 8.21.09 on Burgundy Street and had been robbed, we made the assumption it was another drunk tourist who didn't know any better than to be in that neighborhood (between St. Louis and Toulouse streets), even though it was only 10:30 p.m.

Not so, says the victim. "That was me. I was not drunk out of my mind. I was not intoxicated at all...I have been here a number of years and am not a big drinker, nor am I out late."

He said he was on his way home to his house on St. Ann Street after he had been out to eat, where he had only bottled water to drink. As he passed St. Louis Street he was "caught by surprise" when someone hit him in the back of the head though he is "very cautious."

He had to have 8 stitches to his head and $2,700 worth of dental work as a result of the attack. As we've said before, be careful out there.

You never know who's lurking or at what hour or at what place.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler

There he goes again

Familiar folderol: Have you noticed that whenever Big Chief Warren Riley is cornered by criticism, as he was this past week by the DA among others, he gets out the big guns and phony statistics to try to make everyone believe he's doing a good job. Then he asks for more millions of dollars for more men.

So there he was yesterday, behind a table of guns he says were confiscated and brown bags of what he says were drugs that were seized. Supposedly these were the fruits of putting his men on grueling 12-hour shifts. But he wouldn't say when or where the weapons were seized; and you were only left to guess what was really in the brown bags.

Riley would like you to believe he's got more cops out there patrolling. Last Saturday evening, just after the Saints' kickoff, I saw the vaunted blue flashing lights of a cop car as it came down Bourbon Street and slowed at the Esplanade Avenue intersection. "I'll bet we don't see another one all night," I said. I won my bet as I turned off the TV just after 11 p.m.

Sunday night I saw no blue lights at all. That was the night 3 people were held up at gunpoint just before 9 p.m. at the same corner, just a block from Port Of Call. Tell them about your extra patrols, Warren.

Or tell the guy who had a gun stuck in his back at the Discount Zone gas station at Esplanade and Claiborne Avenue just after 8 a.m. Monday while being robbed. Where were those extra patrols then?

Of what about the gangsters who are running around the NOPD's 5th District (Marigny and Bywater) in a white 4-door Ford Crown Victoria with dark tinted windows shooting up the neighborhood? On Sunday night around 10:38 p.m., the guy riding shotgun rolled down his window and opened fire on a gang in the 3100 block of Elysian Fields Avenue. Then on Monday night around 6:04 p.m. the same thugs opened fire on a guy in the 2300 block of Feliciana Street. Might need to increase the patrols, you think Riley?

Then Riley began spouting statistics meant to show his "strategy" was working. Considering his well-known fuzzy figures from the past, it's impossible to believe anything he says. And you notice he didn't publish any real figures.

NOcrimeline showed you last week how botched up the NOPD's homicide figures are (see "More fudged figures"). If he can't count and if he can't compile a list, how in hell can he reduce crime? ("How'd you know he was lying?" "His lips were moving.")

Another fib?: After the recent robberies of La Peniche restaurant and Marigny Perks coffee shop, the NOPD was all a twitter that one of the city's much-maligned crime cameras appeared to work.

The NOPD's public information office sent out a news release that boasted "Suspect wanted for armed robbery caught on city's crime camera." (Did you get the news release? Me neither.)

The problem is, according to residents who live near the coffee shop in the 2400 block of Burgundy Street, there is no city crime camera anywhere near. They say the picture attached to the news release came from a private citizen's home security camera.

Call on the city council: The only way we're going to take a bite out of crime before Riley departs 8 months from now, is to get the City Council moving. You can email them at their addresses linked in the NOcrimeline article on 8.23.09.

And while you're at it: Tell Council President Arnie Fielkow to "Run, Arnie, Run!" The current array of candidates for mayor have less luster than a pair of white bucks. If they are all we have to choose from for mayor, we will be in worse shape than ever when it comes to naming a new police chief.

Fielkow has proven himself a thoughtful, intelligent and decisive leader in his term on the council. At this point, I personally see no one else who can match him in bringing the kind of leadership to right the ship of state that is New Orleans.

Run, Arnie, Run! We need you!

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler