| Former L.I. Judge Sentenced in Mob Jewel Plot
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (1010 WINS) -- Weeping as he acknowledged disgracing his office, an ex-judge was sentenced to 33 months in prison for helping a reputed mobster launder almost $400,000 in stolen diamonds and other jewelry. ``I loved the law,'' former Nassau County District Judge David Gross said at his sentencing Friday. ``Now, I violated the very law that I was sworn to uphold, and in doing so have irrevocably destroyed my life.'' Gross, 45, pleaded guilty in July to money laundering conspiracy. His legal troubles began in 2005, when he unwittingly met an undercover FBI agent pretending to traffic in stolen African diamonds. Prosecutors said Gross and an alleged Genovese crime family member offered to help the agent sell 19 loose diamonds, and then laid out a plot to launder thousands of dollars in proceeds from stolen jewelry through a Long Island restaurant.
What the holidays mean to me
But there were always a few special items, like a book you'd wanted, or new ice skates from Trowbridge's sports store in Morristown. But it wasn't only the gifts that gave Christmas meaning. It was my brother, probably 12, canvassing our neighborhood for days in the cold to sell homemade Christmas wreaths. He used the bulk of the profits to buy my father a maroon wool smoking jacket, which he loved and wore until the elbows wore out. It was the good smells from the oven as my mom cooked a myriad of holiday delights. It was snuggling up against my dad while he napped on the sofa, the lights from the tree making our living room magical. I remember the joy of watching Joe's and my eight children savor the holiday, a reward for all the weeks of shopping on a tight budget.
An ACC road trip: a Triangle trifecta
We here in North Carolina like to think that the college basketball universe revolves around us. It’s a claim that can be easily supported not only by the sustained excellence of North Carolina and Duke — and to a lesser extent, N.C. State and Wake Forest — but by the national media attention those schools generate. They don’t call ESPN analyst Dick Vitale "Dukie V." for nothing, after all. But while the folks in Kentucky, the Big Ten and other traditional basketball hotbeds might challenge our dominance of the sport, there can be no argument that, at least on this day, all eyes are on the area surrounding the Research Triangle. Like a total eclipse, the moon, the sun and the stars have aligned themselves perfectly to produce three big-time college games, all played within 30 miles of each other during one glorious eight-hour window.
Coyotes' Becker hits the right notes on, off court
Jesse Becker owns cowboy boots and he sings Garth Brooks and Hank Williams, Jr. songs. He's so uncool, you could say, he's practically cool.
"I decided to come to school in Vermillion because I figured they liked country music down here," he jokes.
The University of South Dakota men's basketball player, who has peppered opposing defenses from inside and out in recent weeks, grew up in suburban Minneapolis, but has lived in Vermillion the last four years. The adjustment from a metro area to a rural area has been a smooth one. "I've always been attracted to small-town life, even though I grew up in a big city and went to a big high school," said Becker, a first-team Minnesota all-state high school player at Osseo. "It's like everybody knows everybody.
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