New York Senate via Reuters

New York state Senator and former Minority Leader John Sampson is shown in this undated photo provided by the New York Senate.

New York State Sen. John Sampson, a Democrat representing parts of Brooklyn, New York City, was indicted Monday on federal charges of embezzlement, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI, officials said.

Sampson was a court-appointed referee to watch over escrow accounts for sales of foreclosed properties in Brooklyn. It's alleged he embezzled $440,000 between 1998 and 2008.

He's also accused of funneling funds into his failed campaign for Brooklyn DA.

The charges against Sampson come less than a week after prosecutors revealed that former Sen. Shirley Huntley made numerous secret recordings of other elected officials in a bid for leniency in her own corruption case.

Sampson, who represents the 19th senatorial district encompassing Canarsie, East New York, Mill Basin, Marine Park and Sheepshead Bay, was elected to the Senate in 1996. 

He is a member and past chairman of the New York Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Read more on NBCNewYork.com

Senate Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Sampson has been stripped of his ranking positions and committee assignments.

FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said in a statement Monday that "incumbent and defendant cannot be accepted as interchangeable."

"Elected officials are referred to as public servants, and that should not be confused with self-serving," he said.

Messages left with Sampson's district office and his attorney were not immediately returned.

U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said Sampson allegedly abused public trust "for years" and stole from New Yorkers whose homes were in foreclosure.

“But the former Senate ethics leader didn’t stop there," Lynch said in a statement. "Senator Sampson allegedly stole that money to fund his own ambition to become Brooklyn’s top state prosecutor, then engaged in an elaborate obstruction scheme to hide his illegal conduct, going so far as to counsel lies and the hiding of evidence.”

The allegations against Sampson follow last month's arrests of State Sen. Malcolm Smith, New York City Councilman Daniel Halloran and two New York City GOP leaders on federal bribery charges.

According to court documents, Smith, a Democrat, allegedly schemed with Halloran, a Republican, to bribe Bronx and Queens Republican county chairs for a GOP line on this year's mayoral ballot. All four pleaded not guilty to various corruption charges in late April.

Separately, New York State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson was also arrested in April, charged with accepting bribes in exchange for official acts. He denies the allegations.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced several anti-corruption proposals in the wake of the bribery scandal. 

WNBC

A car rests in the middle of mangled scaffolding after jumping a curb Saturday in Brooklyn.

A 3-year-old and his mother were fighting for their lives after a car jumped the curb and struck some scaffolding at the corner of Utica and Church avenues in Brooklyn around 6:50 p.m Saturday, officials said.

Twelve people were injured when a Lincoln sedan crashed through a bus stop and hit a sidewalk shed, causing it to collapse, New York Post Reported. Four of those injured by the incident are in critical condition.

A woman was driving the car with a male passenger when the accident occurred, according to The Associated Press.

The scaffolding partially collapsed and rescuers worked to secure it while others tended to the injured, officials said.

The child, his mother, and two other women in critical condition were taken to Kings County Hospital, New York Post Reported. Five people with serious but non-life threatening injuries were taken to Brookdale Hospital.

-- NBCNewYork.com

This story was originally published on Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:53 PM EDT

A man released 23 years after he was wrongly convicted for the 1991 murder of a New York rabbi suffered a heart attack on his second day as a free man, his attorney confirmed to NBC News.

David Ranta was hospitalized after the heart attack, attorney Pierre Sussman said. The man's heart attack was first reported by the New York Times.

“On Friday evening, David Renta suffered a heart attack. My office is happy to report that he’s been stabilized and is being treated in cardiac intensive care at a metropolitan hospital,” Sussman said in a written statement. “He is presently resting, with his family by his bedside. We will continue to ensure that David receives the required, ongoing medical attention he needs.”

Ranta, 58, spent more than two decades in jail after he was found guilty of killing Hasidic rabbi Chaskel Werzberger. A lengthy review of his case ended with prosecutors admitting that the case against Ranta had fallen apart over the years. He was freed at a Brooklyn courthouse on Thursday.

“The accumulated trauma of being falsely convicted and incarcerated for 23 years, coupled with the intense emotions experienced surrounding his release, has had a profound impact on his health,” Sussman said in the statement.

Long-pent emotions welled for relatives when the judge vacated Ranta’s sentence. The man's pregnant daughter, who was two years old when he was jailed, were among those present.

“Sir, you are free to go,” acting state Supreme Court Justice Miriam Cyrulnik said at the Brooklyn courthouse.

“The evidence no longer establishes the defendant’s guilt is beyond a reasonable doubt,” Assistant District Attorney John O’Mara told Reuters.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Ranta told reporters after being cleared. “Right now, I feel like I’m under water, swimming.”

Related:

• NY man cleared, free after 23 years in prison

WNBC

Mourners gathered at a Brooklyn church Saturday for the funeral of Kimani Gray, a 16-year-old boy who was shot and killed by police.

The teen's funeral was being held at St. Catherine of Genoa Roman Catholic Church, not far from where the teen was killed.

Gray was shot by two officers in the neighborhood of East Flatbush on March 9 after police said he pulled a gun on them. But the teen's family has been demanding an independent investigation into the shooting, arguing that no witnesses saw Gray pull out a gun.

The shooting set off a series of protests in East Flatbush last week.

The New York Daily News reports the two officers involved in the shooting have been sued in the past for alleged civil rights violations. They are on desk duty while the NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office investigates.

The teen was with a group of people the night of March 9, but left when he saw police in an unmarked car, police said. Authorities said he was acting suspicious when plainclothes officers approached him.

Read more on NBCNewYork.com

According to police, Gray pointed a .38-caliber revolver at them, and they opened fire. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

A gun was recovered at the scene, according to police.

The medical examiner's office ruled that Gray was hit seven times, and had wounds in both the front and back of his body, including his shoulder, rib cage, forearm and legs.

Gray was black. The officers involved in the shooting were black and Hispanic.

A police officer may use deadly force when the officer has a reasonable fear of serious injury or death. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the shooting appeared to be within those guidelines.

But supporters of Gray maintain he wasn't armed. His mother has said she also believes he was not, and said he left the house Saturday afternoon like it was any other weekend, heading out to hang with friends.

Hundreds turned out at a wake Friday for Gray. A woman attending the wake at Caribe Funeral Home described the service as "very emotional."

"I can't sit in there for too long without crying," said Fatimah Shakur of Bedford-Stuyvesant. "Someone has to bury their child."

NBCNewYork.com

John Minchillo / AP

Demonstrator Fatimah Shakur speaks during a vigil held for Kimani "Kiki" Gray in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn on March 13, 2013, in New York. The 16-year-old was shot to death on a Brooklyn street last Saturday night by plainclothes police officers who claim the youth pointed a .38-caliber revolver at them.

John Minchillo / AP

Demonstrators march through the streets alongside police officers during a march following a vigil held for Kimani Gray on March 13, 2013.

John Minchillo / AP

Memorial candles stand beside a picture of Kimani Gray during a vigil for the deceased teen on March 13, 2013.

The Associated Press reports — More than 100 people attended a candlelight vigil in Brooklyn Wednesday night for 16-year-old Kimani "Kiki" Gray just blocks from where he was shot to death by police Saturday night.

But anger was palpable as a group of young people heckled police officers in helmets and later marched down a street.

The vigil's organizers tried and failed to calm the young people, some of whom later threw bottles at police officers.

"I'm not going to tell people don't be angry because we're all angry," said Franclot Graham, whose teenage son, Ramarley Graham, was shot and killed after police chased him into his Bronx home last year. Read the full story.

NBC New York: 18 arrested on 3rd day of protests for Brooklyn teen slain by police

Allison Joyce / Getty Images

Demonstrators face-off against police during a protest against the shooting of Kimani Gray on March 13, 2013.

John Minchillo / AP

Police officers arrest a demonstrator during a march after a vigil held for Kimani Gray on March 13, 2013.

Protesters gathered in Brooklyn for the second night Tuesday to protest the Saturday shooting of a teen by New York City police officers.

About 100 people gathered to march from the scene of the shooting to a police precinct in the East Flatbush neighborhood amid a heavy police presence.

“People gotta say, we’ve had enough of going to bed and waking up to another police killing,” protester Juanita Young told NBC New York.

Kimani Gray, 16, adjusted his waistband suspiciously and pulled a .38-caliber revolver before officers shot him shortly before 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, police told NBC New York. Police fired eleven shots and struck Gray multiple times. A revolver with four live rounds was found at the scene, according to police.

More than 70 people marched to a police precinct on Monday to protest Gray’s shooting. The protesters threw garbage and empty bottles at the precinct, NBC New York reported. The precinct building was not damaged, but officials told the station that a 51-year-old man was injured and had his iPhone stolen when 50 people stormed a neighborhood Rite Aid.

“They were throwing garbage in the street,” witness Winston James told NBC New York, “pelting the city buses, pulling down the fruit stand.”

A 19-year-old was arrested for looting after Monday’s protest. There were no reported arrests after Tuesday’s demonstration.

Outrage over Gray’s violent death has reached the city’s top cop.

City Councilman Jumaane Williams, who represents the district where the shooting took place, clashed with police commissioner Ray Kelly on Tuesday, saying that Kelly does not spend enough time in his district.

“I was there last night at 1 o’clock in the morning,” Kelly said.

“Yes, but you didn’t walk around, I didn’t ask you to because there wasn’t the time to do it,” Williams said. “But I want to go when it is safer, when there are people we can talk to.”

A family vigil for Gray was delayed by the protests but was scheduled to go ahead Wednesday.

“We understand the frustration in the community, but we have a grieving mother who’s lost two sons in three years, and all she wants to do is bury her son,” said Gilford Monrose, a spokesman for the family.

The fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy by undercover police sparked a protest in New York City on Monday night.

Kimani Gray was killed in the East Flatbush area of Brooklyn on Saturday, NBCNewYork.com reported.

On Monday, a protest and candlelight vigil for Gray turned “disorderly,” according to police. A store was “ransacked” and one person was arrested.

Police say Gray was approached by two officers on Saturday because he was acting suspiciously, NBCNewYork.com reported. According to police, the officers identified themselves and only fired at Gray after he raised a .38 revolver.

However, one witness at the scene told NBCNewYork.com that he heard no warning being given.

Gray had previously been arrested four times for charges including grand larceny, according to NBCNewYork.com.

NYPD Sgt. John Buthorn said early Tuesday that there had been a “scheduled protest” at about 8:30 p.m. ET.

“They were going from one location to another and it got disorderly,” he said. “One commercial establishment was vandalized … ransacked … several items were stolen and thrown."

More news from NBCNewYork.com

Buthorn said one person was arrested because disorderly conduct. “He was refusing to leave a location,” after he was asked to do so, the officer said.

A Facebook page called Justice For Kimani Gray has been set up and it had 276 followers at 5:40 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

It showed several photographs of the vigil. One picture showed a crowd of people on the street watched by at least two uniformed officers.

NEW YORK -- The one-day-old baby boy delivered by C-section after his parents were killed by a hit-and-run driver in Brooklyn died Monday, and police have narrowed their search for the driver.

Doctors performed an emergency C-section to deliver the premature infant after a BMW sedan slammed into the cab carrying expectant parents Nachman and Raizy Glauber, who were on their way to the hospital because the mother-to-be felt ill. The boy had been in intensive care since the delivery.

Police are still looking for the driver who struck the cab at the intersection of Wilson Street and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, police said. Police said they are looking for Julio Acevedo, a 44-year-old Brooklyn man who served time in prison for a 1987 shooting death.

Sources said the BMW was speeding at more than 60 mph when it hit the cab.

Authorities have said a male driver and a passenger in the BMW fled the scene of the accident on foot.

Raizy Glauber was thrown from the car and her body landed under a parked tractor-trailer, witnesses said. Nachman Glauber was pinned in the car, and emergency workers had to cut off the roof to get him out, witnesses told police.

Nachman Glauber was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital, while his wife died at Bellevue, police said. The couple's son was pronounced dead a day later, his death ruled extreme prematureness due to maternal blunt force injuries.

'God's will'
Hours after the infant's death, Joseph Silverstein, Raizy Glauber's older brother, told NBC 4 New York in the hallway of the couple's building that "this is God's will."

Silverstein said he and other family members were able to see the baby before he passed away, but he declined to elaborate.

The driver of the livery cab survived the crash. He was taken to Beth Israel Hospital in stable condition, police said.

Police said Takia Walker, 29, of the Bronx, owned the BMW involved in the fatal crash but was not behind the wheel. She was arrested early Monday on insurance fraud charges, accused of allowing a third party who was not on her vehicle insurance policy to drive her car.

More news from NBCNewYork.com

On Saturday, Raizy Glauber "was not feeling well, so they decided to go" to the hospital, said Sara Glauber, Nachman Glauber's cousin.

The Glaubers were married about a year and had begun a life together in Williamsburg, where Raizy Glauber grew up in a prominent rabbinical family, Sara Glauber said.

Raised north of New York City in Monsey, N.Y., and part of a family that founded a line of clothing line, Nachman Glauber was studying at a rabbinical college nearby, said his cousin.

"You don't meet anyone better than him," she said. "He was always doing favors for everyone."

Sara Glauber also said her cousin and his bride had a unique connection, and that it was appropriate they died together. "If one had to go, the other had to go too because they really were one soul," she said.

Related:

Expectant parents killed in NYC crash; baby born at scene

Baby boy delivered after car crash that killed both his parents dies

PhotoBlog: Victims' caskets at their funeral

A baby boy delivered after a hit-and-run car crash in New York that killed both his parents has died, a family spokesman said Monday.

Doctors performed an emergency cesarean section at the site of the crash early Sunday in Brooklyn to save the boy’s life. His parents were using a car service to go to the hospital when their vehicle crashed into a BMW at an intersection. 

The driver of the other car fled and has not been found. The owner of that car, identified by police as Takia Walker of the Bronx, was arrested Monday on insurance fraud charges, accused of allowing someone not on the insurance policy to drive the car, NBC New York reported.

Isaac Abraham, who serves as a spokesman for the family’s Orthodox Jewish community, said that the baby would be buried upstate after his body was released by the hospital. He demanded triple-homicide charges for the driver of the BMW.

“This coward left the scene of the accident not even bothering to check on the people of the other car,” he said, according to The Associated Press.

Both of the boy’s parents were 21. The mother, Raizy Glauber, was thrown from the car and landed under a parked tractor-trailer, witnesses said. The father, Nachman Glauber, was pinned in the car, and emergency workers cut open the roof to get to him.

Both died at nearby hospitals.

The mother was 24 weeks pregnant and was rushing to the hospital because she could no longer feel the baby, a relative told The New York Times. After the emergency delivery, the baby was taken to a hospital and had been in serious condition.

John Minchillo / AP

Members of the Satmar Orthodox Jewish community carry caskets Sunday to the funeral of two expectant parents who were killed in a car accident in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The car-service driver, identified by The Times as Pedro Nuñez Delacruz, was taken to the hospital and released.

Delacruz had a pending application to use the car as a service, known in New York as a livery cab, and should not have been picking up passengers, the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission told The Times.

The couple had been married about a year and had started a life in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, where the young mother grew up in a prominent rabbinical family, a relative told NBC New York.

In Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon, hundreds of mourners surrounded two coffins covered in black velvet. Jewish law calls for burying the dead as soon as possible.

This story was originally published on Mon Mar 4, 2013 8:59 AM EST

A pregnant woman and her husband en route to a hospital were killed in a hit-and-run car crash in Brooklyn early Sunday, but the baby survived.

Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21, were driving in a livery cab when a gray BMW sedan crashed into the side of the cab at the intersection of Wilson Street and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, police said.

A male driver and another passenger in the BMW then fled the scene of the accident on foot.

Raizy Glauber was thrown from the car and her body landed under a parked tractor-trailer, said witnesses who came to the scene after the crash. Nachman Glauber was pinned in the car, and emergency workers had to cut off the roof to get him out, witnesses said.

Nachman Glauber was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital, while his wife died at Bellevue, police said. The couple's premature son was delivered at the hospital and was in serious condition.

"The baby has no worry at all about being well raised and well taken care of," said community activist Isaac Abraham, a neighbor of Raizy Glauber's parents.

"There's going to be such community outreach from psychological to moral to financial assistance, that's the least worry, the child should just make it."

Police are continuing to search for the occupants of the BMW. No arrests have been made yet.

More news from NBCNewYork.com

The driver of the livery cab was also taken Beth Israel Hospital, where he is listed in stable condition, police said.

On Saturday, Raizy Glauber "was not feeling well, so they decided to go" to the hospital, said Sara Glauber, Nachman Glauber's cousin.

Hundreds gathered in Williamsburg Sunday afternoon at a funeral for the Glaubers, both Orthodox Jews. Jewish law calls for burial of the dead as soon as possible.

The Glaubers were married about a year ago and had begun a life together in Williamsburg, where Raizy Glauber grew up in a prominent rabbinical family, Sara Glauber said.

Raised north of New York City in Monsey, N.Y., and part of a family that founded a line of clothing for Orthodox Jews, Nachman Glauber was studying at a rabbinical college nearby, said his cousin.

"You don't meet anyone better than him," she said. "He was always doing favors for everyone."

She added that, of him and his bride, "if one had to go, the other had to go too because they really were one soul."

During the funeral, the sound of wailing filled the air as two coffins covered in black velvet with a silver trim were carried from a vehicle.

A succession of men and women delivered eulogies in Yiddish, sobbing as they spoke into a microphone about the young couple. "I will never forget you, my daughter!'' said Yitzchok Silberstein, Raizy Glauber's father.

Afterward, the cars carrying the bodies left and headed to Monsey, where another service was planned in Nachman Glauber's hometown.

NBCNewYork.com