BK U.S. Attorney issues powerful statement after ex-Mexican drug lord is sentenced to life in prison: ‘Drug dealers die in prison’
Former Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was sentenced in Brooklyn federal court on Monday to life in prison, and denounced violence in a statement asking for atonement. In effect, he condemned the brand of brutal violence he used to grow the Sinaloa cartel into what prosecutors said was the world’s largest drug trafficking organization. Prosecuting U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella noted, “Drug dealing is a dead end, not just figuratively, but literally a dead end: drug dealers die in prison. El Mayo’s fate will be to die in prison. With his hands drenched with so much blood, he deserves it.” Photo: Elizabeth Williams via AP
Happy Monday in New York City, where the mayor is not softening his criticism of Israel.
After making headlines during his mayoral campaign for promising to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he ever visited New York City, Mayor Mamdani is doubling down.
During an appearance on the New York Times show “The Interview” this week, the mayor said he was engaged in “active talks” with the city Law Department about his authority to arrest Netanyahu if the Prime Minister visits NYC for the U.N. General Assembly in September.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said, referring to the International Court of Justice. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court.”
Some of Mamdani’s opponents, meanwhile, are making an effort to court moderate Jewish supporters who may be feeling alienated from the mayor and his party’s progressive movement.
Nassau County Executive and Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, who trails Governor Kathy Hochul by as many as 20 points in recent polling, is launching an ad campaign aimed at disaffected Democratic Jews. The campaign includes a QR code that directs viewers to a site where they can register as Republicans. “You have a home with us,” a Republican ad campaign promises.
Blakeman, who is Jewish, is attempting to position himself as the protector of Jewish identity in the state. He has made efforts to distinguish himself by appearing alongside prominent Jewish leaders at prominent Jewish events. “I think [Mamdani’s] an antisemite. I think he’s anti-Israel. One of the first things he did as mayor was water down the definition of antisemitism. He speaks out against Israel all the time,” Blakeman told reporters at the Israel Day Parade in New York City.
However, recent evidence suggest pro-Israel rhetoric may no longer be the key to the hearts of Jewish voters. A study from AP-NORC earlier this month found that among adults who self-identify as Jewish, only half support Israel’s war in Gaza and about 30% believe Israel has committed genocide. The same study found that Mamdani is broadly more popular among American Jews than Netanyahu.
Governor Hochul has taken a more moderate stance on Israel than Mamdani, but risks absorbing his controversy by association. Blakeman sees this as an opening to win over the state’s approximately 1 million eligible Jewish voters. Whether or not he’s right will be revealed in November’s election.
The Marlboro Houses unveiled a new refurbishment of its green spaces — a new cork playground — developed from a half-million dollar investment and extensive community outreach.
Preventing deed theft is the focus of a community forum being held Tuesday evening at the Bedford Library.
A tattoo shop with locations in Williamsburg and Manhattan last week filed a federal lawsuit against the state of South Carolina over several laws restricting tattoo artists.
NYC Emergency Management has issued a Silver Alert for missing senior Lilian Hopkins, age 84, last seen at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday near Foster Avenue and Ocean Parkway, nearby the 18th Avenue F train station.
Two police officers were injured on Saturday while trying to break up a drag-racing “street takeover” in Sheepshead Bay.
Police are looking for a man suspected of robbing a cell phone store at gunpoint at 5:10 p.m. on July 12.
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Our World In Photos
Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
LONDON — A secure position in the British government: Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, sits on the doorstep to 10 Downing Street as Labour Party leader Andy Burnham is set to become the U.K.'s new prime minister, succeeding Keir Starmer in London, Monday, July 20, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
Tech on Deck: The outsourced mind
A caveman appears confused and out of place in New York City. Image generated using Nano Banana.
Socrates thought reading and writing would make us stupid.
More than two thousand years ago, in “Phaedrus,” Plato warned that written language would hollow out human memory and create the illusion of wisdom without genuine understanding. People would stop truly knowing things because they could simply look them up. It wasn’t civilization’s end, but it was, he believed, the beginning of a slow intellectual rot.
Substitute “artificial intelligence” for “reading and writing,” and he could have been talking about today. But what if cognitive outsourcing is not a corruption of civilization but the very thing that made civilization possible in the first place?
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The Mini
Cartoon Sketchbook
By Harley Schwadron
For the Road
Happy Birthday “House” star Omar Epps, who was born in Brooklyn!
On this day in 1908, the Eagle said, “Charles Burney writes to ask if sharks are likely to be dangerous in our waters, and if it is true that the man-eating shark is common around New York Bay. The shark properly called the man-eater shark is very rare indeed close to the shores within several hundred miles of this city. It is one of the largest of all the known sharks. Its proper name is Great White Shark.”
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