Lady Gaga’s “Marry the Night” music video & “Vanity Fair” shoot from Staten Island.
Autopsy inconclusive in death of College of Staten Island worker in scuffle
The autopsy for a College of Staten Island cafeteria porter who died after a struggle with a police officer on the school’s Willowbrook campus was inconclusive, a spokeswoman for the city Medical Examiner’s office said. Further study into the death of the worker — identified by sources as Corey Holmes, 39, of the Bronx — is pending. Authorities said a member of the NYPD’s Staten Island Task Force apparently walked in on Holmes while he was engaging in drug use, possibly smoking pot, in a bathroom just yards from CSI’s iconic smokestack, on the north end of campus. It was 12:14 p.m. when the officer went to use the bathroom and encountered the worker. School officials did not confirm the name but said the man had worked at the college for 10 years. Holmes and the officer fought, spilling out of the bathroom building, sources said. At some point, Holmes grabbed for the officer’s gun, and though it’s not clear if he managed to yank it from its holster, the slide pulled back, ejecting a live round from the chamber, sources said. No shots were actually fired during the scuffle.
GOP candidate Newt Gingrich coming to Staten Island Saturday
Foreshadowing the upcoming Republican caucus in Iowa, Newt Gingrich will appear on Staten Island Saturday — and he’s already being slammed by local Mitt Romney backers. “The problem is that I think he is toxic and extremely, extremely partisan,” said Rep. Michael Grimm, an early Romney booster and one of the city’s two GOP congressmen. “Not to mention he comes with a freight car full of baggage that will ultimately hurt the Republican Party.” Gingrich’s visit to the city’s GOP stronghold comes as he is riding high in the polls — and unleashing his famed ego in a new e-book — just weeks before the GOP showdown in Iowa.
Staten Island Burglar (Ninja?) Escapes Posh Home As Homeowner Reaches For Gun
Around 3:35 a.m. on the 8th of November, the owner of a Todt Hill mansion heard a noise and found a burglar wearing all black—and a mask and gloves—in his walk-in closet. The Staten Island Advance reports that the burglar took many high-end watches, said, “Get out of my way” and ran past the homeowner who was looking for his gun. Then, “The homeowner went to the front of the house and fired a shot, then to the rear, where he fired two more, basically to make sure the burglar kept on running, the [police] source said.” Uh-huh—it’s totally got Staten Island Ninja written all over it! The police source thinks that if the homeowner got to his gun before heading to the closet, “that would have been the end of the Ninja.” And according to the Advance, criminals like Todt Hill because of the “massive, affluent houses, separated by plenty of tree cover, with landscapers constantly coming and going.” Of course, burglars love targeting the ritzy Todt Hill section of Staten Island and they also do prefer dark colors, and the police said the so-called “Staten Island Ninja” burglaries were really the work of a couple gangs. But let’s face it, this kind of bold burglary at a home once owned by mobster Paul Castellano is amazing: Per the Advance, “The burglar picked a way of entry that bypassed the house’s alarm system sources said, entering through a window into a veranda, then removing a glass sliding door pane, sources said. And he made his way up to the third floor bedroom before being heard, even though the homeowner, his wife, his son and his daughter-in-law were all home, according to sources.”
